Act of madness
Terrorism made a horrific return to New York City on Tuesday, close to the shadow of the tower that rose from the World Trade Center, site of the deadly attack of Sept. 11, 2001. Lives were lost and, once again, a nation will be challenged to counter but not be cowed by an act of violence seemingly designed to shake its confidence and way of life.
This time, the method of mass carnage — a vehicle targeting civilians — was more possible to imagine, but no less difficult to prevent or stop. A rented truck rammed into people along a bicycle path for 20 blocks along the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan. After crashing the truck, the driver emerged with fake guns and shouted “Allahu akbar,” the Arabic term for “God is great.”
Police shot and wounded the suspect. He underwent surgery in a New York hospital.
“Based on information we have at this moment, this was an act of terror,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference.
The New York attack was reminiscent of vehicular assaults on crowds in Nice, Barcelona, London, Berlin and Paris. This crude form of terrorism, especially if carried out by a single assailant, can be extraordinarily daunting to detect in advance. It can be equally impossible to install physical barriers or security measures to block it, unless Americans would be willing to cede their freedom to move about the city on a temperate autumn day.
The pursuit of justice in this case must be relentless, as must our resolve to preserve the way of life that is the real target of terrorism.