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Dr Michael K Oladimeji

Principal Scientist

Mikayola International Inc.

THIS TERRORIST THING
By Dr. Michael K. Oladimeji
In my earlier lamentation on the destructive reach of the voices of anger which visited the World Trade Center last week, I have described the World Trade Center as the "Scepter of American ingenuity, opulence and grandeur". That to me was what the World Trade Center represented. I should know this, I worked there for close to ten years. My mind went to my boss, Dr. Robert C. Iotti, who I had patterned my work ethic on earlier. Dr. Iotti was always the early arrival at the Applied Physics Dept., and he was also the Head of that Department. By 8:00AM, I was at my desk with a croissant and a cup of coffee. Iotti was there before 7:00AM, for he believes in leadership by example. I left Ebasco several years ago but did not find out that Ebasco, having been sold to so many buyers since I left, had also left the World trade Center with a new name. Once I learnt Ebasco was no longer there, my next thought was for all those Nigerians I used to see during lunch time. I hope they are all at home safe and healthy. All nations of the world are represented at the World Trade Center, courtesy of American tolerance of people of other countries. I am going to miss the World Trade very dearly. So long!
What precisely is the reason for the kind of anger that would drive any human being to this precipice? Is this ordinarily a sign of a world moving to Godlessness as the ilk of Jerry Falwell now wants us to believe? He blamed other fellow Americans' tolerance of their neighbors' personal life as the reason for the tragedy! Or is it just a temporary insanity of people aggrieved? A look at the history of "Terrorism" will be found to be as porous as the mind of the perpetrators of these terrors.
Let it be known to the whole world that America, the beautiful has been made possible by the noble effort of the people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. I am always personally thrilled with the mental sagacity of Thomas Jefferson. These people made it possible for us to pride ourselves as the joint heirs of American revolutionary dreams and the ensuing freedom. This author lives very relaxed in this US of A enjoying the noble and undeterred fruit of liberty planted by these American founding fathers and watered to germination by Lincoln, the great emancipator himself. And so, I was incapable of imagining what I saw before my own eyes on September 11, 2001, after all, this is USA. What the British people called the terrorists in late 18th century, but which the founding-fathers called the revolutionaries, are today also saddled with declaring war on the terrorists of today. We all know that the people who committed the atrocity of September 11, 2001 saw themselves as Allah soldiers fighting on behalf of all the Muslims of the world. This people were very unusual in their purpose, and at the same time calculating in the way to achieve the purpose. They felt marginalized (borrowing from that popular Nigerian word) and perhaps humiliated when the fiery imagery of modern technological warfare was brought "live" to their neighborhood during the Gulf war. Prior to that war in this country, the popular phrase was always "The revolution will not be televised", but then there was no CNN at the originating time of this phrase. The terrorists saw how powerless they and their people found themselves. Their mentor had boasted of "The mother of all wars", and they saw how empty this homegrown slogan was with the ensuing humiliation. Remember the pinpoint accuracy of the devastating effort of the cruise missiles in Saddam Hussein's backyard. All the Muslim world watched this Al Qaeda's low budget but highly efficient terror with mixed emotions on the television.
And so, the Al Qaeda's plots thickened. The Al Qaeda themselves were earlier inventions of the CIA. Their old name was Mujjayeddin. The splinter group became a Holding company for the counter- balancing occupancy of the void left by the former Soviet Union. For, opinions must always crystallize in two directions: Terrorist/Freedom fighter, Good/Evil, Your Poison/My Meat, Positive/Negative, and finally, God/Satan. As you can see all human activities could become uneventful if any of these dichotomies are destabilized, for perhaps none of us would worry anymore about God if Satan who is the torturer of our lives cease to exist. Frankly, I and many other foreigners who now call USA home probably would not know the value of freedom if the definition of George Washington by the British had been left to prevail. The Queen of England attested to this for, we all enjoyed that beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled banners the other day during the traditional changing of the guard uncharacteristically dedicated to the memories of the latest American fallen heroes. I was moved to tears. This is a very significant case of happy ending! Britain is definitely proud of her offspring. If you watched the television last Tuesday, Al Qaeda entry to USA was a triumphant entry as far as those who believe in their cause are concerned. Outwardly, some people, hypocritically perhaps, empathized with America because not doing so exposes them to possible imminent danger. Although the followers of Bin Laden are known for their defiance, a lot of those who outwardly repudiated Bin Laden did so because of their timidity. These people inwardly rejoiced that Al Qaeda's effort was publicly televised for the whole world to see without the terrorists paying a dime for the air time, and some would boast, they achieved their aims in borrowed enemy assets (All the Boeing 767 Aircrafts were Americans). They will quickly remind people of the triumph of David against Goliath. Remember David used the only wretched catapult he had to defeat Goliath. We watched the Gulf War on prime time television, and Osama also managed to steal American televisions for his own show. This alone endears him to the poor and the helpless in the third world, Muslim, Pagan and even Christians alike who for all source of reasons detest America. This seems to give hope that they are not after all powerless, all they have to do is to be a little resourceful. There is no doubt most third world with the exceptions of those where Muslims have contributed to the misery of other religions, perhaps most certainly feel this way. This is not because they like Osama, but because of that inner feeling that a vacuum created by lack of balance of power must never forever exist. I hope this is what the President of the United States will spend his time examining so that he can plug the holes in American security and also try to mend American foreign policy image as seen by the third world. Durban, South Africa is still very fresh in the minds of most who feel America arrogantly failed to exhibit leadership in contrast to the Europeans by their walking away from that conference.
