When a bureaucrat wants to bury an issue, he refers it to a "special committee." And when heads of government wish to do the same, they call for a "special summit."
This is what the European Union leaders have just done with regard to their role in the global War on Terror. [. . . .]
The G-7 have discussed terrorism at eight of their summits since 1976. The Halifax, Canada, summit in 1995 approved what was presented as an in-depth analysis of the threat that international terrorism posed to global stability. [. . . . ]
Taheri's assessment:
Why have the major powers been reluctant to treat the War on Terror as a genuine war? There are at least three reasons.
1. Many Western leaders can't free themselves from the philosophy of "One man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter."
This leads to a division of terrorist movements into good ones and bad ones. For example, successive British governments had no difficulty seeing the Irish Republican Army (IRA) as evil. But when it came to terrorist groups using British territory for planning and organizing attacks on other countries, the "freedom fighter" shibboleth quickly came to the fore. Until 9/11, visitors to London's Regent Park could see groups of bearded militants collecting money for terrorism in half a dozen Muslim countries while the British police watched with a straight face.
[. . . .] using the phrase "resistance movement." . . . banned the very term "terrorist" . . . replacing it by euphemisms such as "militant," "radical" and (borrowing a term from Noam Chomsky) "people-based."
Few people noticed that Jose Luis Zapatero, leader of Spain's Socialist Workers' Party, used the term "Arab resistance" throughout the March election campaign in order to avoid the term al Qaeda, which had been favored by his rival, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
2. Many nations are tempted to obtain an opt-out from the terrorist threat.
[. . . .] The "opt out" trick played a key role in persuading millions of Spanish voters to switch from the governing People's Party to the opposition Socialist Workers' Party. Many Spaniards deluded themselves into believing that by withdrawing their troops from Iraq, they would secure an insurance against future terror attacks.
3. Many of the Western elite believe that terrorists can be weaned away from their evil ways through negotiations.
[. . . . ] What these would-be deal-makers don't realize is that terrorists of the Taliban and al Qaeda type don't believe in compromise and give-and-take.
[. . . .] For the global War on Terror to succeed, it is imperative that all those fighting it convince themselves that there is no good terrorism, and that the real or imagined nobility of a cause cannot justify the murder of innocent people.
[. . . .] The major democracies must shed their illusions about ways of wiggling out of the War on Terror before they can mobilize the rest of the international community to face what is a serious threat to us all. The best insurance against terrorism is firm resolve.
