David Aaronovitch: Why we will always survive these pitiless zealots

The BBC's Talking Point website is not full of its usual debates about who messed up over marking A-levels or whether Britain should join the euro.

Alex from England sets the tone. He writes: "I'm desperately seeking any information on my sister Kate, backpacking in Bali with her partner Sam.

"Both are from Brighton and were last known to be in Kuta. Both have long dark hair and are in their late 20s. If anyone knows anything of their whereabouts please let me know."

No one had replied yesterday, but Roland from France had better news over his worries for his "best mate" Joe Griffiths, who had last contacted him from Bali.

Melanie Coene posted to reassure him: "Roland in France, don't worry about Joe Griffiths, he is in Thailand and fine.

"I was in the bomb but he had left the week before. The whole thing was horrendous - I am lucky to be alive and am now back in [the] UK."

You can visit a website and find yourself eavesdropping on other people's tragedies, almost as they unfold.

There really is no place to hide. And whether it's the beachfront of Tel Aviv or a paradise island in Southeast Asia, it's so often the kids these days.

They haven't learned there are enemies everywhere, that they'd be better staying at home and doing the shopping, as long as they don't live in Washington, that is.

We all knew it would happen somewhere and some time. Neither the conditions nor the mentality that gave rise to September 11 have changed dramatically.

The physical semi-destruction of al Qaeda has not destroyed the appeal of acts such as the Bali bombing for those who believe that such acts are not simply justifiable but are actually good. Nor is this a phenomenon arising from a particular perversion of Islamic doctrine.

If you went into a bar in the Basque country you could find young people, raised in the times since Franco died, who will defend the terror campaign of Eta and its murder of policemen, councillors and innocent bystanders. Bali is an event that will change no one's mind about anything.

Those in favour of the war against terror will see the bomb as evidence of the need for toughness and constant vigilance.

Those who were opposed to the war in Afghanistan will argue the measures taken so far have failed.

Some have suggested that Bali "proves" the campaign against Iraq is a "folly" and a "distraction", though I find it hard to see what the link is.

The Sari Club wasn't bombed because of local Muslim anger about any invasion of Iraq. It was bombed because it was an easy target in a relaxed place.

Since few of the Sari victims were Americans, it has been hard to run the old "it just shows how antipathetic the world is to the Yanks" type of argument.

"Australia: world bully" doesn't have quite the same ring. Nor does the idea the bomb was somehow a product of world inequities explain why the Philippines consulate was attacked on the same day.



A letter writer to the Sydney Morning Herald blamed the Australian Government for "making us a target" through supporting the Americans.

"Is it too harsh to argue," asked a correspondent in another paper, "that the egos of [Prime Minister] John Howard and [Foreign Minister] Alexander Downer and their desperate desire to be taken seriously on the world stage are responsible for the deaths of so many Australians in this weekend's Bali bombings?"

Yep, it is too harsh, and also completely wrong. Ask the relatives of the Pakistani churchgoers gunned down by Islamic militants. Ask the tourists injured when Eta decided to take its bombing campaign to the Costas a few years back.

It's like saying the IRA had a thing against newsagents because it killed two of them when it blew up Canary Wharf.

Whoops. Clumsy. Give us a united Ireland. Give us an Islamic theocracy stretching across half the world. Give me relief from this emptiness I feel.

I am not, I hope, being fatalistic. It seems to me that were there, somehow, to be a settlement in the Middle East then terrorism would find fewer recruits.

If it could be shown that the rich West was serious about redressing the huge imbalance between nations, that too might make us slightly safer. Even if it didn't it would be the right thing to do.

But even if that happened, and even if we replaced Saddam with Santa al-Claus, we would still get bombed.

There would be Washington snipers, mad sects with sarin gas and hollow-eyed zealots with texts and no pity.

We will survive all of them because they can't actually kill that many of us, we who lost millions in two World Wars.

At the height of the IRA campaign in London, I do not recall ever deciding not to go somewhere because of the threat.

And because we forget. Not the families, of course; their agonies will last lifetimes, but I don't suppose that either Gerry Adams or Ian Paisley remembers the names of the two East London newsagents. And neither, I regret to say, do I.

For the moment though, because I have seen it on a website, and because of his description, I do find myself thinking about Kate, with her long black hair, and hoping she's all right.

- INDEPENDENT

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Foreign Affairs advice to New Zealanders

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Feature: Bali bomb blast

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