7 years on...is the world a safer place to live in today than it was then?

Hi All,

Today is the 7th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, an event that has down done as the Pearl harbour of the 21st century among the American audience(and western countries in general) and as an incident viewed by the outside world(esp the Arab world) that America used as a cover to fulfill its imperialistic designs.

The perceptions may vary, as they always do, but the hard fact is that more than 3000 people belonging to an array of nations lost their lives to a mindless act of terror, billions of dollars were lost in matter of seconds and Islam's image took a severe beating. So before i venture into my self imposed question, i would like to send my condolences to those who lost their near and dear ones and sincerely hope that they are in the advanced stages of recovery.

Seven years have transpired and it makes me wonder whether the world is really a safer place to live in after the all the "affirmative action" undertook by America since the fateful incident. Two wars were waged with America leading from the front. One with almost 100 per cent consensus and the other can be best described as American arrogance. Let me dwell in the details now.

The 1st war, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and lots of sympathy towards America from even unusual quarters, was waged to uproot the Taliban from the erstwhile safe haven of Afghanistan. The military assault was sanctioned by the United nations and more or less the whole world was on Afghan soil in just a matter of days, after the meek resistance put up by the Taliban militia caved in. The purpose of this war was very clear and the stated objectives had been partially achieved by overthrowing the fundamantalist regime.

A puppet government was installed in power but America, and the international community as well, stopped right there and conveniently forgot about Afghanistan altogether. They failed to provide any real support to the government of the day so that it could augment its capacity as an executive. Many summits and conferences only served as lip service to the humongous problems faced by the crumbled nation. Uncooperative neighbours( read Pakistan,our all time favourite enemy) coupled with monetary and administrative constraints further exaggerated the problem and only served the cause of the Taliban.

As months and years passed, the Taliban has resurfaced and has come to haunt Afghanistan again. The Taliban is back in business and is doing what it does best..terrorize people and spread its sick and totally distorted interpretation of Islam. All this after millions spent on uprooting these very people a few years back and billions more allocated for defence budgets by countries world over!!!

So that was the 1st war for u.. now lets move on to the 2nd one. This one was much more controversial than its predecessor. The Iraq war was waged under the pretext of the world being in danger because of Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction(WMD). Arab World came out in strong protest against the very preparations for the war. Demographic giants like India toed the same line and warned US,and its allies, of the consequences the world will have to face due to this unilateral action.

Though the war was won rather swiftly and collateral damage was within acceptable limits, America didn't have a plan for the day after. Saddam Hussein was thrown out of power and was forced into hiding but so what...Lawlessness and chaos reigned in Baghdad was probably the whole of Iraq. Essential utilities were disrupted for months, oil supplies were interrupted and over and above all a sense of fear and insecurity loomed ominously over Iraq. Just as the opponents had predicted America and its little cronies had chewed more than they could swallow.

But what is more disturbing is that moderate Muslims who were finding their voice post 9/11 have been stifled yet again and this time America has no one to blame but herself. Fundamentalists in many Muslim countries have regained their ground and yield as much power as they had pre 9/11.Moreover, the sympathy America had immediately after 9/11 has all but vanished into thin air and there is only distrust that's left to savour.

A justifiable war with improper and insufficient post war rehabilitative support followed by a totally unnecessary one has in my opinion left our world in no safer postilion than we were before 9/11.