Flight 175 hits the South
Tower of the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2011. (Picture by

TheMachineStops on Flickr)

by Martin Jefferies and Jamie Stephens

multimedianews@thekmgroup.co.uk

A Kent terrorism expert believes the world is unlikely to see
another attack on the scale of 9/11.

Dr Frank Furedi, a professor of sociology at University of Kent
in Canterbury, described the attacks on New York and Washington 10
years ago as "unique".

A group of 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger jets
on September 11, crashing two of them into the Twin Towers of the
World Trade Centre and a third into the Pentagon.

A fourth crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to
take control of the aircraft.

But Dr Furedi said today's terrorists are more likely to work in
smaller groups, carrying out attacks on the scale of the 7/7
bombings in London in 2005, the 2004 Madrid train bombings or the
attacks on Mumbai in 2008.

He said: "9/11 itself was an unique event in that in brought
together a number of factors and coincidences to create an
incredibly destructive act.

"Usually an act of terror, even a very sophisticated one using
aeroplanes, is unlikely to have this level of impact."

See also:
Police officers to mark September 11 attacks 10 years on

Asked whether the world is more secure since 9/11, Dr Furedi
said: "In many ways, the world has been quite good at dealing with
the specific threat of terrorism.

"There have been a number of terrorist incidents but when you
look at the number of lives lost, the world we live in is
reasonably safe and secure.

"What is a problem is that we've become very disoriented and
confused because the very random, unexpected qualities of the
attacks [in New York and Washington] have made us very sensitive to
uncertainty.

"It's difficult for people to feel genuinely secure when they're
thinking, 'if it can happen in New York, why can't it happen
here?'"

Dr Furedi added: "The key challenge facing our society is to
learn to live with terrorism - that's not to say we accommodate
terrorism and give into it, but we need to accept it as a fact of
life.

"The more we're able to manage these threats and adopt that kind
of resilience, the more terrorism ceases to have the capacity to
terrorise large numbers of people.

"We shouldn't speculate about what might happen, but instead
adopt an attitude whereby we live with terrorism, minimise its
effect and refuse to allow it to disrupt our lives."