We have nothing to Fear but Fear Itself.

We have nothing to fear but fear itself. These words by Franklin D Roosevelt in an inaugural address during The Great Depression hold as good today as they did then, a time when terror has become the sole weapon of the unjust. I write this in the recent bomb blasts in my home city Bangalore, a place I believe is one of the most peaceful places to live in on God's green earth. Just like anything else to put an end to terrorism it is vital that we understand it, its dynamics, its weapons, its weak points and what would be the best policy and plan of action for accomplishing the job at hand.

A good start would be at looking at the factors involved which would essentially be the answers to those 5 universal questions…. Who?, To whom?, With what?, Why?, What effect? (Which), and How (to solve)? Therefore the factors involved are 1) the terrorists, 2) the people they wish to terrorize, 3) Fear, 4) To promote radical ideas, 5) The outcome and 6) The government/administration/people.

As it is vital that we understand the nature of terrorism, it will also help us gain some insight into its dynamics. First unlike war where the attack is to large degree on soldiers and others in the war, the people intended to be attacked by terrorists are civilians, innocent civilians without arms to defend themselves. While war in itself is too harsh for the human psyche at most times it is widely acknowledged as necessary most of the time, and so there has always been an element of honour and respect, for example war is first declared before it starts, the civilians are usually given a chance to get out of harm’s way, messengers and ambassadors are spared etc. Terrorism on the other hand is below all this, there is no element of honour, terrorism essentially involves "cheap shots" and playing dirty. There is no declaration before an attack, there are various declarations after the attack, and they depend largely on the element of surprise and catching defenceless people of guard. The fact that these terrorists have to stoop to such levels is testament that these people believe that they don't stand a chance in a fair fight; they cannot choose to declare or go to war because they know that in such a case they will lose and so must resort to these measures. It is evident thus that they believe Fear is their only weapon and their only way is scaring their way into a victory. Thus these people place a lot of emphasis on fear. Fear which we discussed was one of the factors is not only a factor for us, the people trying to be terrorized but also a factor for them as well since they are putting a lot of emphasis on it and it is in fact fear that has caused them to choose such a cowardice means of combat rather than a face to face war. It is tragic that a woman lost her life yesterday in the serial bomb blasts in Bangalore 9 bombs exploded in a matter of 20 minutes in various parts of the city. The amount of lives that were lost was 1, while 19 were injured, again let me remind you there were 9 bombs that exploded in 9 different places. Given the facts of the evidence or if you read almost any article in the newspaper or the internet or see any TV report you will see that the evidence, the location of the bombs, the time it happened etc was not to kill or injure but rather mainly to instill fear, If you think the reason behind this is because terrorists are compassionate, think again, these terrorists care not for their own lives and are willing to blow it up literarily as long as it blows up the lives of others as well, The reason behind this is again fear, fear of retaliation. Terrorists are afraid of a strong retaliation as this means they lose their elements of surprise and may have to fight people with arms rather than spring surprise attacks on innocent defenceless civilians. It is essentially because of this that they choose terrorism and not military combat as they understand that they're odds with an army are very poor. Terror organizations from the Middle East have said that the world trade centre of New York was chosen rather than other targets as it might've elicited too much of a retaliation. Now there are bombs being planted and found in plenty all over India, the reason is these bombs are planted without detonators, I mean really to have to be so badly faced against such odds that you have to plant bombs without detonators cause you are afraid of the reaction if they would burst, in an effort to bring fear, that's pathetic. What are the citizens of the country now supposed to feel fear out of compassion to these utterly vain attempts?

