Question of the Month                     Archive
October 2001

2. Is a terrorist attack another type of War?

 

War has many definitions and meanings. We need not get lost in the many scholarly intricacies.

No doubt, the terrorist attack we have witnessed is war, or part of a war. The means used may differ, the type of battle may vary, the proponents may not be all visible and identifiable. But there is no doubt about its nature. It is a new type of war, the type of which the world has not seen in the past, specially on this scale, but of which we may see more and more in the future. If we, and specially the world leaders, are not sincere about eliminating it, if we do not go to its roots, if we do not discover its real causes and find the right solutions, but use the events to push our personal and narrow national agendas under the guise of high sounding slogans, there is no hope of an end or a solution.