AT ONE time in our Sky Cable TV program, Department of Justice (DOJ) Sec. Raul M. Gonzalez said that a group of seven terrorists monitored by foreign authorities arrived in Iloilo City.

The sad part of the news was that one of them is from the town of Lambunao in Central Iloilo. As to what are the purposes of these people, nobody knows. But their terrorist label is already a cause for alarm.

It’s now over 38 years that we have been receiving reports of terrorist attacks in foreign countries but ours have just started to happen in Mindanao. Bomb explosion is not new to us but we have yet to hear of human suicide-bombers doing his thing in this country.

But “iba ang terroristang Pinoy.” Suicide is stranger to them. They would rather kill than be killed. Geographically, Europe is the number one victim of terror-attacks followed by Latin America then the Middle East. But with the advent of the 80s, terror in Asia was noted.

Surprisingly, after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, the Middle East suddenly emerged as the most dangerous region in terms of terrorist activities. Bombing topped the atrocities followed by assassination, kidnapping and destruction of property.

Here come the special forces of powerful nations to combat terrorism. On how effective, we have yet to know. The first one organized in1980 was the Special Air Service (SAS) of Great Britain.

Another is the FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) of the United States. It is a unit of about 50 specially trained men in siege and hostage rescue. They were tested in Cuban uprising at Atlanta Penitentiary in 1987.

The French National Police have its Gendarmerie Nationale (GIGN), a special unit which trained the rescue squad of Saudi National Guard before moving into action in retaking the Grand Mosque at Mecca from Iranian terrorists in 1985.

Germany has GSG-9, a German Border Protection Group created after the murder of Israeli Olympic Athletes by a terror-group Black September at Munich Olympics in 1972. It has a successful rescue operation of hostages at Mogadishu, Somalia.

Holland’s Royal Dutch Marines (RDM) codenamed Whisky Company was responsible in storming the hijacked train by South Mollucan terrorists in 1977. Fifty hostages were held captive for 20 days before the RDM commandos rescued them.

Italy’s Squadro Anti-Commando called Leatherheads Commando Italiano was trained to combat terrorism and was the primary force in successful rescue of US Army Col. James Dozier from the hands of his kidnappers in 1981.

But the elite Delta Force of the US, despite the specialized training of its commandos, failed due to miscalculation. They were unable to rescue the hostages held captive by Iranian terrorists at the US Embassy in Iran in 1979. The hostages were killed and the unit was finally dissolved.

The destruction of World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon were frightening realities. The bombings of the US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Africa in 1997-1998 and the attack on the USS Cole by boat-terrorists in 2000 are stories that won’t easily go away.

Even the United States with the most modern and sophisticated war machines grossly failed to arrest the person of Osama bin Laden and Carlos the Jackal.

Tentacles of terrorism are spreading worldwide and create fear among peaceful citizens of the East and the West. They attack without warning and can always smile to the ears when world powers get that lame-duck feeling!

Suicide human-bombers are attributed to hundreds of lives lost among American and allied soldiers in the Middle East. Worse, innocent people are not spared. Until we fully understand and address the cause that created these people, their violence will continue to engulf our modern world.

Whatever principle these groups stand and fight for cannot extinguish the unpardonable error they have committed against innocent civilians. It only earned for them a mark in modern history as hostes humani generis – for meaning, see the title!

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