PROFILE OF A TERRORIST

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

On a beautiful fall day, ordinary men and women, the most productive workers in the world, went about their job of making America great. In their offices in the Twin Towers, some workers may have been concerned that the recent slow down in the economy was lasting longer than expected and hoped that a recovery would begin soon. A few may have been daydreaming of vacations in the Bahamas, while others wrestled mentally with familial problems and how they could be resolved. In the Pentagon, military personnel and civilian employees carried out their daily tasks with common purpose: Keeping their country safe and secure. Some may have worried whether their kids were honoring their promise of working harder in school to get better grades. Others made coffee, chatted with co-workers and carried out routine chores. Meanwhile, in Boston, Washington DC and Newark, professional businessmen and women, leisure travelers and dedicated airline crew boarded their planes to fulfill their intended purpose: To fly from one city to another, in relative comfort and in safety. Not in their worst nightmare could one of these innocent patriots or hard working foreign guests have imagined the horror that was about to befall them.

At 7:45 in the morning, American Airlines flight 11 departed Boston bound for Los Angeles. Not long after departure, air traffic controllers made repeated calls to the flight but received no response. Suddenly an unknown transmission on the controllers frequency stated, "We have some planes. Just stay quiet and youll be okay. We are returning to the airport. "

Controllers began to sense that things had gone awfully awry and began to ask other aircraft for assistance in contacting the American flight. Ironically, pilots from another fated flight, United Airlines flight 175, responded at 8:41 that they had heard a suspicious transmission when departing Boston: "Everyone stay in your seats," or words to that effect, they said.

United flight 175 had departed Boston bound for Los Angeles only minutes later than American flight eleven. Within less than two minutes, the United flight itself turned off its scheduled course, stopped sending transponder signals and ceased answering controllers transmissions. The FAA, fearing the worst, issued the call around this time to launch Air National Guard F-15s from Cape Cods Otis Air Force Base in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

At 8:45, American flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Disbelief and confusion ruled the day. Several comments from pilots on air traffic control frequencies asked questions regarding the source of the smoke from Manhattan while air traffic controllers responded that a hijack situation may be in progress. At approximately 9:05, United flight 175, after careening down the Hudson Valley at speeds approaching 500 miles per hour, smashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. The F-15s were approximately 8 minutes from an intercept of United flight 175 when it impacted. However, even if they had intercepted the flight before impact it is doubtful they would have shot it down in time. The decision to fire on a commercial airliner full of Americans would have been an agonizing one to make and would not have been made without orders from higher authorities.

American Airlines flight 77 departed Dulles Airport for Los Angeles at 8:10 in the morning. At 8:56, Indianapolis controllers, having lost contact with the American flight, called an American Airlines dispatcher. The dispatcher allegedly relayed the message that the south tower of the World Trade Center had been struck by another airplane and implied that American flight 77 may have been that aircraft. But at 9:33, the controller caught a glimpse of an unidentified return on his radar screen that he thought may have been American flight seventy-seven. Via a hurried call to Washington National Airport, the controller warned his peers of a fast moving aircraft approaching restricted airspace over the White House. An air force Hercules C-130, departing Andrews Air Force Base, was hurriedly diverted to intercept the inbound aircraft. The crew identified it as an American Airlines Boeing 757 it was indeed American flight 77. The C-130 pilots saw the 757 pass over the Pentagon, complete a full circle turn and crash into the building impacting at nine-thirty-nine. Estimated speed at impact was in excess of 500 miles per hour. Two Air Force F-16s that were scrambled out of Langley at approximately 9:30 were initially directed to fly to New York, the scene of the two previous disasters, and were redirected too late to intercept American flight seventy-seven. They were then allegedly instructed to maintain vigilance over the White House and protect it at all costs which implies that the decision to shoot down any other inbound commercial airplanes that threatened to impact buildings had been made.

While American Airlines was impacting the Pentagon, United flight 93 deviated from its scheduled course. The flight had departed Newark late at 8:42 bound for San Francisco. Through cellular phone calls to loved ones, passengers onboard this flight were aware of the other hijackings that had taken place and the impacts on the World Trade Center towers. United flight 93s pilots had even received a flight dispatchers text warning that a plane had impacted the south tower. The text message warned the pilots to beware of cockpit intrusion. The pilots sent back a confirmed message to the dispatcher. At approximately 10:03, United flight 93 impacted the ground at Stony Creek Township in western Pennsylvania. The FBI has not released the transcripts of the voice recorder tape, but leaked evidence and surviving relative testimony of cell phone conversations with loved ones, confirm that passengers and crew battled the hijackers and foiled their evil intent.

