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The September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre were hugely symbolic in that the twin towers were an international symbol of trade and finance and ultimately, globalization, giving some insight into Al Qaeda's motives behind the attack. In the attack thousands of employees of multinational corporations and global finance died. Western governments have been more than willing to tackle the threats of terrorism and WMD but are reluctant to acknowledge the causes. It is the central rhetoric of these governments that the War on Terror came about because terrorist organizations are resentful of our freedoms, however they never hold up their own military actions in the Middle East as being reasons for terrorism.

At this point it is salient to note that the UK and the US have the worst international track-record when it comes to funding terrorist organisations and so called rogue states'. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 1979-1988, Osama Bin Laden and the Mujahadeen, under CIA supervision, were trained in guerrilla warfare by US Special Forces in order to resist the invasion. These US taught skills proved invaluable when Bin Laden formed Al Qaeda. Britain and America are also the dominant players in the international arms trade. In the United States the making and selling of arms is central to any economic growth. Following 9/11, another boom is already evident in the weapons business.

According to the governments of Britain and America, terrorism is the "greatest threat of the 21st century". Rarely a day passes when terrorism is not mentioned in the media. Despite the perceived ever present threat posed by international terrorism to our way of life, the numbers of people killed in terrorist attacks worldwide on an annual basis are minuscule when shown in comparison to the deaths caused by, amongst other things, road accidents, cancer, obesity, AIDS and starvation. Indeed, the amount civilians killed on a daily basis in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine by coalition forces dwarfs the civilian deaths caused by terrorism in the US and UK since 11 September, 2001.

Of course the events of 9/11 have led to wide-ranging repercussions in US foreign, domestic and defence policies. Amongst the anger felt by the west in the fall-out of the September 11th, there was put forward a belief that a new world order would salvaged from the devastation of the attacks. The suggestion was that, by responding with appropriate measures, terrorism would be eventually eliminated and

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