Dr. Cohen is Research Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Davis International Studies Institute at the Heritage Foundation, working closely with Congressmen, Congressional staff members, three U.S. Administration members, as well as cabinet-level Russian, Eurasian and Eastern and Central European decision makers. He is an SPME Member.
Three anti-terror models emerged over the last week. As world leaders grieve in Madrid over 201 victims of the train bombing, the Pakistanis demonstrate their Keystone Cops qualities, and Israel is taking flak from the Europeans for the targeted killing of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, you be the judge.
The first model is bureaucratic. It has been articulated by Javier Solana, a Spaniard who is European Union foreign policy chief. “Europe is not at war,” Solana said. “We must oppose terrorism energetically, but we must not change our way of life. We are democrats who love freedom.”
His boss, Romano Prodi, EU Commission president said that the answer to fighting terrorism is, among other things, adopting the EU Constitution more quickly. European heads of state are adopting a declaration of solidarity with Spain and a call to jointly fight terrorism and “root causes of terrorism –conflicts, poverty, deprivation and frustration.”
Dominique de Villepin, the French Foreign Minister said that “a hard line security policy does not improve security unless it is complemented by a political strategy.” But two and a half years after 9/11 “political strategy” has not prevented the Madrid massacre.
De Villepin’s answer to fighting terror is also to speed up the transfer of power from the coalition to the United Nations in Iraq. He apparently believes that terrorism will stop after that.
De Villepin’s information about Iraq seems to be deeply flawed. He stated that under Saddam “there was no terrorism in Iraq.” However, Baghdad harbored such terrorists and operations as Ansar Al Islam; Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda branch; Mohammad Abbas, the hijacker of Achille Lauro cruise ship and the murderer of the disabled American Leon Klinghoffer; and Abu Nidal, the 1970s super-terrorist. Saddam’s payments of $20,000 to each Palestinian murder-suicide bomber’s family is certainly terrorism.
The European answer in their “no-war” on terrorism is more bureaucracy: Solana is appointing the Dutchman Gijs de Vries, former State Secretary of the Interior, to become the new EU anti-terrorism coordinator. However, European politicians warned that de Vries will be a “technical man”, not like Tom Ridge” and the new structure will not become “an EU CIA.”
Creating a Europe-wide security service is vital in view of disappearing borders in the EU, the Madrid bombing, and the Greek pleas that Athens is not ready, security-wise, for this year’s Olympics. However, uniting European spooks will be like herding cats. For the rest of this analysis, go to: http://remotefarm.techcentralstation.com/032604A.html