I have included a couple of well known faces of evil, one of which was one of the hijackers who commandeered the aforementioned flights and prematurely ended the lives of brave Americans. These religious zealots are brothers in a self-declared war on America. Some of the hijackers looked so American that they could have lived in the apartment adjacent to you and not raised any suspicions.

Spend minutes on these faces ladies and gentlemen, for these are representative of your adversaries. Build your hate for their evil deed and vow to avenge the souls of your fellow citizens. Imagine the people they murdered were not strangers, but members of your own family. Friends, loved ones, gone thanks to a rabid bunch of politically motivated zealots. Can you picture sympathetic compatriots of the terrorists dancing in the street, laughing out loud, glad of the carnage that has befallen our great country?

Is your anger rising?

Good.

Make no assumptions in your future interactions with passengers or hurry to pass judgment. Since Al-Qaeda's instruction manual tells its members to adopt American clothing and appearance, to be absolutely safe, you must adopt the attitude that everyone on an airplane could be a terrorist and adapt your scrutiny to suit. In the war that has been declared on America, we, ordinary civilians, must appraise each other carefully and never let our guard down. But we must also rush to each others defense for we are now brothers in arms. Whether on a train, in a mall, at a ball game or on a commercial flight every American is now a target. Life will never be the same as before September 11, but for the sake of our children and their children we must vow to never give in to tyranny and we must retain our love of life and freedom. But freedom has never been a given; it is a way of life that has to be periodically defended by its proponents.

Initial investigation by authorities has revealed that training for the September 11 attack could have been in progress for a year or more. At least some of the terrorists who hijacked the airplanes were trained right here in the United States. For example, Atta and Al Shehhi took flying lessons in Venice Beach, Florida. Atta and one of the other terrorists had even rented a Boeing 727 simulator at one time. Evidence from Europe has also revealed that some terrorists took flying lessons in several schools there. So it is clear that at least one terrorist on board each hijacked aircraft had some degree of flight training.

The fact is that if a person has learned to fly a small airplane, the actual mechanics of flying larger aircraft varies little. Of course large, modern jetliner systems are far more complex than single-engine aircraft, but these can be learned superficially enough from manuals and flight simulators to be able to maneuver the airplane in flight. And the terrorists were cunning: The Boeing 757 and Boeing 7767 have the same cockpit. For example, being dual-rated, pilots for Delta Airlines hop out of one type of aircraft and fly the other, often on the same day. Therefore, if the terrorists learned the systems operation of either the B-757 or B-767, it would enable them to fly both types of jetliner.

Taking off, landing and navigating a B-757 or B-767 over vast distances with accuracy are another matter, but the terrorists had no intention of performing these maneuvers. All they intended to do was to seize control of the jetliners and fly them at full speed into public buildings.

Simple knowledge of basic navigation, geography and navigation aids would have probably sufficed for this purpose, but the terrorists might also have carried hand-held global positioning system (GPS) devices that would have negated the need to use sophisticated aircraft navigation systems. So it is clear that the terrorists' plans of destruction were relatively simple from the start, but the symphony of terror they orchestrated on September 11 took more than hurried planning. This was a calculated, despicable act that was the long-term vision of a champion of terror most probably, authorities say, Osama bin Laden.

Al-Qaeda is known to have conducted bombings in August 1998 of the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that killed 301 people and injured 5,000 most of whom were not Americans. Members also claim to have shot down US helicopters in Somalia in 1993 and to have conducted three bombing attacks on US troops in Aden, Yemen in 1992. The terrorist association failed to carry out some of its vile intentions in the mid-nineties, such as assassinating Pope John Paul 11, bombing US and Israeli Embassies in Asia, mid-air bombings of US trans-Pacific flights and assassinating President Clinton. While the group probably does not have more than several thousand members at most, it is an umbrella organization for other Sunni Islamic extremist groups such as the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

An old adage of war states that one should not underestimate ones enemy. There is another that says one should know ones enemy. Although the acts of Al-Qaeda and other terrorists groups appear barbaric to us, many of its members are well-educated, middle class men. Mohamed Atta, for example, had a graduate degree in urban planning from a prestigious university in Hamburg, Germany. Osama bin Laden comes from an extremely wealthy Saudi family.

