Five years on, the US is far from winning
Five years on, the US is far from winning
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: September 11 2006 03:00 | Last updated: September 11 2006 03:00
The breathtaking images seared into the mind of the world five years ago today retain all their power to haunt us. That moment when objects as normal as civil airliners were turned into rockets that brought down the landmarks of a great city won a unique place in the annals of infamy. Even at this distance, the moments of impact, the collapse of the towers, the smoke and dust billowing out of Manhattan are pitiful and raw.
Whether that monstrous master-stroke of jihadi terrorism "changed the world" still depends on the sort of response that the many in the world who stand by tolerance and the rule of law make to the few who wish to trigger a clash of civilisations separating Muslim from Christian and Jew.
So far, the response has been, at best, inadequate and, at worst, catastrophically wrong. Five years on, the constituency of Osama bin Laden and the totalitarian form of Islamism he espouses has grown. Not just the west but the Muslim world need urgently to find the means and the legitimacy to isolate this perverse reading of Islam, this vitriolic lament for past greatness.
The initial US response to September 11 2001 was a terrible disappointment to Mr bin Laden and his friends. The campaign to bring down the Taliban and scatter its al-Qaeda allies was measured, commanded widespread and active support and was wholly justified. If anything, as we now see with the resurgence of the Taliban, it did not go far enough. But the US-led wrong turn towards Iraq provided the jihadis with the groundswell of support they were denied in Afghanistan. While it still amazes how comprehensively Iraq was bungled by the US occupation, it was always foreseeable that the invasion would proliferate, not combat, the clear and present threat to liberal values and international stability, which was jihadi extremism not Saddam Hussein. In that respect, the Bush administration and its exiguous allies in this misadventure might as well have taken a hammer to a ball of mercury.
Iraq is now a broken state, the cockpit for a sectarian war between Sunni and Shia Muslims that not only takes up to 100 lives a day but threatens to suck in Iraq's neighbours. It is also a new and target-rich frontline for the itinerant holy warriors of the al-Qaeda franchise, creating a new generation of battle-hardened cadres skilled in the urban terrorism favoured by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's strategist.
There have, of course, been some signal intelligence and police successes against the jihadis. But, as even Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, has noted, the question is whether present policies are creating them faster than they are being eliminated.
The dispiriting story here is that the US under President George W. Bush has lost the near-universal sympathy and solidarity provoked by 9/11. It has forfeited nearly all legitimacy in the Arab and Muslim worlds where, in one of the great dramas of our time, several recent polls reveal that democratic America is perceived as a greater threat than theocratic Iran.
It is not just Iraq. Mr Bush has left the conflict at the heart of Middle East instability - between Israel and the Palestinians - to fester. Rhetoric about Palestinian statehood aside, he has appeared to acquiesce in Israel's creeping landgrab on the occupied West Bank and Arab east Jerusalem. US and British support for - or at least failure to restrain - Israel's recent assault on Lebanon has helped make what may once have been extremist opinions part of the Arab and Muslim mainstream.
The way the Bush administration has trampled on the international rule of law and Geneva conventions, while abrogating civil liberties and expanding executive power at home, has done huge damage not only to America's reputation but, more broadly, to the attractive power of western values.
But the recent Lebanon war may, paradoxically, have a salutary effect, by exhibiting a glimpse of the abyss.
Israel, a bit like the US in Iraq, now has more sense of the limits to its military power. The US-allied Sunni leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, initially happy to see Israel hit Hizbollah, the spearhead of Shia radicalism under Iran's leadership, changed their tune as soon as their peoples rallied to the Lebanese militants. A lucid reading of these developments would conclude there is a mutual interest in reviving negotiations for a regional peace settlement. There is an opportunity here, and America's European and Arab allies must help Washington seize it.
US diplomatic firepower should also be deployed vigorously - with full backing from its allies - in exploring whether it is possible to reach a detente with Iran that meets the security concerns of both sides. It is not just that the best, and maybe only, realistic way to confront Iran is with a deal. Washington also needs an understanding with Tehran to help stabilise Iraq and pave the way to eventual US withdrawal. The misdirected use of force has destroyed US and western standing among Arabs and Muslims and has not worked. It is time to give diplomacy, reinforced by the capacity to deter and reward, a real chance.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: September 11 2006 03:00 | Last updated: September 11 2006 03:00
The breathtaking images seared into the mind of the world five years ago today retain all their power to haunt us. That moment when objects as normal as civil airliners were turned into rockets that brought down the landmarks of a great city won a unique place in the annals of infamy. Even at this distance, the moments of impact, the collapse of the towers, the smoke and dust billowing out of Manhattan are pitiful and raw.