Therefore now let us look at the outcome. While the bomb blasts on the US embassy in the last decade was something that did cause concern, it was of good outcome and success for the terrorists, but 9/11 was what one would think as they're biggest failure! To us it was a priceless loss of innocent citizens, where there can be no recompensation, but to them who have no care or concern for anything human much less human life it was an utter failure since all they really care about is the reaction, that ideally for them should be -ok we'll back off and listen and be ruled by you, just don't kill us like this. Thankfully the reaction they got was nothing like it, rather what they ended up with was alarming as far as their cause is concerned simply because it purged all they're safe havens something they strongly believed would never happen. Thus rather than ending up with more territory and power to control they lost most of that which they had and are staring at complete extinction. Therefore 9/11 was they're biggest failure as they got that equation of "enough lives and damage to cause fear but not enough to bring about an aggressive response" completely wrong! A mistake it looks like they are going to pay for by possible extinction of the whole network. This was a shock as terrorism also involves propaganda to the locals for new recruits, and for this it is essential for them to portray that the odds are with them something that they did in Afghanistan when they claimed that all the technology in America could never match to the advantage they had of the terrain and knowledge of the terrain in Afghanistan. This proved to be false and a lie, and possibly a fatal injury to the morale and claims that the Terrorists possessed. The turn in the story has not only not taken the way they hoped it would but also turned drastically in the way they really did not want it to and did not even consider a possibility, they're backs now are against the wall and we can see it in the level of aggression. Previous to 9/11 and even in the first years of the war they were very aggressive and even boasted at how strong they're network is and how it is no match for the "white devil". Now it is more of an appeal to the world that the "white devil" is truly a devil and must be defeated and so please do what it requires for them to be defeated. The odds are truly stacked against the terrorists and the reason is simply because of the path they have chosen to take. They have put too much emphasis on fear, they have banked on it unconditionally and they're faith in its power has failed them now that they have no control of people through fear; it is time for them to fear. The big bully's biggest fear is that he wouldn't be feared. They're ways have not worked and they are looking at the end. This reinstates once again that the ways of the civilized to be more powerful than the ways of the barbarian, as had they resorted to the pen rather than the sword, fought for their causes through media or journalistic or other civilized means rather than blindly bank on fear and the sword they would have increased their chances multifold.

The reason we as civilized people have such an advantage and the reason choosing the barbaric way of life puts one drastically against the current and the odds is because we as citizens have a right and a responsibility and use it. When we are threatened in the way we are by terrorists we have a right to say we will not be afraid that is in fact our responsibility to say that we are not threatened and by doing so we do not condone their behaviour. When this happens in the global way that it has been happening they are faced with the end. We have a responsibility to boldly ask and demand for our rights and our freedoms! This is the only way we can escape from tyranny and thus we must maintain our freedom vigilantly, because the tyrants don't suddenly come upon us, they sneak up on us, like Hitler sneaked up on Germany, like the Taliban and the Al Qaeda sneaked up on the Afghanistan people. The Afghanistan people and their culture before the Taliban were very hospitable. They are a deeply hospitable people they found it hard to assertive. The Taliban sneaked upon them, assuming a Robin Hood type, take from the rich Soviets and give to the poor kind of disguise and then take from America and give to the poor kind of disguise. Today this lie is totally cleared as they see who really gives to them and who robs from them. But the terrorists sneaked up on them, and they refused to see it till it was too late. We must defend our freedom at all costs and this we must do vigilantly. Freedom is not free and we need to resist tyranny and we need to be brave and we need to face fear so that the tides turn cause really fear is all they have. I have always been very proud of the Bangalore attitude, a photo in the Times Of India showed a group of Bangaloreans in a mall standing a little away from a member of a bomb squad trying to dismantle a bomb and filming it with their mobile phones, instead of getting the hell out of there as fast as they could, its an image like that, that causes a terrorist to fear when he/she sees it. We must be vigilant and brave. It took the death of 2751 people to deal with the situation in Afghanistan, had it been done when the US embassy was targeted it could've been avoided. This is why it is essential for us to be vigilant and intolerant to these methods because what is at stake is human life the more we become intolerant to these methods the smaller the margin of error become in that equation of "enough to cause fear but not enough to provoke retaliation". We must strive to close the gap and bring the status quo to any attempt to cause fear is enough to take action. So that they're backs are really to the wall. What is at stake here is innocent human life and we have nothing to fear.