In his call in 1998 for all muslims to kill Americans citizens, Bin Laden justified this act based on America's crusade against Islam and its act of sending tens of thousands of troops to the land of holy mosques (Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia) during the Gulf War. He also despises America for its support of what he deems a corrupt and tyrannical regime in Saudi Arabia. His use of the word crusade was not a mistake and he has repeated it many times since in his messages to the world. He is trying to imbue in the minds of moderate Muslims around the world that America has an ulterior motive in attacking the Taliban. America's real intent, he says, is to wage a holy war against Islam non unlike the European crusaders in the Middle East a thousand years ago. In his ranting, Bin Laden does not mention one fact: The US and its coalition partners fought the Gulf War in defense of a Muslim nation Kuwait. He also fails to mention that the US defended Muslims in Kosovo.

So once again, ladies and gentlemen, understand that your enemy holds a twisted, prejudicial view of history and is not likely to listen to reason. He or she is embroiled with hate and the desire to end as many Infidel lives as possible. The true basis of this hate is not Americas political policies. It is its freedom, prosperity and democratic way of life. Al-Qaeda terrorists fear that American values are spreading around the globe and threatening to displace tyrannical regimes in countries such as Afghanistan. This is why their hate is so intense. They see Americans as moral inferiors who collectively thumb their nose at God by living their lives diametrically opposed to Muslim extremists' values. And while they imply that America has initiated in a holy war against Islam, it is they, not the US, who have initiated a Jihad based on their twisted view of a once noble religion.

On October 19, 2001, Pakistani officials arrested a 27 year-old Yemeni microbiology student named Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed in Karachi. He was wanted by US authorities in connection to the October 2000 suicide bombing attack on the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen. Seventeen US sailors were killed and 39 others injured in that attack. Although Yemeni officials have arrested 8 people in connection with the USS Cole bombing, none has been put on trial at date of writing. Mohammed, who was ferreted out by a united Pakistani and US investigation, allegedly has solid ties to Al-Qaeda and may provide the strongest link yet to the recent attack in New York and Washington DC. Intelligence agents believe that Pakistan has served as a base of operations for some extremists from Afghanistan because it has the infrastructure that its war-ravaged neighbor lacks. The ongoing investigation by Pakistan and the US may uncover more Al-Qaeda members hiding out in Karachi, Pakistan.

For example, in mid-October 2001, two Pakistani nuclear scientists allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda were arrested by authorities in Pakistan. American authorities fear that these two scientists may have assisted terrorists in either designing a small nuclear bomb or manufacturing so-called dirty bombs. Dirty bombs have radioactive material inside that disperse on detonation and can contaminate hundreds if not thousands of people. Radio active material can be something as simple as used reactor rods. Authorities are aware that nuclear reactor rods have gone missing in the past ten years and that terrorists groups such as Al-Qaeda have attempted to acquire this material.

Further breeding grounds for terrorists in Pakistan are the proliferation of small religious schools called Madrassas. Most of these schools were established to fill the void left by a poor Pakistani state school system. The problem is that Madrassas are not regulated and many of them teach a very aggressive form of Islam. It is estimated that up to 300,000 former students retain military connections with their old schools and many of these graduates have joined extremist groups. One Pakistani police chief reportedly said the madrassas are hotbeds of terrorism.

Apparently, there is no shortage of willing recruits for Al-Qaeda. A catchall for the disaffected, Al-Qaeda operatives allegedly include recruits from all nations, including blond, blue-eyed Swedes and Germans.

I am not a Muslim and I don't profess to have read or understand the intricacies of this holy text. As in all matters of which I am not familiar, I turn to knowledgeable scholars for insight.

The fundamental text of Islam, the Quran is a vast, vague book filled with poetic prose and contradictions. In this regard, it is not unlike the bible. As a result, it is open to interpretation by groups as diverse as fundamentalists to moderates. For example, Islamic nations such as Indonesia and Pakistan have voted women into their most highest political office, while the Taliban prohibits women in Afghanistan from even the most fundamental privileges. Both justify their acts based on their subjective interpretation of the Quran.

