Think about the 2nd Anniversary of '9.11': Viewpoint

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 11, 2003

Think about the 2nd Anniversary of '9.11': Viewpoint

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Onlookers' Reaction

September 11 two years ago, the scene of the New York-based World Trade Building being struck, set fire on and caused to collapse by airplanes, as shown by live telecasting, leapt into people's eyes. The American people's reactions were shock, fear and indignation. From then on, terrorism has become a key topic of discussion in the American society, which has affected the historical process of the two ensuing years of the United States and the world as a whole, and given rise to complicated world changes.

During the two years after the "9.11" attack, the United States launched two wars in the world, one was the Afghanistan war, and the other was the recently concluded Iraq war. These two are at once already concluded and not concluded wars. From the perspective of military confrontation between countries, the wars have ended; but from the perspective of antagonism between people and the reconstruction of states and societies, the wars haven't ended. Prior to the wars, the United States cited the example of the occupation of Japan after WWII as one of its reasons for starting the wars. But as things stand today, the two are incomparable, because of the vast difference in historical and cultural environments.

The war US launched against Iraq was said to have been carried out under the guidance of "shock and awe" theory, this cannot but arouse people's associated thought that terrorist attacks on the World Trade Building are also a "shock and awe" means. The target of terrorists' attack is to destroy the symbol and confidence of US culture, facts prove they have not really attained this aim. US "shock and awe" strategy seems to be effective militarily, but what it relies on at the back is the great disparity in strength. In regard to buying popularity and the reconstruction of society after the end of regular war, this strategy seems to be completely ineffective, because strength can only destroy the original structure, whereas reconstruction is a very long cultural process.

Recently, the United States has on many occasions expressed its demand, hoping that the United Nations and other countries could involve themselves in postwar Iraqi affairs, at the same time, it insists on its leading role. It is well known that the United States started the war on Iraq without UN authorization and under the circumstance of many countries' opposition, now it wants others' involvement in clearing up the mess situation, moreover, it only allows others to work, not to have any say and make decisions, such a demand is rather irrational. As a matter of fact, any kind of involvement will necessarily produce influence and change the process of the situation, the United States put forward a physical, unrealizable demand. As far as the United States is concerned, it cannot change its psyche of "what I say, counts", which will greatly increase difficulty in international coordination.

A mushroom cloud of smoke

In recent years, the theory of civilization conflicts is an academic topic of conversation to world concerns. After the "9.11" terrorist attack, the theory of civilization conflicts seemed to have become a prediction of automatic realization and an urgent practical problem. Terrorist conduct violates the basic civilization norm of human society, and so it is imperative to sound the call for attacking it.

On the other hand, terrorism was born against a profound social-cultural background, the way to tackling it is by no means a simple "law-enforcement" process.

As to bin Laden and other terrorist forces, an undeniable fact is that they have the characteristics of civilization identification and ideology. Specific civilization identification is doubtlessly an inevitable attribute of today's humankind, but such identification should also avoid being absolute, narrow, exclusive and extreme. In today's world, spiritually speaking, the extreme civilization identification is the root of civilization conflict. In the advantaged civilization group, extreme civilization identification leads to hegemonic ideology and cultural self-importance; in the disadvantaged civilization group, it leads to the mindset of despair and to terrorism, Hegemony and terrorism are in fierce conflict, but in spiritual tendency they are intimately tied up with each other.

Showing respect for the diversity of civilization and advocating dialog, tolerance, mutual trust and learning from each other among different civilizations is of special significance in today's world. It is not only the spiritual foundation for defusing civilization conflict, but also the fundamental policy for eliminating terrorism. Behind the inequality of civilization is inequality of reality, it is a phenomenon featuring the widening gap between South and North and the ever-greater disparity between the poor and the rich. Under the condition of economic globalization, the problem of global social justice has become increasingly prominent, as has the problem of the democratization of international relationship, only when these two problems are properly resolved, can the problem of terrorism be fundamentally resolved.

Planes Crashed into World Trade Center

This article, written by Huang Qing, is published on page 13 of People's Daily, September 11, 2003.

Sept. 11, 2001 - a Painful Memory

Terrorists launched unprecedented attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. on Sept. 11, 2001. The twin towers of World Trade Center in New York collapsed over one hour after two planes were hijacked and flown into them, followed by another hijacked plane which carshed into the Pentagon. A fourth plane that was hijacked crashed in a wooded area in Pennsylvania.

Two planes crashes into twin towers of World Trade center in New York

Twin towers of World Trade center in New York collapsed over one hour after two planes crashed into them around 9 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001.

U.S. President George W. Bush said that the crashes were "an apparent terrorist attack on our country," and ordered a full-scale investigation to "hunt down the folks who committed the act."

One of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center had been hijacked after takeoff from Boston, a U.S. official said, citing a transmission from the plane.

All planes were grounded across the country by the Federal Aviation Administration. All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed down.

Several subway lines were immediately shut down. Trading on Wall Street was suspended.

Large holes were visible in sides of the 110-story buildings, landmark twin towers. Dense smoke billowed far into the sky above the gaping holes in the side of the 110 story twin towers and debris pelted down upon street, one of the city's booming work areas. When the second plane hit, a fire ball of flame and smoke erupted, leaving a huge hole in the glass and steel tower.

People ran down the stairs in panic and fled the building. Thousands of pieces of possibly office paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about three miles away.

Terrorist bombers struck the World Trade Center in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.

Aircraft crashes into Pentagon

An aircraft crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001 and the West Wing of the White House was evacuated amid threats of terrorism.

Reports said that the tail-end of a large airliner plunged into the building and smoke billowed out of the Pentagon.

An American Airlines flight from Washington to Los Angeles crashed into the Pentagon with 64 passengers and crew aboard. The fuel-laden jet, which had just taken off from Washington's Dulles Airport, set the world's largest office building ablaze and forced thousands of employees to evacuate.

The attack occurred shortly after two other commercial jetliners were hijacked and flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. A fourth plane that was hijacked crashed in a wooded area in Pennsylvania.

The Pentagon suffered widespread damage on its the building's fourth, fifth and sixth corridors, and the impact tore a gaping hole in one side of the building.

Major attacks on US targets in recent years

Following are the terrorist attacks on US targets in recent years, including one happened in the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993, when a bomb exploded in a parking area below the towers, killing six people and wounding more than 1,000. In the case, six Islamic militants were convicted in the bombing and sentenced to life in prison:

-- October 12, 2000: Terrorist bombing kills 17 US sailors aboard the USS Cole as it docked at Yemen's port of Aden.

-- August 7, 1998: Car bombs explode outside US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people and wounding thousands of others.

-- June 25, 1996: Truck-bomb explodes outside the Khobar Towers, Dharan, eastern Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American servicemen and wounding hundreds of various nationalities.

-- September 13, 1995: Rocket-propelled grenade pierces wall of US Embassy in Moscow, but causes no injuries.

-- November 13, 1995: Car bomb detonates at a US military headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing five American service personnel.

-- April 19, 1995: Bomb rips through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 and wounding more than 500. Former U.S. soldier Timothy McVeigh is convicted of carrying out the attack, who was executed earlier this year.

-- December 21, 1994: Explosion wounds 45 people on a subway train at a station near the World Trade Center in New York.

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