U.S.: Report missing

In scanning the Caribbean newspapers, one story is noticeably absent from the newspages of Barbados, Jamaica, and Guyana. In these countries, including TT, the press focus on the war on terror as a distant American problem, the difficulties of the past month of which are commented on with considerable schadenfreude. America is getting what it deserved. Bush, the dumb cowboy, is losing the war in Iraq. Terror, the papers seem to convey, will not touch us, so we have no part in it other than as bystanders delighting in a U.S. comeuppance.

Yet, just this weekend, the Trinidad Guardian and Express both carried lengthy stories of an Islamic terrorist cell broken up in TT. The Express story hints that such a cell is not a new development, indeed, they carried stories on it in 2002 and 2003. The Guardian, still enjoying schadenfreude, even goes so far as to put the term "terrorist cell" in scare quotes; thus, by implication, the Guardian is dismissive of the idea that the group is engaged in any terrorist activity. But they are.

Suddenly, bombs, chemicals, building plans, connections with local and international terrorist groups, with Al Qaeda, in particular, are all part of the TT landscape and have become a reality in Caricom. Looking to the north and delighting in American missteps and misfortune in Iraq is no longer an option.

TT, because of its oil and natural gas wealth, is the banker of the Caribbean, the "sugar daddy." TT is home to American and British companies who are helping to develop those natural resources. If TT falls to Islamic terrorism, not only is that a blow to the U.S. which imports most of its natural gas from TT, but also for the Caribbean. The fall of TT to Islamic terrorism and rule means the choking off of the economies of practically every Caribbean country, especially those which are dependent on tourism. What can TT expect the rest of Caricom to do? Nothing. TT's only help will come from its neighbors to the north and across the Atlantic.

Meantime, Caribbean journalists and editorialists continue riding crazily on some mad and surreal merry-go-round into which harsh realities do not impinge. It's time for them to wake up before the first bombs explode in Kingston and Bridgetown and Georgetown. It's just a matter of time before they go off in Port of Spain.