Terrorism threatens world

For a while, it appeared terrorism might be a sensation of the 1970s, a last gasp of the most radical of the flower-power groups. Clearly it is not.

In the past several years, the weapon of terror has been revived to a new, more deadly and more sophisticated height. Illich Ramirez (the Jackal) Sanchez is in a French lock-up, justifying the deaths he caused.

But the terrorists who have replaced him around the world are even more international and more deadly than the washed-up Venezuelan.

Two recent murderous attacks seem to indicate that even worse is still to come. Last July 19, a bomb destroyed a commuter airliner over Panama and killed all 21 persons aboard, most of them Jewish businessmen. Personal effects of 20 of those people were found by investigators. Experts now believe the 21st person aboard the small plane was the terrorist.

There is no truth to the argument that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. The terrorist of today, as those of the 1970s, are murderers.

Regimes which support them are at least as guilty as the misguided individuals who practice terrorism. At the same time, governments clearly opposed to the use of terror must cooperate with each other.

-- The Bangkok Post