Attacks more than just a well-planned terrorist operation

By Jochen Siemens

Frankfurt - "I don't know what to say," choked a reporter over footage of southern Manhattan resembling a war zone. The worst apocolyptic visions of science fiction writers came true in New York on Tuesday, well below the level of any future missile defence shield designed to protect against just this kind of terrorist disaster.

Nearly 60 years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, on September 11, 2001 will go down in history as another declaration of war on the world's only superpower. The 2001 declaration of war bears all the hallmarks of an era in which terrorism has become the normal form of violence worldwide - violence which does not ask who the victims are and which in an insane way is complete.

Sixty years ago, Japan believed its assault could lay the foundation for a victorious military campaign. The incomparable wave of terror on September 11 assaulted the symbols comprising the power and greatness of the US in 2001. The slim, soaring towers of the World Trade Center symbolised not only the economic might of the US but, in the heart of Manhattan, also represented the very centre of world trade and monetary flow.

The Pentagon has for years embodied the perfect military headquarters. From here the US has waged wars, run complex military operations and struck at real or supposed terrorist targets around the globe. In one terrible hour, these symbols have been partly or completely shattered, apparently victims of civil aircraft which with passengers and full fuel tanks were flown into the despised symbols of US and Western power.

The armageddon in Manhattan and the burning Pentagon are the equivalent of the 'Arizona' of Pearl Harbour - the awful proof that the US may be almost completely surrounded by water, but it remains part of the world. It cannot withdraw politically from the rest of the globe and allow events in the Middle East to take their course, as was the case this year.

This attack on the US is clearly more than just a well-planned terrorist operation stemming from the desperation of a long-suffering and repressed people. Instead, it carries all the hallmarks of a hate attack against symbols of Western power and fuels suspicion that it is the act of religious fanatics.

The repercussions of September 11 will be as grave as they are extensive. At a particularly inopportune moment, the Western and global economy has suffered a heavy and above all psychological blow.

Civilians around the world, especially in the Western world, will more than ever live with the feeling of a ubiquitous and violent terrorist threat. The US will react militarily - a retaliatory campaign seems inevitable, even it it means fighting across an entire hemisphere.