When it comes to terrorists who sacrifice themselves for the sake of Islam, it is not entirely clear that the Quran prohibits suicide. On one hand, according to a recent report, Sheik Muhammad Rafaat Othman, professor at Cairos Al-Azhar University, believes that the Quran unconditionally condemns suicide even as a tactic in a legitimate holy war. He also said that attacking unarmed people is forbidden by the holy scripture. On the other hand, many sheiks point out that exceptions can be made for Palestinian suicide bombers. So both interpretations of the Quran are equally valid. On one hand suicide is forbidden, but on the other, giving your life for Allah is not deemed suicide it is considered a righteous, defensive act. While radical and even moderate Muslims applaud the suicide acts of Palestinian terrorists in their fight against Israel, they adamantly defend allegations that the Muslim pilots on Egypt Air and Silk Air could have possibly committed suicide because the religion of Islam bans that act.

Why do radically opposite interpretations of the Quran coexist? You ask.

Politics.

Just as Christianity has supported inquisitions and anti-Semitism in the past, Muslim extremists can rationalize their most abhorrent behavior based on their biased view of righteousness of the cause.

The repercussions for us mere civilians are ominous. Out there, in our country and abroad,  are thousands, if not millions, of Muslims who might agree with Osama bin Laden and his cause against the United States. As America continues its fight against terrorism, firstly in Afghanistan, moderate Muslims resolve to support the United States action may falter. The longer the fight, the more some Muslims might believe that America really has begun a holy crusade against Islam. Therefore, we cannot afford to let our guard down for one minute because, if anything, the threat of terrorism will increase over time, not decrease.

Terrorism, like prostitution, has been around since biblical times, but with the coming of the aviation industry a new, more sophisticated channel of murderous rage became available to fringe elements. For the most part, terrorists in the past fifty years have sought to bring down airplanes by planting explosives on board. Using the actual airplane itself as a missile, despite one exception, is a new phenomenon. That one exception is a pilot who flew a World War Two bomber into the Empire State Building in the mid forties. It was this act that encouraged engineers to design the World Trade Center Twin Towers to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707.

The Heritage Foundations Center for Data Analysis reports that there were 103 air hijacking incidents in US registered aircraft from 1975 to 2001, while for the same period, there were 439 hijackings of foreign registered aircraft.

The US suffered its worst spate of hijackings in the late 70s through to the mid eighties. In the last 9 years there have been no hijackings at all in the United States. In contrast, hijackings on foreign-registered aircraft peaked in 1990 and have been relatively high since that time. The difference in hijacking events highlights the prevalence of terrorism around the world versus Americas pre-September relative insulation. Thats not to say Americans werent harmed by international terrorism: From 1995 to 2000, seventy-seven Americans were killed and 651 wounded in international terrorist attacks. But Americans at home were free from attack by foreign zealots. All that changed on September eleventh.

The Secretary of State has identified another 28 foreign terrorist groups other than Al-Qaeda, some of which promote violence against Americans. Other groups known to harbor ill will towards the United States include the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO), Hizballah, Al-Jihad, Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Party/Front and New Peoples Party (NPA). While Al-Qaeda may not have the numbers to wreak havoc on the US and its allies alone, other terrorists groups such as the aforementioned may form alliances of terror. Therefore, we should expect attacks in the future and prepare ourselves to defend our lives.

My friend John, the ex-Rhodesian S.A.S. soldier had some insightful, first-hand knowledge of terrorists to offer. He says that the average terrorist has been indoctrinated in training to totally believe in the organizations cause and this is true whether the ideology is communism or religious fundamentalism. However, religious fundamentalists are more dangerous because they are convinced that God is on their side. To this category of terrorist the end justifies the means. Not only is it justifiable to use any means to rid the world of their self-proclaimed enemies, but it is glorious to die in the process. Al-Qaeda terrorists who died onboard the September 11 hijacked airplanes, for example, believed they would die martyrs, go straight to Heaven and live an eternal existence of sublime happiness for their act.

Besides the catastrophic acts like what we were recently subjected to, terrorist groups use inhuman tactics to instill fear in their communities. They do this so local citizens would not dare disobey their orders or divulge information about the terrorist organizations hideouts. To give an example, John said that in the Rhodesian War it was all too common for terrorists to enter a village (Kraal) and round up the local inhabitants. The headman would be forced to provide food, women and shelter. Their method of coercion, he said, was to take a family member, normally a woman, and make her watch as they cut off the lips, ears and nose of her husband, father, son, or brother. They would then make her eat the pieces of flesh. This unbelievably barbaric act was very effective in sending the right message of compliance. Sometimes the victims of the terrorists atrocity died agonizing deaths from loss of blood or infection, and at other times they lived through the ordeal to serve as living reminders of the terrorists power.