Whether that monstrous master-stroke of jihadi terrorism "changed the world" still depends on the sort of response that the many in the world who stand by tolerance and the rule of law make to the few who wish to trigger a clash of civilisations separating Muslim from Christian and Jew.
So far, the response has been, at best, inadequate and, at worst, catastrophically wrong. Five years on, the constituency of Osama bin Laden and the totalitarian form of Islamism he espouses has grown. Not just the west but the Muslim world need urgently to find the means and the legitimacy to isolate this perverse reading of Islam, this vitriolic lament for past greatness.
The initial US response to September 11 2001 was a terrible disappointment to Mr bin Laden and his friends. The campaign to bring down the Taliban and scatter its al-Qaeda allies was measured, commanded widespread and active support and was wholly justified. If anything, as we now see with the resurgence of the Taliban, it did not go far enough. But the US-led wrong turn towards Iraq provided the jihadis with the groundswell of support they were denied in Afghanistan. While it still amazes how comprehensively Iraq was bungled by the US occupation, it was always foreseeable that the invasion would proliferate, not combat, the clear and present threat to liberal values and international stability, which was jihadi extremism not Saddam Hussein. In that respect, the Bush administration and its exiguous allies in this misadventure might as well have taken a hammer to a ball of mercury.
Iraq is now a broken state, the cockpit for a sectarian war between Sunni and Shia Muslims that not only takes up to 100 lives a day but threatens to suck in Iraq's neighbours. It is also a new and target-rich frontline for the itinerant holy warriors of the al-Qaeda franchise, creating a new generation of battle-hardened cadres skilled in the urban terrorism favoured by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's strategist.
There have, of course, been some signal intelligence and police successes against the jihadis. But, as even Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, has noted, the question is whether present policies are creating them faster than they are being eliminated.
The dispiriting story here is that the US under President George W. Bush has lost the near-universal sympathy and solidarity provoked by 9/11. It has forfeited nearly all legitimacy in the Arab and Muslim worlds where, in one of the great dramas of our time, several recent polls reveal that democratic America is perceived as a greater threat than theocratic Iran.
It is not just Iraq. Mr Bush has left the conflict at the heart of Middle East instability - between Israel and the Palestinians - to fester. Rhetoric about Palestinian statehood aside, he has appeared to acquiesce in Israel's creeping landgrab on the occupied West Bank and Arab east Jerusalem. US and British support for - or at least failure to restrain - Israel's recent assault on Lebanon has helped make what may once have been extremist opinions part of the Arab and Muslim mainstream.
The way the Bush administration has trampled on the international rule of law and Geneva conventions, while abrogating civil liberties and expanding executive power at home, has done huge damage not only to America's reputation but, more broadly, to the attractive power of western values.
But the recent Lebanon war may, paradoxically, have a salutary effect, by exhibiting a glimpse of the abyss.
Israel, a bit like the US in Iraq, now has more sense of the limits to its military power. The US-allied Sunni leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, initially happy to see Israel hit Hizbollah, the spearhead of Shia radicalism under Iran's leadership, changed their tune as soon as their peoples rallied to the Lebanese militants. A lucid reading of these developments would conclude there is a mutual interest in reviving negotiations for a regional peace settlement. There is an opportunity here, and America's European and Arab allies must help Washington seize it.
US diplomatic firepower should also be deployed vigorously - with full backing from its allies - in exploring whether it is possible to reach a detente with Iran that meets the security concerns of both sides. It is not just that the best, and maybe only, realistic way to confront Iran is with a deal. Washington also needs an understanding with Tehran to help stabilise Iraq and pave the way to eventual US withdrawal. The misdirected use of force has destroyed US and western standing among Arabs and Muslims and has not worked. It is time to give diplomacy, reinforced by the capacity to deter and reward, a real chance.
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 7:22 AM
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