Global terrorism is not just A for Al-Qaeda, which has not sprung up in isolation. Many factors across the globe and throughout history have led to terrorism in its current form today.
A look at the A to Z of it all...
A for Al-Qaeda
That's the big daddy of them all. In terms of grabbing global attention, no-one has done better. It's even celebrated its 20th anniversary. The Al-Qaeda came to the limelight when it attacked US soldiers in Yemen. It shot to prominence with the World Trade Center bombing of 1993. After that it really went high-profile, culminating in 9/11. But some are already calling it a spent force.
B for Bilal Town, Abbottabad
American forces dumped Osama bin Laden's body into the sea, hoping that he would have no monument (had his body been buried in the ground). But his Abbottabad mansion is already turning out to be a pilgrimage of sorts. What will happen to it when it is cleared of security forces? It is also a monument of how a country could fool the mighty US for a record six years in plain sight.
C for CIA
How many Hollywood movies have shown the Central Intelligence Agency teaming up with an evil maverick only to have that person become an eventual arch villain? That fiction is based on some fact, with Osama being the biggest example. It has hidden things from the Congress. It has trained some groups to kill civilians and others to topple governments, never a pleasant scheme. That’s everything to arouse hatred and revenge in the enemy camp!
D for the Definition of Terrorism
What is terrorism anyway? There is no clear-cut definition for that. Some people use the term state terrorism for when countries cross the line. Within Kashmir, some people call them freedom fighters while the Indian media refer to them as militants. At last count, more than a hundred definitions of terrorism exist in academia. One man's terrorist may well be another man's hero.
E for Eco-Terrorism
Radical environmental groups have used bombs and arson in the past. Many cases of sabotage by eco groups have also led to terms like "ecotage". Of course most people don't consider them terrorist because of their "noble" cause, but many of them have landed up in jail all the same.
F for FBI
While the CIA generally seems to have a free hand across the world, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has to be more circumspect while wading through the territories of America. After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the FBI reinvented itself in counter-terrorism operations. This activity was further beefed up post 9/11.
Image: In this Sept. 11, 2001 file photo, smoke, flames and debris erupt from one of the World Trade Center towers after a plane strikes it, in New York.
Images: AP/PTI/AFP
