For the past twenty years, the Middle East has been the face of American opposition. Just as the Soviet Union was the poster boy of anti American aggression for most of the 20th century, the Middle East has been tied to all things anti-American since the Persian Gulf War. However, with the Mumbai terrorist attacks and political unrest in Thailand, the War on Terror may very well shift out of the Gulf region and further into Eastern Asia.
The situation could be viewed as ironic. Just as America shows some signs of learning how to deal with terrorist insurgents on the streets of Baghdad, the troubles seem to be moving elsewhere. As the War in Iraq begins its final stages and America begins to adopt a new global strategy, the global playing field of terrorism and conflict seems poised to expand.
The attacks in Mumbai are without precedent. For the past decade, terrorist attacks have either been large scale coordinated attacks like 9/11 or the London bombings, or they have been single suicide bombings like the ones frequently seen in Israel. Mumbai straddles the line between the two types of attacks. Unlike 9/11, the London bombings, or the Madrid bombings, the attacks cannot be concentrated into a single image or purpose; they were widespread and targeted a number of locations. The Mumbai attacks are more likely to resemble smaller scale terrorist attacks. However, while these small scale attacks consist of one bombing or one shooting, the Mumbai attacks were large scale, finely tuned, and were capable of wrecking havoc on the world’s largest developing city.
The world has never seen an attack like this and it does not yet know how to deal with it. Acts of violence like this are able to fly under the radar, as they do not require large purchases, reservations, or lots of people. As the world shifts away from Middle Eastern terrorist warfare, America and its allies will have to draft new strategies in response to these new wave attacks.