In the Central African Republic, terrorists used similar methods but added a refinement. They would herd villagers into buildings and set them on fire. In South Africa, Necklacing was the preferred method of instilling terror. Here a tire was placed around a villagers neck, filled with gasoline and set alight. While Irish terrorists knee-cap their victims, all terrorists methods have one common element: The complete and total terrorizing of their targets. It is not territory that terrorists want to win, nor is it popularity with other groups, they want to destabilize and demoralize their enemies so they will lose the will to go about their normal lives.

In early October 2001, I saw a British TV show where a female journalist, who had been born in Afghanistan, traveled back to her native country on the premise of tracing her roots. She, of course, intended to report on the Taliban and its subjugation of Afghani women. Using a hidden camera, she was able to film mass executions in a football stadium and testimonies of villagers who had witnessed Taliban soldiers atrocities first hand. Blood stains were pointed out, mass graves identified and grieving relatives interviewed. For example, in one case she profiled, Taliban soldiers arbitrarily executed one woman's husband in front of his family. His wife was then told to take her four children and get out of the house. When she protested that it was too cold outside for the children, she too was shot and killed in front of her now orphaned offspring. When the journalist interviewed these kids there was a hollow, profound sorrow in their eyes that literally touched my soul.

But the journalist also revealed in her documentary acts of bravery and resistance of some Afghani women. One group of women, called Rawa, risked execution by establishing underground schools for their daughters. They also maintained a silent protest by visiting a makeshift beauty parlor and donning makeup. Since their faces had to be totally covered by Taliban law, they explained, they maintain their dignity by thumbing their nose at their oppressors.

Why did I tell you all the horrible things terrorists will do?

It is not to shock you, it is to help you understand that the person who might one day confront you on an airplane, bus or train might be one of these people. I, like you I expect, cannot fathom the depth of depravity that must exist in a human being to carry out such acts. But we must learn quickly and accept that terrorists will squash any of us, including our children, like cockroaches without remorse. Accept now that terrorists with extreme religious views and political agendas exist in your country. People with no values as we know them and the intent to kill you without hesitation.

This time there really is a monster in the closet.

U.S. law defines terrorism as premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets.

On October 8, 2001, American Airlines flight number 1238 made an emergency landing at Chicago O'Hare after a passenger described as mentally ill tried to enter the cockpit during flight. Two days later, on Continental Airlines flight 91, a man alarmed flight attendants by imitating the act of cutting his throat with a plastic knife. The man was arrested after the flight landed at Newark International Airport and was later fined for his behavior. On October 11, Delta flight 357 made an emergency landing in Shreveport, Louisiana after a passenger had allegedly handed a threatening note to flight attendants.

In the cases where emergency landings were made, F-16 fighter jets escorted the flights to the emergency field. While having a fighter escort may seem comforting to some, their true mission was to shoot down the passenger planes had terrorists actually taken over control and attempted to steer them into populated areas.

Following September 11, flight crews are understandably nervous about their safety and the safety of their passengers. CIA and FBI authorities warned before the bombing began in Afghanistan of a 100% likelihood of further terrorists' attacks. As if ratifying this warning, the words of Al-Qaeda spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, sent a chilling warning on October ninth:

No matter how often the US and British administrations attempt to convey the message that the war on terrorism is not aimed at Muslims in general, the message often seems to fall on deaf ears. In the streets of Pakistan, Indonesia and several Arab states, supporters of Osama bin Laden burn effigies of George Bush, tear the US flag to shreds and threaten retaliation for Americas transgression against Islam. Of the reported one billion Muslims in the world, only a few have taken up the cause espoused by Bin Laden: Fight a Jihad, a holy war.

But a few are enough.

The implication for the airline industry is that the threat of attack may now come from any supporter of Osama Bin Laden. This means that our job of profiling and identifying terrorists has grown near impossible as he or she may be of any ethnic origin. Therefore, we must now look at almost every passenger as a potential terrorist. It is incumbent upon us to remain vigilant, alert and spatially aware in case we need to defend our lives and the lives of others. In fact, taken a step farther, no American can remain complacent any longer. We must remain vigilant and ready to react without hesitation to any threat to our safety.

