Shades of 1972: Commonwealth Games 2010 Target For Terrorism

As a teenager, a junior in High School to be exact, I clearly remember the horror of watching the Black September terrorists holding Israeli athletes hostages and finally murdering them at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich. Black September called the operation "Ikrit and Biram" and admitted that Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization secretly endorsed the operation. Fatah later disputed the accusation.

It seems that 38 years later the specter of terrorism has returned to a major international sporting competition, as a top US counter-terrorism expert warned the 2010 Commonwealth Games would be "an appealing target" for Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT). To counter this, British security forces are pooling resources with their commonwealth counterparts from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to accompany athletes at every competition venue at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has increased the numbers of security experts working with the Australian team, who will have a large contingent at the Commonwealth Games. She also said that government advice has made it clear that there is a high risk of terrorism in New Delhi. Since 2000 there have been at least 14 major terrorist attacks in New Delhi. Let's hope that India is spared more terrorist bloodshed, but because the games are so economically important to the Indian government, that maybe a forlorn wish.