On top of preparations for this year's holiday season, which brought about nearly simultaneous Eid al-Adha and Christmas celebrations, we have the arrival of New Year's -- or "Yeni Yıl," as it is called in Turkey. Do we not all wish that, during these extended days of peaceful family gatherings and shared happiness, the outside world would somehow slow down, come to a complete standstill and allow us to take some time off for at least a few hours, or even days?We, as adults, decision makers, professionals, workers and columnists, must focus on the road ahead and analyze news regardless of whether it is bayram, Christmas or a new year waiting on our doorsteps. The issue of terror has come up again. This time there were no new attacks, fortunately, but a court verdict on events in both London and Glasgow in 2007. What is being hotly debated in the United Kingdom is that a new breed of terrorists has apparently entered center stage: Welcome the Ph.D. suicide bomber!
This hard-to-believe news surfaced two days ago, when UK intelligence claimed that they had no clue about this new type of terrorist. I, for one, could not agree with what I heard, as I always argued that, in order to plan technologically advanced terror attacks, you need university graduates to mastermind them and not just social outcasts with bombs strapped around their waists. Such misled individuals are the tools, not the brains behind the attacks.
On CNN's Dec. 25, 2008 online news edition, the question was asked whether every section of society can be radicalized. Bilal Abdullah was a very well-educated individual working as a doctor when he carried out his plot to plant car bombs in London and Glasgow in 2007. He was not a loner or unemployed youngster; he was a Cambridge man.
In the same news bulletin John McDowall, head of the UK's Counter Terrorism Command, said Abdullah and Kafeel Ahmed (killed during the attacks with his own devices) represent a new type of terrorist. McDowall claimed that the Internet was an essential tool. According to CNN, Abdullah's motive, prosecutors said, was revenge for the bloodshed in Iraq. Abdullah was found guilty Tuesday of conspiracy to commit murder and cause explosions.
I do not believe that our intelligence services in the UK were not at least partially aware of the fact that many rich and highly educated foreigners who either fled their countries once the political climate got too hot or, for sheer convenience, settled in our midst had at times at least "potential" links to nondemocratic movements back in their respective states of origin. They often came from countries where no full-fledged democracy was in place and had to learn how to make good use of their newfound liberties, which I am sure is not an easy process. And, of course, by now the next generation lives amongst us. They do not necessarily have to travel to terror training camps; they leave less of a footprint on the terror circuit. They are already in the country where the attacks are going to take place. I am not blaming nationals of any particular state; my comments about past terror in Western Germany a few weeks ago made clear that everyone is vulnerable.
Please stop telling me that a certain "Osama bin Laden" has hijacked the planet. Would he know how to use an ATM? Blaming this terrorist organization for each and every attack around the world makes us forget that there are hundreds of other criminal gangs out there flourishing while we search for just one group.
The terrorists are amongst us; we live next door to them in average-sized apartments. They speak the same languages as us and they have money. You would need laptops and satellite connections linking conspirators to individuals in New York or Hamburg (where one of the masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks studied). But, as we have learned now from the UK court case, one would need perhaps something much less obvious: a "confidant" in one of our nations, well respected, with a reasonable income and integrated into society beyond doubt. Bingo: Attacks in our part of the world need support from within. Has British intelligence been sleeping for decades?
Why did consecutive British governments not pay more attention to who paid money for whose passports, which foreign leaders bought missiles and who lives in London with a second passport while their own home country is engaged in terror against Britain? We must get ready for intelligent terrorists, though their motives are just as shallow as those of their less-educated compatriots. They have used the knowledge-based economy we provided them against us. But, because we gave them the tools, we should be able to take them back, too.
I sometimes wish that the Christmas spirit of the 1960s and 1970s would come back one more time, if only for the sake of our children. Being a realistic columnist, I rather doubt it ever will.
