Non-Subscriber Extract
Manhattan's wounds testimony to a new security environment
- Article Tools
| 12 September 2001 |
This 1m-resolution satellite image of Manhattan, collected by Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite at 11.43am on Wednesday 12 September, reveals the extent of smoke and dust still emanating from the site of the World Trade Center more than 24 hours after the twin towers succumbed to terrorist attack. As the sheer magnitude of the atrocity sunk in worldwide, it was not just the Manhattan skyline that had been irrevocably altered but the sense of security of the entire civilised world.
At a third emergency session held by its ambassadors since Tuesday morning's onslaught, NATO for the first time invoked its Article Five mutual defence provision on Wednesday under which the attack was to be considered an attack against the entire 19-member alliance. NATO Secretary-General George Robertson remarked that it had taken almost 52 years for this unprecedented move to be made.
Under the terms of Article Five, the United States thus has the support of its NATO allies for military action if the terrorist strikes are deemed to have been directed from abroad. Lord Robertson said it was up to Washington whether to request this support.
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| Credit: spaceimaging.com Click here to open a large version of the image |