The War on Terror

Today is the second anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. But, I do not write this article primarily to memorialize the event. Throughout the world, there have been many more victims of terrorism since that day, and the overwhelming majority of those victims have not been American. Today is an appropriate day to consider this sad reality.

September 11 was not an isolated event. It had predecessors, including the attacks on two U.S. Embassies in Africa, and it has had successors, such as the firebombing of the Bali nightclub on October 12, 2002, and, more recently, the attack on the U.N headquarters and the Najaf mosque in Iraq. The terrorists' definition of "the enemy" has become quite broad. Religion, nationality and national policy do not provide immunity from attack; no individual and no country are certain to be safe. For example, during his trial, the mastermind of the Bali nightclub attack called it a "blow against America," although the attack killed 38 Muslim Indonesians, more than 100 Australian and European tourists (two Estonians were in danger), and no Americans.

Indeed, internationalization of terror's victims has been quite marked in the past two years. There have been no foreign terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, and relatively few American casualties in recent attacks. In part, this is due to increased security in the U.S. and a number of international law enforcement successes. But it is also due in part to a decision by global terrorists to select targets on grounds of their vulnerability rather than on political or military grounds.

In effect, in the twisted logic of the committed terrorist, almost any attack anywhere that kills large numbers of people is a legitimate blow. It is not political attitude, national policy, religion, race or combatant status that matters. All that matters is vulnerability to attack. The deaths of UN humanitarian workers, who rejected stringent physical security measures, Muslim religious leaders or nonpolitical tourists from countries not involved in U.S.-led coalitions are operationally easier to achieve than direct attacks on the U.S.

We must all, therefore, face the terrible logic of modern terrorism: it can strike anywhere where there is vulnerability. Whatever a country's attitude towards U.S. policy in Iraq, whether or not it becomes a member of NATO or the EU, whatever the religion or ethnic makeup of its people, it can be a scene of terrorism. The terrorist cares only for the ease of his operation and the count of bodies after the attack.

The way to end the cycle of terrorist attacks, therefore, is first to continue to upgrade the common effort of the U.S., the other members of NATO, the members of the EU, and dozens of other nations to take the offensive against global terror. This offensive has stopped a large number of attacks over the past two years. It has resulted in the killing or capture of two thirds of al Qaida's known leaders and the elimination of the organization's base and training camps.

Second, we have to face and reduce vulnerabilities in our home countries. The war on terror will be a long one. Victory will not come in a day or a year, but with the right committment, we can achieve it. All of us will be at risk for some time to come. All of us have to ensure that terrorists cannot pass our borders. Our governments must do everything they can to reduce the risk of attacks through good law enforcement, good intelligence cooperation, and increased resources for securing sites vulnerable to terrorist attack. A number of European countries have developed means to cope more successfully with domestic terror over the last thirty years. The lessons they learned have been instructive to the U.S. and would be helpful perhaps to those countries in Europe that have not before faced this challenge.

Days of remembrance usually occasion touching speeches and ceremonies. Let us use this day instead to remind ourselves of the need to take steps promptly to help prevent any further tragedies.