The 9/11 Wars (88 page)

14. 7/7. On July 7, 2005, three suicide bombers exploded devices on tube trains and one on a bus in London. They had been born or had grown up in Britain. Key to the attack was the combination of the UK’s links with Pakistan, where al-Qaeda had reconstituted a basic infrastructure, and the radicalization of some parts of the country’s immigrant population.

15. When in late 2005 a Danish newspaper printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, a group of local clerics set out to create outrage and succeeded in provoking protests across the Islamic world. Religious leaders and governments competed in the rush to capitalize on the anger many Muslims felt. Most demonstrations – such as this by Hamas supporters in Gaza – were peaceful. Some were violent. The affair seemed to confirm a clash of civilizations.

16. In autumn 2005, riots broke out in poor urban areas across France. Young men of immigrant origin burned vehicles such as this bus in Toulouse, attacked schools and clashed with police. Though many feared 20 million European Muslims were becoming radicalized, in fact, religion played no part in the disturbances, hinting that the overwhelming pessimism of the fourth year of the 9/11 Wars was perhaps misplaced.

17. This thirty-five-year-old female suicide bomber sent by al-Zarqawi from the Iraqi city of Ramadi failed to detonate her device at a wedding reception in Amman, the capital of Jordan, in November 2005. Her husband and two others did, however, killing fifty-seven. Her brother had been killed by US forces in fighting in Iraq.

18. The Amman attack marked a turning point. Before, support for al-Qaeda and the insurgents in Iraq had been high in Jordan. Afterwards, it plummeted. The demonstrations against terrorism in Amman, such as the candlelit vigil pictured here, showed how it is easier to support global terrorism when the bombs explode elsewhere than when it is familiar places or people that are under attack. From 2006, the fortunes of al-Qaeda began to decline.

19. Tony Blair left office after ten years in power shortly after this visit to Iraq in May 2007. His record as prime minister was dominated by the controversial UK involvement in the 9/11 Wars. Ironically, the moment of his departure saw a relative stabilization in Iraq as US troops mounted a ‘Surge’ into Baghdad and the surrounding areas.

20. By 2007, blast walls were going up all over Afghanistan. The author took this picture in a factory on the outskirts of Kabul, where scores of labourers worked to meet the demand for the concrete barriers, a distinctive sight of the 9/11 Wars. ‘Business is good,’ the owner said, sadly.

21. Benazir Bhutto played only a small role in the 9/11 Wars but was a prominent victim. After years in exile she came back to Pakistan in October 2007 and was assassinated three months later. This picture was taken only hours before she was killed. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, on her right, remains alive and controversial.

22. Taj Hotel on fire. In November 2008 a team of Pakistani suicide attackers from the Lashkare-Toiba organization attacked hotels and other sites in Mumbai, the Indian commercial capital, killing more than 150 people. Documents later revealed how the group’s senior leadership had sanctioned the strike under huge pressure from hardline elements within their ranks – and that at least low-level officials of the ISI, the main Pakistani military intelligence service, knew about it in advance.

23. Western policy towards narcotics in Afghanistan was muddled and poorly resourced. It was soon too late to do much about the burgeoning industry. The same was true of counterinsurgency efforts. Here British troops patrol in Helmand, the drug-ridden southern province.

24. By 2008, Western publics were tired of the war in Afghanistan. Policy-makers saw a massive expansion of local troops as a potential way out. Here, new recruits train at an Afghan National Army camp near Kabul. But such forces depended very heavily on the coalition. In some areas they still gained some local support as the ‘least bad’ option.