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America: No celebrations yet

Bhuwan Thapaliya - 3/2/2010

The FBI defines terrorism as, “The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a Government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” The definition of terrorism may not be single and it varies but one thing is certain - the goal of terrorism is to inspire fear.

And Al - Qaida, the number one promoter of terrorism in the world is still the biggest threat to the United States of America . For all its strength, America still cannot answer questions asked by the Al- Qaeda and things are not yet going America ’s way after all these years and efforts as bin Laden and his associates are still very much at large.

Can things go wrong for America ? Yes, as Al - Qaeda threats are, once again, beginning to prevail in The United States of America, on the streets, in the sky as well as in the water. Underwear bomber, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab was almost successful in blowing up a Delta Airlines Transatlantic flight from Amsterdam to Detroit , carrying 300 Passengers as it landed in Detroit on the Christmas day. This is a scary development and a development which shows that Al Qaeda is doing everything that could be done to dismantle the morale of the United States.

Luckily due to the technical problem Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab was not able to complete the explosion. But America must not stop asking “What if the device had exploded?” and ask “How do we respond to these terrorists who are spilling real threat by trying new type of attacks, and encourage others to do likewise?” Just because Umar don't succeed doesn't mean there aren't people out there intent on doing harm to the United States.

Recent events indicate the US Government's efforts to thwart nuclear proliferation and terrorism have a long way to go. Hopefully this failed act of terrorism will convince the United States that terrorism cannot be prevented only by boosting their own preventive security measures.

For example, what is the economic rationality of spending millions of dollars in the American airports in the name of security if other International Airports have security loop holes? Terrorist on the other continent could easily take advantage of the security lapses in major International Airports and cause civilian casualties in the United States of America.

In its own quiet way, Al Qaeda seems to be ahead of the Security Agencies all over the world yet again. All this underscores what a tortuous business air travel is proving. More than 9 years after 9-11, it looks as if we may have to wait a long time again until the air travel is fully safe from the hands of the potential terrorists. Tougher screening rules, close co-operation between intelligence forces and more monitoring may be welcome, as they are necessary to curb possible terrorists.

Security checks in the airport all around the world must be strengthened as terrorists cannot be bought down by war alone. America must realize that size isn’t everything, even in defense. As in other sector, there will always be niches for terrorists to exploit and they are exploiting it. There is no doubt that America now has causes to fear – it must be assumed that more attacks are possible as the attackers are ruthless and shrewd.

On the other hand, if we have more countries with efficient intelligence gathering and sharing, then it would be a lot easier to win the war against terrorism. Securing international co-operation is the number one agenda.

The other factor that is affecting America ’s fight against terrorism is its economic factor. Recession is over in the U.S but it is a pity that the time has not yet come to celebrate as no one knows what could jump - start the American economy and minimize the recurrence of recession in future and maximize the economic stability in the long run?

Are there any economic pills? There are many hypothetical pills but unfortunately no one knows the right pills. Already there are confrontations building up between the Economists, Policy Makers, Central Bankers, Analysts and Private Investors.

After all the fight against terrorism is not as easy as it looks on the paper. The cost of fighting terrorism and defending America including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is $688 billion dollars per year as reported by the media. The US is spending far more on defense than ever before with burrowed money.

And the budget deficit is rising. Obama’s budget lists a 1.6 trillion dollar deficit for this year and a total of 8.5 trillion over the next ten years assuming his deficit-reducing proposals are enacted and actually work according to the media reports.

This is alarming because Vice President Joe Biden has stated that America 's high budget deficits may become a threat to national security. America ’s current spending is not sustainable and America will need to spend less on defense budget or go bust in the near future.

In 2004, Osama Bin Laden has stated that his objective was to bankrupt America . If America keeps spending the way it has been doing since last couple of years, Bin Laden could attain his goal with ease. Are Mr. Obama and his economic team listening?