Back to the Into The 21st Century calendar
Until WWII, or just before, wars had been easy to fight. Troops turned up on a battlefield, they fought, sometimes for years it's true, many were killed, someone eventually won and we all went home. Civilians in and around the battlefield might also get killed but it was all contained in one place. Wars might have a few skirmishes outside the main battlefields but not that many.
WWII, and particularly the aeroplane, changed that. Civilians, in cities, towns and villages were bombed and killed and injured. You couldn't predict where the bombings would take place. You could build an air-raid shelter but you couldn't spend your life in it. Everyone was at risk.
Now we have terrorism. Individuals, small groups, can appear anywhere, plant a bomb, blow themselves up and kill other innocent people. To be honest, terrorism isn't new, ask Guy Fawkes. During the “troubles” in Northern Ireland that we talked about last time, terrorists took innocent lives. The problem is that there is no way you can deal with this. How do we know who is a terrorist? How do we know where he/she will be? And most importantly, how can they be eliminated? The answer to all these three questions is, as far as I can see, (i) we don't know, (ii) we don't know and (iii) we can't.
Intelligence agencies can track people they suspect but that could be thousands, even millions. The attacks will continue. In 2005, on July 7, terrorists struck in London. Four suicide bombers, with their rucksacks full of explosives, killed 52 people and injured hundreds more. Three of the bombs were exploded on crowded tube trains just before 9.00am. The first exploded at Edgware Road and killed 6 people. The second exploded between Liverpool Street and Aldgate stations and killed 7 people. The third happened between King's Cross and Russell Square and killed 26 people while the fourth attack happened on a London Bus and killed 13 people.
Since then attacks have continued not just in Britain but around the world. This year (2017) there have been 5 terrorists attacks and 35 people have died with hundreds more injured. Some governments will tell you they can defeat such attacks. Despite modern technology being able to monitor almost everything, it still seems impossible to me. In the old days, thousands of people would die in epidemics like the Black Death. We sorted that by improving living standards and discovering medicines to prevent certain diseases. It's still not completely conquered and people are still dying in some countries. Humanity did well but can still do better.
I think the only way to fight terrorism though is to bring about a fundamental change in every person's attitude to their fellow man or woman. In one way, the terrorists can never win unless their sole purpose is to kill people. If they are fighting for a cause, that cause is not enhanced by killing your fellow humans.
Forward to 2008AD
