After the latest in a string of high-profile terrorist attacks, the President of the United States has called for a complete FBI investigation to uncover the perpetrators of the Norwegian Jewel cruise ship bombing. Celebrations in the streets across the Middle East continued over the weekend as remains of the cruise ship and its passengers were retrieved by US Naval scuba teams.
2,356 passengers and 1,154 crew members are believed to have been killed in the Norwegian Jewel attack, along with an estimated seven suicide bombers. Bombs were believed smuggled on board the NCL Jewel at the port of Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas, the last of the Jewel's scheduled ports before its expected return to Miami.
Seven bombs were exploded in various locations throughout the Jewel almost simultaneously in the early morning while most passengers slept. Containing the fires and repairing the massive damage were proven impossible, as remaining survivors climbed over the bloodied and mangled bodies of other passengers in an effort to avoid drowning. Less than one hundred survivors, many in critical condition, have been identified to date.
Foreign leaders, notably the Presidents of Iran and Syria, have pledged their support to the President of the United States to help locate individuals who might have lent support to the Norwegian Jewel bombers. After a joint prayer session with Islamic leaders, the President of the United States has in turn pledged to fight anti-Islamic sentiment within the United States.
"We cannot let the professed beliefs of a few extremists warp our views and behavior towards long-standing, peaceful partners in the war on terror," the President said.
It has been widely reported that the Norwegian cruise ship bombers were Islamic extremists from the countries of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United States. The President, however, made clear late last week that individuals, not religions or countries, would be held accountable.
"Some of these men might have been Americans," the President said. "You don't propose we bomb ourselves, do you?" he added, responding pointedly to critics who have advocated holding responsible the nations that harbor terrorists.
The President reiterated his commitment to increase spending on national security, and to track down the individuals responsible for the cruise ship attack.
"If it means we have to go all the way to the Middle East and ask for help, we'll do it," the President said. The President's supporters are hopeful that the multinational extradition treaty he signed last month with the Islamic Republics of Iraq and Iran will prove useful.
Suicide attacks became routine in the United States mainland and vicinity in the early 2000s, when New York City's famous World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. were targeted in the infamous "9/11" attacks of 2001. Three hijacked, commercial airliners were used as weapons in the attack, causing the destruction of the World Trade Center towers as well as significant damage to the Pentagon. A third hijacked airliner was intentionally crashed by passengers in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in what became known as the last significant response to Islamic terrorism by the United States. 2,973 people were confirmed killed in the attacks, in addition to 19 hijackers.
Islamic fundamentalist groups have improved the efficiency of their attacks with notorious skill in recent years. Last month, the New Empire Building was brought down by a van containing a small nuclear device, weeks before it was scheduled to open on the site of the original Empire State Building. Traces of radiation remain, though residents of the area have grown accustomed to occasional radiation poisoning, in addition to the loss of homes and limbs. But the President, working closely with the Mayor of New York City and Governor of New York, has emphasized his administration's success in maintaining a minimum of anti-Islamic sentiment in the weeks following the attack.
"The important thing is that nobody is unfairly criticized for their Constitutionally protected religious beliefs," the President said, referring to the basic tenets of Islamists calling for the death of nonbelievers at the hand of anyone with access to explosives.
Limitations on the attack of religious belief in word and deed were officially codified into United States law at the end of last year. As popularity increased for the drawing of ties between Islam and the Islamic individuals who perpetrate Islamic terrorist attacks, politicians on both side of the aisle began calling for guidelines for tempering such rhetoric. According to key members of congress, such lines of questioning led to dangerous repercussions for state policy towards nations with official ties to religion, as well as for private religious belief.
This latest cruise ship attack comes on the anniversary of the Internet Fair Speech Act. The Act was created to protect Americans from anti-religious and other dangerous speech. It is unknown at the current time how many casualties have occurred in the time since the passage of the Act.
