COLUMN Overseas Briefing

Author: Caire Bourne

PARIS — News of a terrorist attack targeting Western vacationers on the resort island of Bali, Indonesia, plastered the international news networks this past weekend. The death toll stands at 188, but is expected to rise as the injured are flown to hospitals in Australia. The majority of those killed were foreign tourists, including Australian, German, Canadian and American nationals.
Although no organization has claimed responsibility for the bombing in Kuta, Bali's hopping nightlife center, several foreign diplomats said they suspected it to be the work of Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian Islamic militant network linked to Al-Qaeda.
Normally, such news might pass under the radar in the United States, or at most, warrant a 15-second spot in Peter Jenning's nightly "Overseas Briefing." However, with the threat of another Al-Qaeda attack looming large in the American psyche, this incident, coming on the second anniversary of the bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen, only compounded those fears.
Since Sept. 11, it has been the same story: Americans traveling overseas should stay away from tourist sites and places where foreigners are known to congregate. After looking at the carnage on the front pages of the French press Monday, this warning suddenly came into focus.
Paris, like many other European cities, offers young people myriad after-dark options, including a good number of British, Scottish, Irish, Australian and American bars. Fatigued after a week of laboring to communicate coherently in a second tongue, many foreign students find that a couple of pints and some good-hearted English conversation sometimes provide an excellent way to recharge.
These same rules apply to those studying down under. Bali is to Australian students what Amsterdam or Madrid is to those studying in Paris — a quick weekend getaway made possible by cheap transportation options that appeal to a student budget.
As terrorists shift their attention away from "hard" targets, such as embassies and consulates, and towards softer civilian ones, the prospect of being and traveling as a Western student (or a student affiliated with a Western institution) abroad is growing more perilous.
The United States State Department issued a "Worldwide Caution" to all American citizens abroad the day before the Bali attack, which states, "Terrorist groups do not ditinguish between official and civilian targets. Attacks on places of worship and schools, and the murders of private American citizens, demonstrate that as security is increased at official U.S. facilities, terrorists and their sympathizers will seek softer targets."
The staff of the Middlebury School in France met yesterday to discuss the issue of safety, and according to Director David Paoli, the resources are in place to deal with an emergency evacuation should the State Department deem it necessary.
In addition, the Paris Police Department is currently in close contact with the administration of Reid Hall, where the Middlebury program is located, and plain-clothed officers pass by the building several times a day to ensure that everything is secure.
Nevertheless, walking through the narrow streets of old Paris — outdoor corridors where tables and chairs spill out of cafés and the invasion of one's personal space is impossible to avoid — I cannot stop thinking about all the "perfect" terrorist targets I frequent: The enormous Saint-Michel Internet café used almost exclusively by tourists and foreign students, the crowded British bar I stop by once a week, the museums, galleries and churches I visit for cultural enrichment and finally the monuments that symbolize the ever-present French and Western democratic slogan "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité" (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity).
But here we are, continuing with life as usual, some of us not even aware of the death toll incurred in Indonesia late Saturday night. Those who have read about what unfolded there are not sure how to react.
No one wants to alter his or her life because of something that happened literally on the other side of the world. But who would have suspected Bali to be a target? For all we know, Paris may be next.