"Terrorism has become the systematic weapon of a war that knows no borders or seldom has a face."
-- Former French Prime Minister and President Jacques Chirac

Ten years ago, on September 11, 2001 the world as we all knew it - along with our everyday lives - changed forever. As we look back on what life was like before that fateful day, we can recall when there were no vigorous security checks, X-ray screenings or body searches at the airports.  We were neither humiliated nor mortified by faceless functionaries who seem to delight in guaranteeing that our travel experiences are memorable for all the wrong reasons. We were even allowed to meet arriving travellers at their airline gate as they disembarked from their airplanes. Those days are gone forever, likely never to return.
Considering the radical changes that were precipitated by that historic day, we thought it would be useful to "Consider This": What lessons have we learned from 9/11?
Before we review the lessons learned, let's briefly examine some of the ways we have changed.  First, we have developed a definitively defensive demeanor which seems to permeate our daily routines.  We have become distrustful of others, perennial profilers to the point of paranoia, at times xenophobic and even racially biased toward persons of Middle Eastern origin.  How many of us have not asked ourselves, if only subconsciously, if only for a brief moment, about the potential terrorist propensity of that Middle Eastern person boarding an airplane?  It seems that, along with the destruction of the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan and the attack on the Pentagon, we also lost a bit of our humanity and a lot of our innocence.  As those towers fell and the heart of America's defense went up in flames and those planes became weapons on that bright September morning 10 years ago, the world became a less friendly place, transforming in a matter of moments into a place where the person sitting next to you on a plane could ultimately hold your life in his hands.  We all instantly became hostages to those who would perpetrate terrorism on an unsuspecting world in the name of what they believed in.
Secondly, we have become considerably more security conscious.  Acutely aware of our safety, we have become much less settled and more stressed in our spirit. This has become even more magnified by the level and the fear of crime that has seeped into our community.  Suddenly those neighbors who keep to themselves became a focus of suspicion.  Overnight, the seemingly mild-mannered man next door became malevolent, at least to our newly paranoid minds.
So what lessons have we learned from 9/11?  If anything, we believe that while there are things that we have learned from this cataclysmic event, here in The Bahamas we have been more reactionary in our national development.  We have essentially adopted many of the security procedures of the more developed societies without really being proactive and progressive in developing those things that will assist us in absorbing the external shocks that could result from the reoccurrence of a similar catastrophe.
For example, we have done little to enhance our food security.  In those days following 9/11, when air and sea transport were at a standstill and we were cut off from all imported supplies, we learned that we had but a matter of weeks-worth of food at any time on this island.
Today, we are still too overly dependent on imported products, most notably food. Ten years after 9/11, we still do not produce sufficient food to feed ourselves if we were to be faced again with the closure of our airports and ports for an inordinately protracted period and food could not be imported into our country.   Because of this, despite the warning that we got on 9/11, we could still experience severe food shortages.  We should learn from countries like Israel or Jamaica how important it is to produce sufficient food internally to ensure that we do not starve if we were to be faced with another catastrophe.
We have not, although we should have seriously considered establishing strategic oil reserves. In the best of times, during relative peace and quiet, when things seem normal, we drive into gas stations only to learn that there is no gas available for our automobiles. Is it not ironic that in our second city there are adequate facilities to store strategic oil reserves to ensure that if we are cut off from the rest of the world for protracted periods, we would have adequate supplies to see us through an oil shortage crisis?  It seems that we are committed to continue our complete dependence on fossil fuels to power the engines of our economy. However, we should urgently and proactively adopt a national policy of converting to alternate forms of energy. The obvious and real potential for converting to solar energy - an energy source no terrorist can take away - seems to have escaped our national consciousness.
A decade after 9/11, we are still overly dependent on our twin economic pillars of tourism and financial services.  We are not suggesting that we should not continue to develop these two pillars, but we should do more to systematically diversify our economy.  We should not wait for another global shock before we pay more than lip service to diversifying our economy.  There are some basic steps that we need to take to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit and grow our cottage industries to ensure that we are not overly dependent on the vagaries of global events.
Cable TV is replete with the threat of or actual terrorist activity in one country after another.  This past weekend, the United States anxiously lived under a terrorist threat allegedly designed to coincide with the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  Too often, we in The Bahamas unwittingly have a false sense of security that a terrorist event will not occur here.  However, we should appreciate that, while we seem to be immune from such an attack, we should not relax our guard for a moment.
Al Qaeda and other extremist terrorist cells are fervently opposed and deeply committed to killing Americans, and it has probably not escaped them that our hotels and cruise ships represent targets that could be easily attacked, primarily because most of the tourists who use both are Americans. One of the lessons of 9/11 is that terrorists have targeted not only US homeland targets. They have attacked targets that they know American tourists frequent. We should disabuse ourselves that we could not become a target for their nefarious activities. No one is immune, and no country is invulnerable.
We should never forget the admonition of Jacques Chirac, the former Prime Minister and President of France, who reminded us that "terrorism has become the systematic weapon of a war that knows no borders or seldom has a face."
Perhaps the greatest lesson of 9/11 is that vigilance and proactive preparation and planning are our best offensive tools to ward off the devious and despicable deeds of those who are determined to unleash their destructive designs, demolishing and devastating all those things we hold dear.  Until we understand that Ground Zero can be anywhere, even here, and that the ripple effects of a terrorist attack are what we must guard against and prepare for now, we are as vulnerable as the Trade Towers were, in all their majestic glory, shining in the September sun 10 years ago.  We must embrace the idea that never again will we - along with the rest of the world - be caught defenseless by the evil that lives in some men's hearts and minds so that our families and our nation can live in peace and safety once more, realizing the dreams of our forefathers for our Bahamas.

Philip C. Galanis is the managing partner of HLB Galanis & Co., Chartered Accountants, Forensic & Litigation Support Services. He served 15 years in Parliament.  Please send your comments to pgalanis@gmail.com.

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