As a precautionary measure the British government requested British Airways to cancel its flights to Kenya for an indefinite period, as there is a possibility of threat to launch attack on British citizens. Similarly, Americans were advised by the State Department to defer non-essential travel to Kenya and to carefully review plans to visit East Africa in general. According to one report, this alert came as the Lebanese army in cooperation with Syrian forces smashed a plot to attack American embassy in Beirut to kill the Ambassador.

Earlier, Australia and New Zealand warned their citizens to be on guard while travelling to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, East Timor and Brunei. This warning came in the wake of bombing in Bali nightclub in Indonesia in October last year that took lives of more than 200 people including many Australians.

Meanwhile, Bush Administration warned its citizens not to travel to Sabah, one of the States of Malaysia as they apprehend terrorist attack on American citizens. According to latest information, both America and Britain decided to close down their embassies in Saudi Arabia because of fears of terrorist attacks in spite of close cooperation from Saudi Government to track down the plotters. The decision was taken on the basis of 'credible information' received about imminent attack, according to a spokesman in the State Department. It seems that terrorist threats are looming large over British and US citizens all over the world.

Terrorism in any form is condemnable and not acceptable as a means to resolve conflict. Terrorism, according to Webster's New World dictionary, means the use of force and violence to intimidate as a political policy. If we accept this definition, Palestinians, Chechens, Kashmiris, Moros, and Tamil Tigers are in fact using force and violence to achieve their political ends.

Let us look at the conflict rationally and logically. In the conflict-ridden Israel-Palestine area, when Israelis murder a Palestinian, it is seen as justified. When Palestinian kills an Israeli, it is called terrorism. The reality is that Israelis practically control the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip with battalions of heavily armed military. In the process the power of Palestinian authority has been reduced to non-contiguous pockets of limited control. Life is precious, no one is willing to die for nothing. According to Islamic tenet, suicide is a sin. A devout Muslim cannot commit suicide. Why then the Palestinains mostly are carrying out suicide bombing? The clashes between Palestinians and immigrant Israelis have been over land. The series of peace process initiated by the United States or Norway have failed to end the Israeli occupation of the Arab lands in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The situation actually aggravated by US policy of condoning unabated Israeli incursion into Palestinian territories and atrocities amounting to State sponsored terrorism while condemning retaliatory actions by Palestinians as an act of terrorism.

Palestinains continue to protest 'Israeli control of every aspect of Palestinian life, expropriation of Palestine land, bulldozing of Palestinian homes, exploitation of cheap Palestinian labour and rapid expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land.' Finding no other alternative extremist groups among Palestinians launch suicide bombing to convey the message that Israel must vacate their land. Rightly or wrongly Palestinians believe that they are fighting for national liberation and they could be successful in driving out Israelis from their territories.

Muslims all over the world condemned the attacks on World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on 11 September 2001. This condemnation was based on religious and humanitarian grounds. No political or religious cause could ever justify these terrible crimes. The Bush administration in fact was urged by Muslim American Society on 18 September to make sure that factual legal evidence, that meets international standards, must be established beyond reasonable doubt before any response plan is developed or executed. Muslims in America believe that retaliation must be limited to the perpetrators, their accomplices and network of associates. These were certainly good points, and should have been taken into consideration before war against Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network was launched. Osama bin Laden was presented by American administration as mastermind behind the attacks without proven evidence. It may be pointed out that many Muslims lost their lives in these attacks and no member of Jewish Community was reported to have succumbed to injury following the attacks on WTC. According to one report, members of this particular community were conspicuously absent on the day of mayhem at WTC.

Lyndon La Rouche, presidential candidate for 2004 elections, in his article Zbigniew Brezezinski and September 11th wrote that the assertion, that Osama bin Laden directed the events of September 11th is, of course, purely a 'conspiracy theory', in support of which no scientifically plausible proof has been presented publicly, to the present day. La Rouche examined further the nature of events that led to his conclusion: deep investigation of the longstanding, increasing levels and aggressiveness of activity of Israeli spies inside the USA, including notorious, years-long mega penetration of the security of the Clinton White House by the agents of the Israeli intelligence services, points to the likelihood of at least a significant, if coincidental Israeli role in creating the environment from which the events of September 11th were launched."

His interesting observations are: "Trying to defend what are considered useful lies, will undermine that credibility in the end perhaps with terrible consequences... On the issue of Iraq the United States also used false and fabricated documents in the Security Council to prove that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction and has been collecting certain materials for production of nuclear arsenal. Reports by Chief UN Inspector Hans Blix and Director General International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) EI Baradei have exposed United States to international ridicule and mockery."

As the shrill Bush-Rumsfeld propaganda campaign depicting Baghdad as a seat of evil went on apace, the CIA knew full well that two decades of war, sanctions and arms inspection had reduced Saddam's Iraq to a tottering paper tiger. In his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on 19 March 2002, CIA Director George Tenet neither singled out the Iraq threat, nor described it with particular urgency. And during the Iraq debate in the Congress in October Tenet told the lawmakers "the Iraqi President is unlikely to strike the US unless provoked."

September 11 episode has brought about rapid change in the foreign policy of the United States. This has resulted in shifting its policy on Chechnya as the Bush administration called on Chechens to cut their ties to international terrorist groups that have provided weapons for their fight and urged upon them to accept peace talks with the Kremlin whereas the United States used to criticize Russia's human rights record in the breakaway Republic. It is a fact that Russian forces are invading forces in Chechnya, which declared independence in 1991 when Yeltsin was the president of the Russian Federation. The shift in the policy of the United States on Chechnya is the result of Russia's offer of use its bases and airspace by the United States in a war on terrorism.

America claims to be the protector of human rights in the world. Whereas she has been encouraging its ally, Israel, to indiscriminately violate human rights. America is paying for and providing weapons to Israel that encourages Israel to kill thousands of Palestinians, who are fighting for the cause of freedom and to establish their inalienable rights of an independent state. Israel is invading force in the Palestinian territories. Israel has availed of the opportunity of the war on terrorism, to hit Palestinians as much as possible and capture more territories for settlement of more Jews. In exchange America has been receiving practically nothing from Israel. On the other hand, the Muslim countries are providing for America to keep its economy floating. It is an alliance that makes no sense from the standpoint of American values and interest. It is also strange that America has been protecting Israel's interest and the interest of such Muslim countries in the Middle East which have worst track records of human rights. Unless and until America abandons its double standard policy with regard to the Middle East issue, one cannot rule out the possibility of throwing suicide bombs and adopting other means of destruction by desperate elements.

The psyche of terror threats has been haunting the minds of American and British people. Many of them residing abroad are having sleepless nights. In the words of the Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad "they are afraid of their own shadow, afraid to come here (Sabah), afraid because they know there are many people in this world hating them."

I would like to conclude by quoting Booker prize winner novelist Arundhati Roy: "The United States government is waging a spurious war on terror that is costing Americans their freedom and democracy." The spurious war has caused devastating effect in the world as has been reflected in the annual report of the Amnesty International. It said that "the war on terror, far from making the world a safer place, has made it more dangerous by curtailing human rights, undermining the rule of international law and shielding governments from scrutiny."

Mohammad Amjad Hossain is a former diplomat