Still Unclear Who Was Behind Attacks

rp. More than 5,000 people are still missing, huge material damage has been created, and the spiritual and psychic damage is grave, too. The feeling of security has been destroyed, and the fact that the damage was caused in the centre of the Western world has scarred society deeper than may be at first be visible. A peaceful and busy world that only knew about bomb explosions and terror attacks from the television screen was suddenly turned into an inferno. The shock goes deep and the efforts of the media have helped to multiply the impact.

Anyone convinced that in the present tense situation it is possible to quickly identify those responsible, must immediately be suspected of either acting recklessly or of intending to blame someone in his own interests or for other reasons and to burden someone with a guilt that simply cannot be borne.

It is precisely because this guilt weighs so heavily that we need to turn to the order and the principles provided by the rule of law. A criminal act must be dealt with by a court exercising criminal justice - however serious the crime may be. Evidence can be provided and those responsible tracked down and indicted. Dealing with crimes in any other way automatically means departing from the rules of an enlightened and civilised world. Anyone who thinks that verdicts can be reached and enforced without proper evidence is in danger of hitting the wrong people, innocent people, which will serve to incite new hatred.

According to ARD correspondent Schlesinger (13 September), the FBI has pointed out that easily found evidence can either be a kind of personal trademark of the criminal saying, ‘It was me’, or else it may be intended to direct people’s attention towards some particular person. Alone such a suspicion means that great care needs to be exercised in criminal investigations.

Given that the terror attacks must have involved at least 50 people, that very large financial resources were needed and that extremely sophisticated technical and organisational know-how was involved in the attacks, the question must be asked how the necessary preparations could be carried out without attracting the attention of the various, not only the American, intelligence services? These intelligence services focus, to a large extent, on exactly those terrorist connections that are relevant in the present context. In fact, since the end of the East-West conflict, terrorism has virtually become the raison d’etre behind intelligence activities.

The emerging military activism of western governments in co-operation with Russia, even though as yet there exists no conclusive analysis of who was responsible, must raise the question as to what all this activity has to do with the horror in New York and which of these activities is pursuing different goals that have not been explicated.

What is needed now is caution. Acting prudently can help to prevent future destruction and further hatred.