A decade after the embassy bombings that introduced Kenya and Tanzania to Al-Qaeda and global terrorism, there are four men in prison for the attacks, two being held without charge and 13 on the run.
As a country, we continue to struggle with the legacy of this attack and, hopefully, shall always see the democratic and humanist values that set us apart from terrorists upheld even in the grim fight to prevent other attacks.
The 1998 bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were followed in 2002 by simultaneous attacks, also by Al-Qaeda, against an airliner in Mombasa and a hotel in Kikambala. The primary goal was to harm the United States in 1998 and Israel in 2002, but it was Kenyans who paid dearest, with 201 of the 213 killed in Nairobi and ten of 16 in Kikambala being locals.
Have we had justice?
The four in a super-maximum ‘prison within a prison’ in the US were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the embassy attacks. Of six initial suspects in the Kikambala attack, only four faced trial for aiding the three suicide bombers involved. All were acquitted by local courts, but one was later jailed on weapons charges.
The success embassy bombing fugitives have had in evading capture, from Osama bin Laden in the Afghanistan/Pakistan badlands to Fazul Mohammed (aka Haroun Fazul) in Somalia, is a reminder of the threat Al-Qaeda still poses and the challenge to counter-terrorism more,,http://www.eastandard.net/editorial/InsidePage.php?id=1143991872&cid=16&
As a country, we continue to struggle with the legacy of this attack and, hopefully, shall always see the democratic and humanist values that set us apart from terrorists upheld even in the grim fight to prevent other attacks.
The 1998 bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were followed in 2002 by simultaneous attacks, also by Al-Qaeda, against an airliner in Mombasa and a hotel in Kikambala. The primary goal was to harm the United States in 1998 and Israel in 2002, but it was Kenyans who paid dearest, with 201 of the 213 killed in Nairobi and ten of 16 in Kikambala being locals.
Have we had justice?
The four in a super-maximum ‘prison within a prison’ in the US were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the embassy attacks. Of six initial suspects in the Kikambala attack, only four faced trial for aiding the three suicide bombers involved. All were acquitted by local courts, but one was later jailed on weapons charges.
The success embassy bombing fugitives have had in evading capture, from Osama bin Laden in the Afghanistan/Pakistan badlands to Fazul Mohammed (aka Haroun Fazul) in Somalia, is a reminder of the threat Al-Qaeda still poses and the challenge to counter-terrorism more,,http://www.eastandard.net/editorial/InsidePage.php?id=1143991872&cid=16&
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