[Mb-civic] IMPORTANT: Finding Unity On Terrorism - Wolfgang Ischinger - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

Finding Unity On Terrorism
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By Wolfgang Ischinger
The Washington Post
Saturday, March 11, 2006; A19

When I presented my credentials to President Bush in the summer of 2001, 
the Atlantic was quiet. The risks confronting the transatlantic 
community appeared to be few, well defined and manageable. As a new 
ambassador in Washington, I expected to find enough time to refresh my 
pilot's license.

Then came Sept. 11. At first the traumatic events of that day appeared 
to bring the West together. NATO took the initiative to invoke Article 
5, the defense clause of the North Atlantic Treaty, for the first time 
in the 50-year history of the alliance. Shortly thereafter, the German 
government took a step unprecedented in postwar history by dispatching 
troops abroad, to Afghanistan. The transatlantic community defined our 
shared objectives as pursuing international terrorism, and denying 
terrorists safe haven in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Today, as we continue to pursue these objectives, an even more complex 
challenge confronts us: radical Islam and the likelihood of even greater 
terrorist threats and a potential for escalating political, cultural and 
religious tension between the West on the one hand and the Muslim world 
on the other.

The situation is particularly serious because security threats and 
instability in the greater Middle East have continued to grow. In Iraq, 
terrorist violence remains widespread, along with civil strife and 
sectarian political division, with no good end in sight. In Iran, hope 
for a negotiated settlement regarding that country's nuclear ambitions 
has become uncertain. The future of the international nonproliferation 
regime is at risk; a Shiite nuclear capability might lead to Sunni 
nuclear ambitions. At the same time, Iran appears to be the principal 
beneficiary of growing Shiite influence in the region, adding a new 
element of regional instability.

The dream of transforming the entire region by getting rid of Saddam 
Hussein and creating democracy through elections has turned out to be 
elusive. In Iraq, Iran, Egypt and the Palestinian territories, recent 
elections have actually tended to strengthen radical political groups. 
While the very holding of elections in Iraq and the Palestinian 
territories is a success, these developments have so far not contributed 
to regional stability -- on the contrary.

Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is difficult, after the 
Hamas victory, to imagine how a negotiating process leading to the 
proposed two-state solution can be conducted and concluded in the near term.

In short, there is more than enough fuel available in the region to 
further stoke the radical fire. What is new is that the battleground of 
this emerging larger conflict will most likely not be in the continental 
United States, as was the case on Sept. 11, but rather in the 
European-Mediterranean space: Europe, or Europe's back yard.

What is also new is the element of personal fear beginning to descend 
upon Europeans -- as it descended upon Americans on Sept. 11. This is 
the fear inspired not only by terrorist train bombings in London and 
Madrid but by political assassinations in the Netherlands and, more 
recently, the dramatic escalation of the cartoon controversy in Denmark. 
It is the fear of being personally threatened. Europe would cease to be 
the Europe we know, love and admire, if its people came to fear that 
insisting on their values and their way of life might put their safety 
and lives at risk.

Will Europeans and Americans find a common answer to this challenge? 
Some appear all too willing to speak of the "clash of civilizations" as 
a self-fulfilling prophecy. Some in Europe might wish to go so far as to 
identify America's war in Iraq as the source of all problems, and some 
might prefer to dissociate themselves from a common transatlantic 
position, believing that the battlefield would then shift away from 
Europe. In America, the old prejudice against a weak Europe with 
inefficient leadership, unable or unwilling to defend itself and to deal 
with the issue of Muslim integration, might be reinforced.

How, then, should we move forward? Here are three simple thoughts:

· First, no serious effort has been undertaken to create a security 
structure for the Middle East -- the most volatile and, because of its 
oil resources, most important of all regions. Incorporating Israel into 
NATO, as has recently been proposed, would satisfy neither Israel's 
security needs nor those of the West. It would only exacerbate tension 
between NATO and the Arab world. Instead, an effective regional security 
arrangement would need to take into account the interests of Israel as 
well as those of Iran and the Arab countries, and it would need to be 
led and supported by the United States, Europe and Russia. As has 
recently been suggested, the U.N. Security Council might provide a 
framework for the elaboration of such an arrangement.

· Second, as repeatedly suggested by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 
NATO's role as the central forum for discussing and deciding 
transatlantic security issues should be strengthened. Europeans should 
make clear their desire for America to remain a European power. Those in 
Europe who believe that the European Union would be in a better position 
to develop its own defense policy if it were weaned from American 
military support are unwittingly playing into the hands of American 
isolationists -- to the detriment of European security. And those in 
Europe who continue to believe Europe should define its security policy 
independently from the United States have failed to understand that such 
an approach would inevitably divide the European Union.

· Third, the West -- as a political and moral concept -- must remain 
united. This is about more than just NATO, the European Union and free 
trade -- it is about the legacy of the European Enlightenment. Opposing 
absolutism, and believing in people's ability to create self-balancing 
and self-regulating, just, relativist and secular political systems: 
That is the Enlightenment's gift to the world, and it continues to be 
the West's promise.

But the West can lead only if it in turn is led responsibly by the 
United States as the only superpower, and if it can reoccupy the moral 
high ground, which has, in the eyes of many, largely been lost in the 
course of post-Sept. 11 events. One reason for this may be that we are 
not united on the issue of war and peace. Are we at war, as the United 
States claims, or are we just fighting terrorism, as Europeans believe? 
This is a fundamental political issue with the potential to either unite 
or split the West.

Many people in other parts of the world doubt whether our struggle 
against terrorism and for freedom, democracy and human rights is a 
struggle worth joining, a struggle with which they can or should 
identify. If we, the Western countries, are being measured by a higher 
standard than others, we should accept that and lead by example.

This is therefore the central challenge for the West in 2006: how to 
regain the moral high ground. The pursuit of post-Enlightenment ideals 
requires us to demonstrate that even as we fight terrorism we are 
prepared to take into account the interests of the global community, of 
all those whose cooperation we seek, whose values and culture we 
respect, and whose development and prosperity we support.

We must refuse to see that as a false choice; we must refuse to pit one 
religion against another. The choice is between absolutism and 
relativism, between totalitarianism and the dignity of the individual. 
That is the post-Enlightenment lesson the West can offer, and it is a 
legacy worth defending.

As I prepare to leave Washington for London, one thing is clear: There 
will be even less time in the future to take flying lessons.

The writer ended his tour as Germany's ambassador to the United States 
yesterday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031001840.html
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