Less than 12 hours after the attacks of Sept 11,2001 on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, the US administration elevated terrorism to the greatest threat the 'civilized world' had faced since the demise of Communism and President George W Bush proclaimed the start of a global war on terror. Mr Bush forged alliances as part of the so-called "war on terror" and the chase against terrorism, terror and terrorists was carried to an endless list of frontiers with many parts of the world turning into battlefields. This war has killed thousands, injured or maimed millions and infringed the liberty of hundreds of millions. About seven years after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, there is a genuine need to stand and objectively assess the repercussions that followed the attacks across the globe. It is time for the world community to question what has been achieved in terms of the worldwide fight against terrorism. Has the war on terror solved problems or has it assisted in creating new ones. If we have a candid analysis, it comes out loud and clear that Bush's "war on terror" has created more terrorists than it has eliminated. The reason for this is that the war on terror has never intended to contain terrorism from the word go. Actually, this war is part of some "great scheme of things". The 9/11 attacks were little more than a "big deception" stage-managed by the US administration in order to spread chaos, control energy sources and make the whole world bow to US national security needs. These attacks have been employed for mobilizing the American public behind the neoconservative project of using wars - multiple and endless, if necessary - to entrench America's global dominance. By constantly harping on terrorism and hyping the threat of terrorist attacks, fearful Americans would endorse brutal tactics and endless wars abroad. The occupation of Iraq - as we know now conducted under false pretences - would not have been possible without 9/11. Bush says "terrorists everywhere are opposing the advance of liberty - evil men who despise freedom, despise America and aim to subject millions to their violent rule". We can regard the 9/11 attacks as nothing but the culmination of a big US scheme to control oil, hydrocarbon resources, strategic metals, pipelines, transit routes and access to markets. Though the US talks of a 'global war on terrorism' but it is all clear that the war is aimed at Muslims, mainly at Muslims in the Middle East. This is a war for getting the occupation of oil wells in the Persian Gulf, establish a foothold in the region and entrench Israeli hegemony over the Middle East. The war on Iraq was only the first move in a US quest to redraw the geopolitical map of the region on a scale reminiscent of what happened following World War I. Official remarks from the US seem to support that claim. Take, for example, the suggestion that a new Middle East is being born, or that "constructive chaos", a favorite expression of Condoleeza Rice, would propel the region into a better future. The motive for invading Iraq was just to grab oil. Iraq possesses the second largest oil deposits in the world. Besides, it is located right in the midst of the richest oil-producing regions in the world. At the time of invading Iraq, it was thought that controlling Iraq would give the US critical leverage over the other industrial societies, because if you control the oil reserves upon which they rely for survival, they are dependent on your decisions for all sorts of other things; it is geopolitical control. Resources wars have been conveniently dubbed as "war on terror" to sell them in the public. Edward Peck says, "In 1985, when I was the Deputy Director of the Reagen White House Task Force on terrorism, they asked us - to come up with a definition of terrorism. We produced about six and in each and every case they were rejected, because careful reading would indicate that our own country had been involved in some of these activities". The war on terror is a new tool for the projection of American power and terrorism is a new cover for imperialism. What gives some credibility to the argument is that the US has, in the past also, used political Islam for the advancing of its own agenda and purposes. The US, very deftly, used Islamists to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan, a feat that ultimately gave the Americans the upper hand in today's world. The US has used "war on terror" to delegitimise all forms of resistance. US agencies employ a definition of terrorism that covers all groups that use violence as a means to achieve political ends. Thus, Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorists. Then individuals or groups which provide material assistance to terrorists are also terrorists. The US has stretched this logic to delegitimise all resistance movements that it views as contrary to US interests. America's foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up and reach out. The imprudent Bush administration is also in desperate need of changing its tenor because its arrogant criminal mentality and crass stupidities have inflicted monumental damage both at home and abroad. The irrational policies pursued by President Bush have made America to be viewed as "the most wicked" country which can flout all the standards of conduct in the pursuit of its imperial objectives. E-mail: irfanasghar99@yahoo.com