Ben Gurion, the modern founder of the State of Israel was a great liberator to his people. Ben Gurion International Airport is a great testimony to his forever presence and memorial. However, his organization became the one held responsible for the destruction of King David's Hotel in the late 1940s. His undaunted desire to achieve his end gave birth to the State of Israel.
Some have tried and failed. Saddam Hussein saw the excision of Kuwait from Basra province of Iraq around 1913 as a testimony to the evil nature of the West. He thought that the British Government took advantage of the haplessness of his people in those days by removing the oil rich state from Iraq as they also did to the ill-prepared Chinese when they excised Hong Kong from China. The Chinese had impeded the trafficking in opium which was very profitable for the British at that time, so they ceased Hong Kong to remove Chinese objection. Saddam saw that as soon as the Chinese became formidable, they reclaimed their Hong Kong. He, at this time also felt formidable and thought he was capable of reclaiming Kuwait. However, he overestimated his power in the face of the one important object missing - Nuclear Weapons. And so, he labored in vain. In other words, he got to fight without the clear recognition of his adversary. To him, Kuwait was the adversary, however, to the West, the bottom line is the continuous flow of the black gold - Oil. So, the term terrorist sticks to him. He was the vanquished of the "Mother of all wars" Up to this day, nobody will dare take a look at the genuineness or lack of it of the remote cause of the Gulf war, for the terrorist has been identified and permanently put where he belongs. Taking a long look at the history of the world, the last has not been heard of that conflict. I predict this conflict will not end with the impending elimination of Saddam Hussein. Other contemporary events will breed another terrorists who will continue the cause, and we cannot discount re-alignment when this continues to unfold. I take into consideration that the black gold will not last forever.
What about the "terrorist" Yasser Arafat? He was the lucky one, for he was saved by the bell! He would most likely get his Palestine, if nothing, but as a result of this mishap. Arafat who was a terrorist of yesteryears is slowly being accepted as a player, and very soon, he will apply the word to some of his restless comrades who will want to destabilize the status quo as he knows it, as conflict will also develop under his watch as a result of lack of the global will to settle the remote causes of problems in that part of the world.
What does one make of all these shifting grounds? It seems to me the word terrorism is just a word craving for conflict resolution. There were people called terrorists before and after the time of Jesus Christ. Terrorism is here with us. It has been employed by big powers and the powerless. When USA created Osama Bin Laden, little did they know he would become an albatross around their neck. At that time, Osama was a freedom fighter, while the Soviet Union saw him as terrorist. Idi Amin was Israeli's nationalist until he asked them to carry him shoulder high as their conqueror (like black people used to carry white District Officers DOs), he suddenly became a cannibal. All along, those who were called terrorists then, especially Milton Obote knew what Idi Amin was.
It is now time for people of goodwill to focus on the cause of terrorism rather than its eradication. Eradication cannot happen in a thousand year in as much as the root causes remain. Any attempt at eradication will merely create some more terrorists and perhaps make the world lose good people like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Gurion, and very soon Yasser Arafat. Of course what about those who funded and supported apartheid? Did they not brand Nelson Mandela as terrorist? Today, friends and foes point to him as model of what a God-made leader should be. If the evil perpetrators of the despicable apartheid had succeeded, Mandela would have been lost to history, for he was their "terrorist". It is better, to therefore, light the candle than curse the darkness. The only way to light the candle however, is to settle all outstand problems that are at the roots of all the madness. It makes sense to therefore define the terrorists as those who feel aggrieved, and those who call them terrorists as those identified and targeted by the aggrieved. "Terrorists can be your friend or my friend and they are everywhere there is perceived or unperceived injustice or even lack of injustice. Oh well, in cases like these, double talks abounds. Remember? Your MEAT may be my POISON. We need to talk, and talk to each other now. This is the way to find out and solve terrorism and its resulting human collateral aftermath.
What some of these "Terrorists" seem to be saying in the words of Patrick Henry is "Give me liberty or give me death". Americans, especially, the Virginians relish these words of their revolutionary son who the British called "Terrorist". While this thought of Patrick Henry does not seem to apply to Osama Bin Laden and his group, let us all think about it!

"Let it be known to the whole world that America, the beautiful has been made possible by the noble effort of the people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. I am always personally thrilled with the mental sagacity of Thomas Jefferson. These people made it possible for us to pride ourselves as the joint heirs of American revolutionary dreams and the ensuing freedom. This author lives very relaxed in this US of A enjoying the noble and undeterred fruit of liberty planted by these American founding fathers and watered to germination by Lincoln, the great emancipator himself. And so, I was incapable of imagining what I saw before my own eyes on September 11, 2001, after all, this is USA. What the British people called the terrorists in late 18th century, but which the founding-fathers called the revolutionaries, are today also saddled with declaring war on the terrorists of today."