Terrorist Attack in New York City
The members of the management team of Face Activities extend our sympathies to the victims of the terrorist attack in New York City, and their families.
A 29-year-old Uzbekistani immigrant with terrorist sympathies rented a Home Depot truck and drove into peaceful pedestrians and bicyclists on a popular Manhattan bike path, killing 8 and injuring several more. The perpetrator confronted police with an air rifle and a toy gun, evidently in an attempt to commit suicide by police. He was wounded and rushed to a hospital, where he is expected to recover. He left a note on the truck indicating that the attack was dedicated to ISIS.
The brutal attack follows the pattern of many similar ISIS-inspired crimes over the last few years. An individual becomes radicalized, typically by watching internet propaganda created by ISIS, and decides to plan and execute his own attack. Typically cars or trucks are used as weapons, since they are easily obtained, but make effective killing machines when misused. This kind of attack requires no training or specialized skills or knowledge to carry out, and very little money and resources. But casualty numbers are potentially quite high. For this reason it’s one of the most insidious, unpredictable, and disturbing terrorist attacks we encounter.
ISIS has been effectively defeated on the battle field in Iraq and Syria, but the propaganda war online rages on, virtually unchecked. The governments of the United States and other nations around the world must pool their resources to fight this internet menace. Young disgruntled men are exposed to misleading and radicalizing videos and other media. For some this is enough to set them on the path to violence, with tragic results. We must intervene to the best of our ability to break this terrible cycle.
Learn more about this tragic event (CNN)
Photo: By This photo was taken by participant/team Jim Henderson as part of the Commons:Wikis Take Manhattan project on October 4, 2008.This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
