Presidential aspirants in the United States have turned the bomb blast in New York Saturday evening into a verbal boxing tournament. What for Hilary Clinton is a ‘wait for more information’ situation is, however, called a bomb blast out rightly by Donald Trump who followed up by saying “we better get very tough, folks”.
Trump’s categorical pronouncement goes against the care being taken in classifying the blast in the week in which the UN General Assembly opens in the global city. The idea of a great power that is vulnerable to terrorist humiliation does not seem to be part of Trump’s consciousness.
In 2001, George W. Bush could have called the September 11th attack as a criminal act rather than an act of war he called it. All that constitutes the confusion about the Global War on Terror. In this case, Bill de Blasio, the Mayor of New York has been categorically quoted by Reuters as saying it is not a terror attack.
Officials are also careful not to confirm if there is anything coordinated about related security breaches in Minnesota and New Jersey which preceded the blast in New York. Whatever explanations offered, linking these to terrorism is bound to be automatic in people’s mind. The implication is that this year’s UNGA might even be tougher than the delayed UNGA in 2001. That is precisely the atmosphere that terrorists want, whether or not they are connected with the blasts.
The reaction time of the police must interest many. According to Reuters also, a certain 24 year old Neha Jain 24 who said she was at home watching a movie went downstairs after hearing the blast. By then, the police were already in place. Reuters quoted her as saying: “We went downstairs to see what happened, and firemen immediately told us to go back.”