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Wednesday,
September 12, 2001
Officials
ask U.S. citizens not to make assumptions
By John-Mark Day
Staff Reporter
Although television news networks pointed to the attacks Tuesday
as terrorist-related, political science professor Manochehr
Dorraj said Americans must be careful to not jump to conclusions.
“It
could take years to find out (who is responsible),” Dorraj
said. “Or it could take days.”
The
World Trade Center twin towers collapsed after two hijacked
airplanes crashed into them Tuesday. The Pentagon was also
heavily damaged by another hijacked aircraft.
CNN
and The Associated Press reports attributed the attacks to
terrorist Osama bin Laden Tuesday.
“There
are good indications that persons linked to Osama bin Laden
may be responsible for these attacks,” U.S. intelligence
officials told CNN.
Today
was the scheduled day for the sentencing of a bin Laden associate
for his role in the 1998bombing of the U.S. embassy in Tanzania
that killed 213 people, AP reported. The sentencing was to
be held at the federal courthouse near the World Trade Center.
Dorraj
said even if the attacks are terrorist-related, it may be
impossible to ever know the reasons for them.
“In
some terrorist instances, the culprits are never caught,”
he said. “In this case, they’re dead.”
Jim
Wright, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives,
compared the attack to former attacks on the World Trade Center
and in Oklahoma City, but on a larger scale.
“(This
is) the largest act of terrorism that has been inflicted on
the United States, or possibly anywhere,” Wright said.
“It was extremely well planned.”
Dorraj
said the attacks looked highly orchestrated and not like the
act of an individual.
“This is not the work of a deranged madman,” Dorraj
said. “(It looks like) an extensive terrorist network
with domestic operatives. This is going to have profound political
fallout.”
Any
terrorist attack is a call for attention, Rohan Gunaratna
of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence
told the AP.
“The
whole idea — the only idea, in some sense — is to
bring attention to the cause,” Gunaratna said.
Wright
said when dealing with terrorists it is important for the
nation to resume daily activities.
“There
can be no disruption in daily business,” he said. “To
do that would be to let the terrorists have their way.”
John-Mark
Day
j.m.day2@student.tcu.edu
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