Serious domestic attacks of terrorists began in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, a munitions expert from Kuwait, having received support for his actions from Osama bin Laden, hoped to cause up to 250,000 casualties from the huge bomb he planted. With US authorities hot on his tail, Yousef fled to the Far East where he began to plot his next attack. Within a few short months he had come up with a plan to bomb up to a dozen jetliners simultaneously as they flew across the Pacific Ocean. Foiled from that attempt he then encouraged his compatriot, who had a commercial pilots license, to crash an airplane into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Thankfully, that plot also did not come to fruition. Yousef is now sitting in a maximum security jail in the United States, but there are plenty of his clones throughout the world ready and willing to take his place.

An effective way to fight terrorism, one that the Israeli's use, is to launch targeted assassination raids on known terrorist leaders. This has been used by Israel ever since 11 athletes were murdered in Munich during the 1972 Olympic Games. At time of writing, President Bush and other politicians are exploring ways of reintroducing the same powers to the CIA.

In 1996, the Secretary of Transportation Office in conjunction with the FAA created an Aviation Security Advisory Committee Baseline Working Group. Within hours of finalizing the format of this committee, TWA flight 800 crashed after taking off from JFK Airport in New York. This accident accelerated the process of developing new security measures that would be needed to combat acts of terrorism. With input from airlines, airports, unions, groups representing victims of terrorism and other government agencies such s the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, the following steps had been taken before September eleventh:

So as you can see, it is a little unfair for critics to blast the FAA as having done nothing to improve safety in the last twenty years. They are, after all, an agency charged with enormous responsibilities and limited in what they can do by budgetary constraints. A bill before Congress at the time of writing would separate aviation security from the current responsibilities of the FAA. Providing this new agency receives adequate funding, this may help to accelerate security improvements. However, keep in mind that the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, therefore, it is going to take some time before airlines and airports are as safe as everyone would like.

In his speech of October 26, 2001, before the National Association of Counties at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington DC, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta recognized that terrorist attack vulnerabilities existed in all forms of public transport. He mentioned that the NTSB had recommended increased security measures that should be incorporated in rail and bus transportation companies. After all, he said, two suspected terrorists were arrested at a train station in St. Louis after the plane they were on had been diverted. Both of these men allegedly had box cutters on their person and had shaved all the hair off their body. This latter fact was congruent with Al-Qaeda instructional letters found in Attas baggage after the attacks on September eleventh.

Amtrak, which has 22, 000 miles of rail system, has introduced a requirement that all passengers have valid photo ID when they buy tickets and check bags. Soon after the attacks of September 11, a Senate subcommittee endorsed a $1.8 billion package for train bridges and tunnel improvements and other security upgrades, like increasing Amtraks police force. The money will also go to tripling the number of explosive sniffing dog teams.

On October 3, 2001 a Greyhound bus leaving Chicago bound for Orlando crashed near Manchester, Tennessee after a passenger cut the throat of the driver with a box cutter. After attacking the driver, the assailant steered the bus across the median strip into oncoming traffic. The bus driver survived the assault and was able to get help after the bus overturned, however, 6 people died and 32 others were injured in the accident. Authorities claimed that this event was not a terrorists attack. However, they failed to mention whether the attacker was a Muslim. And of course, the act of using a box cutter to cut the throat of the bus driver was hauntingly similar to the methods used by the attackers on September eleventh.

The assailant was a 29 year-old Croatian who had arrived in the US through Miami, but authorities do not believe he was connected to Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist group. However, in my mind, that does not negate the probability that he was sympathetic to their cause. Greyhound Lines stopped all buses nationwide, but resumed operation shortly after the FBI advised them that it was presumed safe to travel. Following this incident, Greyhound Lines increased security on all its vehicles by checking all luggage for weapons.

Several weeks later on October 19, a bus depot worker sorting through unclaimed baggage in a Philadelphia Greyhound Bus Terminal, discovered a plastic package containing putty-like material together with 1,000 feet of blasting cord. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms reportedly identified the explosive as commercial quality, military-grade C-4 explosive. While there was no detonation device with the explosives, an expert in terrorism and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Stephen Gale, remarked to the press that he was concerned there was so much blasting cord with the 1/3 pound of explosives found at the bus terminal. He commented that 1,000 feet of blasting cord amounted to a full spool and that there may be a whole load of additional C-4 explosives around the area yet to be found.

