Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson may have used the wrong script as he addressed the anti-Islamic State (IS) coalition in the United States. The 'We are superior' statement, no matter how happily it resonated on the bandstand, belies the essential hollowness of the prepared script of not letting terror succeed in disrupting a way of life. From the days of organised, planned strikes terror is now being unleashed in a way that defies traditional thinking and anti-terrorism measures. Truth be said, security forces are flummoxed by the latest atrocity in which a British national, Muslim in faith, caused the death of three innocent people at the heart of arguably the world's best democracy.
While strength of resolve must be exhibited by political leadership in assuring the populace, the latest incident reinforces the need to look at the root cause rather than applying bandaid to the wounds. If, as is professed, terror attacks are designed to make a statement, the inherent objective needs to be analysed. Terror for terror's sake is a non-starter. Cause and effect is a better starting point.
Those living in relative peace may have difficulty in comprehending what it is that drives groups and individuals to such sickening extremism. The concept of religious bigotry is rather lame. If anything it is a banner rather than a belief that drives to action. For over two-decades, Muslim-dominated middle-eastern and north-African countries have been subject to violent regime change at the whims and notions of international politics and policies. The subsequent violent military interventionism may have succeeded in its primary goal; it has not even considered the spill-on effects. Badly thought through and mindless decisions based on what we now know as sexed up intelligence, to the extent of misinforming the United Nations, have reduced the prosperous countries Iraq, Syria and Libya to ghostly ruins.
Those who were born and lived through this relentless and rude interruption to their way of life are people, similar to the Police Constable, the American tourist or the mother who was on way to fetch her children from school. The heart aches at trying to imagine what these families are going through. And the heart has to ache as much for the parents that lost their children, the children that lost their parents and the countless many who have lost their limbs or even sanity in the rain of bombs, bullets and explosions. They never sought war, let alone help from outside.
Save the Children is struggling to bring the children back on track with their studies. The extra struggle is addressing the shattered psychology of these young minds, the ones that quiver and shake in their sleep. This itself exemplifies the admissions made about not having planned for the fallout from misadventures. Such admissions, including Tony Blair's tearful one ,may have pricked the conscience ; they didn't offer any solutions.
The non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were produced by the west and at best replicated because they were available to the highest bidder. Instead of plugging those loopholes, the systematic destruction of societies was preferred. Beliefs can never be bombed into oblivion, they provide a periodic reprieve only. Just as the western way of life is valued and treasured so is that of others. Neither require approbation beyond the societies in which they evolve. If there are issues, home grown solutions are best. Unfortunately, that isn't the way the so called ' world order'works. ' We are superior' is a statement that seeks to justify actions and a way of life. It works both ways beyond the devil of approbation.
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