An Exercise of Weakness

It’s not too often that I get a good laugh these days when reading newspapers. I did today. But I must add that having a good laugh doesn’t automatically mean being in a good mood. You know, this nervous laughter you get when looking at something with disbelief, not wishing to admit that there’s no stupidity to which mankind is not capable of stooping to.

The headline in question was about the biggest terror attack simulation ever attempted, which took place at the Trafford Centre near Manchester, one of several done in the last few months, which was aimed at testing the emergency response to an extremist attack in the wake of ISIS led assaults on Paris and Brussels. 800 people took part in this exercise. Great care was taken to keep the event realistic, so that the people can try and practice what to do if a tragedy strikes, like it did so many times already, taking hundreds of innocent lives. What kind of public do you find in a shopping centre, especially during the day? The working men? The army officials? May be important politicians? It’s elderly people, women with children, mostly pre-school that do their chores when everyone’s working. This is the kind of targets we are talking about at such places. How important is it to make sure they know what to do if the threat arises?

How important is it to keep an exercise as realistic as possible for it to succeed? If you have a fire alarm in your office, is it then announced as the earthquake alarm? Or may be as a hurricane warning? One is as different from another as can be, and one must follow procedures to make sure that as many lives will be saved as possible as a result. The only similarity in procedures in such cases is leaving the building in an orderly manner. The rest is different and must be adhered to, repeatedly, to train certain responses that could be crucial.

And so in this case, the exercise was designed for a particular purpose. With all the signs in mind that described it as a terror attack by the ISIS extremists. Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan of Greater Manchester said: "The scenario for this exercise is based on a suicide attack by extremist Daesh style organization and the scenario writers have centred the circumstances around previous similar attacks of this nature, mirroring details of past events to make the situation as real life as possible for all of those involved.“ What this scenario looks like? We know it because we’ve seen it before. And not too long ago. Some countries see it on a daily basis. No secret.

Actually all clear to a clear thinking person, right? Wrong. Media had exploded with condemnation of exercise, not in the least because the mock suicide bomber screamed “ Allahu Akbar” immediately before detonating the device. According to some, this linked the whole exercise to Islam and thus could make people assume the attackers would be Muslim. After a couple of angry Twitter complaints from active members of the Muslim community, the ACC Shewan issued an apology. And this is what made me break in this hysterical laughter.

What exactly was inaccurate in this exercise? Should the suicide bomber have perhaps screamed “Allahu Akbar” immediately after the detonation? Methinks a bit late…Is this phrase only allowed to be used during the real and not the mock attacks? What should this attack has been disguised as, so that not to offend already chronically offended Muslim community? Should the department have planned extensively for five months, to then have 800 smiling Hindus in flowing robes, throwing flowers from the upper floor and whispering “Namaste”? Or may be it would please the Muslim community more if instead a mock angry rabbi would stage a siege of the shopping mall, threatening with the destruction of the mall walls by the deafening sound of Shofar if everyone doesn’t convert to Judaism on the spot? Not sure if anything would please the Muslim community at all, save all the other communities would cease to exist. Wait, isn’t this the whole point of the terror attacks?

So what is the ACC Shewan apologising for? For doing his job. His job is crime prevention and counter-terrorism. As a response, Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Rebekah Sutcliffe said: "Our priority is to stop terrorists from planning and orchestrating attacks and with exercises like this, we can put our response to the test in a safe environment, so we are fully prepared for a time when it may be critical.“

We live in uncertain times. If anyone feels offended that such preparations take place and are kept as authentic as possible in an attempt to save lives, shouldn’t one question the purpose of such objections? Never lose sight of prohibition of free speech and freedom of action in certain countries. We still have it here. It is a treasure to be protected. Still, one mustn’t confuse free speech with an attempt to use it against itself, as a threat. As a tool to reach an end that is it’s exact opposite.