Terrorists may strike at any public transport system, public event, mall, gathering place or even places of worship. On October 28, 2001, four armed gunmen locked the doors of a catholic church in the town of Behawalpur, 100 kilometers south of Multan in Pakistans Punjab Province and opened fire on worshippers. Sixteen people, including women and children, were killed and many others maimed in the attack. The peoples only crime was that they were Christians. Although Christians make up less than 1% of the population in Pakistan, they have become targets for the wrath of Taliban sympathizers retaliating for the US and coalition bombing raids on Afghanistan.

About two thirds of the worlds population over 4 billion people worldwide follow one of 6 major religions. Most of these people live according to the tenets of their faith, however, some factions interpret holy texts according to their political ideals. After September 11, more Christians began attending church. Likewise, there have been more Muslim pilgrims visiting Mecca. Whether we accept it or not, Osama bin Ladens call for a holy war against us has been heard by thousands of Muslims around the world. In other words, in the minds of many, the Jihad has begun.

Strengthened airport security has guaranteed that passengers cannot carry a knife onboard an airplane, right?

Wrong!

For prisoners, plastic knives have been the weapon of choice for years because of their ability to avoid detection from metal detectors. For example, a defendant in a Los Angeles courtroom used a 10 inch plastic knife to stab two bailiffs before he was shot and killed. To make matters worse, modern technology has enabled companies to make knives out of composite materials that are razor sharp and have blades strong enough to pierce steel drums.

The Busse Stealth Hawk, manufactured by Shomer-Tec is one of many such a knives.

Made from a high tech laminate material known as MP45, its 41/2 inch, serrated blade provides impressive cutting power. No special license, ID or waiting period is needed to purchase this knife. All one has to do is mail off a check for the purchase price plus shipping costs of around $154 and UPS will deliver the knife to your door several days later. According to its manufacturer, the knife is marketed to people such as undercover police officers who need undetectable protection. The knife weighs only 3 ounces, is as hard as Damascus Steel and is invisible to metal detectors. While the aforementioned knife is made for self defense, apparently, some cutlery shops also sell small non-metallic pocket knives that have only one or two titanium rivets or spring mechanism. These too are undetectable by magnetic detection devices. Even the smallest blade, as determined by the events of September 11, can be used to lethal effect.

As if thats not enough to worry about, in mid October, 2001, a security screener at New Orleans Airport missed detecting that a passenger had a loaded gun in his briefcase Once on the plane, the man realized that he had a loaded derringer in his bag and turned it over to flight attendants. If this were an isolated case, it would be understandable, but since September 11, security screeners working under the new FAA guidelines have missed everything from a loaded.22 caliber pistol in a persons pocket to a knife hidden in a shoe. The point Im trying to make is that despite a step up in security awareness it is still possible to get nasty stuff past security and onto an airplane.

According to a recent poll taken by popular US newspaper, people anticipate further terrorist attacks they just disagree in the form. For example, 83% of those polled expect a bomb in a car or truck, 70% think that a biological weapon other than Anthrax may be used by terrorists, 67% expect the next target to be a major public event such as a ball game, 64% anticipate contamination of the nations water supply and 59% wouldnt be surprised to see the Internet attacked.

Gun sales went up dramatically after September 11, particularly to first-time gun owners. Home alarm companies were inundated with inquiries, demand for personal body guards climbed through the roof and charter aviation companies complained that they couldnt get enough planes and pilots to keep up with increased demand.

Roy Licklider, a Rutgers University political scientist who studies the effects of terrorism, has been quoted as saying that terrorism is the weapon of the weak and ultimately does not work very well. For example, the London Blitz in 1941, tempered Englands resolve against Nazi Germany instead of scaring its people into submission. Similarly, the British have not been driven out of Northern Ireland and the Palestinians have not been successful in gaining a free state.

In Franlin D. Roosevelts 1933 inaugural speech, he appealed to a nation ravaged by the effects of a severe economic depression by saying, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Everybody instinctively understands that the battle against terrorism will be long, arduous and fought by ordinary men and women. But there are ways to cope with the continous threats to our safety. For example, David Barlow, director of Boston Universitys Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, reportedly stated that citizens under attack in places like Beirut have shown less fear when they have felt in control. Therefore, we must look for ways to regain control of our lives.