Peak of Terrorism Already Over;Fight against Terrorism Still a Long Fight

The cover of Time magazine’s May 5 issue had bin Laden’s face with a red X across it. This is the fourth time that Time has put out such a cover; Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, bin Laden’s deputy and the third in line at al-Qaida, all received such treatment.

What follows after bin Laden’s death is a long and slow challenge against terrorism.

Important Watershed in Global Fight Against Terrorism

Bin Laden created a peak in the doctrine of terrorism. He took over terrorist groups that were dispersed and reorganized them into a disciplined, ambitious organization. The only goal of “the base” organization [“al-Qaida” is Arabic for “the base”] was to wage jihad in Western societies, especially the United States. The terrorist forces reached its peak on Sept. 11, 2001.

Over the years, bin Laden left the U.S. with no way out, and the U.S.’ lack of knowledge about him, to a certain degree, fueled the arrogance of terrorists. The death of bin Laden has more or less settled the score for the Sept. 11 incident; at the same time, it is equivalent to sending a warning to other terrorists.

Former U.S. Defense Department official Michael Nacht said that bin Laden’s death will diminish the terrorist threat to the United States. Nacht compared terrorism in Osama bin Laden’s era to a deadly disease. Now he believes it is more like a chronic illness — it will continue to cause trouble, but it is not a mortal threat.

In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “The death of Osama bin Laden, announced by [United States] President [Barack] Obama last night, is a watershed moment in our common global fight against terrorism. The crimes of al-Qaida touched most continents, bringing tragedy and loss of life to thousands of men, women and children.” Leaders from many countries also issued statements of rejoice.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that this was an important event and positive progress in the international fight against terrorism. Terrorism is a common enemy of the international community. The international community should improve its cooperation and attack against terrorism. China believes that, to fight terrorism, symptoms should be treated and its breeding grounds should be eliminated.

Using Economic Development and Civic Education to Rid of Terrorism

Yin Gang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of West Asia and Africa, told China News Weekly: “The network of terrorist activities is still present, and so are terrorist doctrine and thoughts. The fight against terrorism will continue in the long run. Firm military action, on one hand, should be implemented, while on the other, social injustice should be eradicated. Educating people not to accept terrorism doctrine and beliefs is the most fundamental approach. Avoiding terrorism-related problems and not disseminating appropriate knowledge through civic education will only disadvantage oneself.”

When the Sept. 11 incident happened, al-Qaida had about 200 members. Now, al-Qaida is much bigger and more influential than it was before the U.S. tried to reduce its forces. Independent radical groups in Yemen, Somalia and other places are emerging. New terrorist leaders are also emerging. They include Nasser al-Wahishi of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (which is subordinate to al-Qaida), American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and so on. Although the U.S. is better able to eradicate premeditated attacks, even without bin Laden, the threat of terrorism is always present, as the 2009 Christmas bombing showed.

Yin Gang pointed out that poverty is never a cause of terrorism, yet to a certain degree, it is a breeding ground for it. Terrorism has its own doctrine, and the source of terrorism lies in its doctrine. Using bin Laden as an example, he said: “Religious leaders of radical groups are all wealthy and knowledgeable. They will never launch terrorist attacks themselves. Rather, they will coax and send some ignorant young people to their death. And generally, they do not send their children.”

Leon Panetta, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said, “… we’ll see how it plays out, because they’ve got to go through the effort to try to decide who in fact will replace bin Laden. We think that’ll give us some opportunities to be able to continue to attack them in the confusion and debate that they’re going go through as to who ultimately replaces bin Laden. But I can assure you, whoever takes his place he will be No. 1 on our list.”

Pointing to the small Chinese online community that praises bin Laden and speaks against the U.S., international affairs expert Ma Xiaolin said, “These people only saw the part where he [bin Laden] made the U.S. suffer, not how he caused suffering to thousands of innocent people. There is no right or wrong or distance to terrorism. It is necessary to put aside feelings of extreme nationalism in view of countering terrorism.”