<May I offer my heartfelt condolences to Tuesday's attack victims. I hope and pray that all US American CCNet members, some of whom are working in the Pentagon, are well and unharmed.

Benny Peiser
The Cambridge Conference Network (CCNet)



DEMOCRATIC UNITY IS THE ONLY ANSWER TO TERRORISM
From The Times, 13 September 2001
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,248-2001315397,00.html
By Ehud Barak

No country should feel safe harbouring those who perpetrate such horrors

Terrorism has declared war on the free world and the free world must unite to fight back. This is the inevitable conclusion to be drawn from the horror of Tuesday's attack. Just as the enlightened world mobilised in the past to combat challenges to its core values, so must such an international coalition be built today.

The nature of the attack defies belief, yet should surprise no one. Its spectacular audacity and its devastating cost in human and economic terms are truly unfathomable and may remain so for a long time. They will certainly remain etched in human memory for generations.

Let there be no illusions. This attack is an attack on everything that Western civilisation holds dear - freedom, the rule of law, the sanctity of human life. It is an attack on the open manner in which business is conducted between people and nations and on the very fabric of human interaction as we know it.

And we know who the attackers are. Whether Osama bin Laden was involved directly or not, or whether it was another grouping, the world's governments know exactly who the terrorists are and exactly which rogue states support and promote their activity. Countries like Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and North Korea have a proven track-record of sponsoring terrorism, while no one needs reminding of the carnage wrought by the terrorist thugs of Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and even Yassir Arafat's own PLO. The lines of battle are clearly drawn.

Israel, sadly, has known the scourge of terror for many years. Our citizens have been the targets of attacks unspeakable in their ugliness. Munich in 1972, Maalot in 1974, Tel Aviv's Dolphinarium in 2001, these are just a few examples of the challenge posed to our way of life consistently over nearly two generations. We have learnt the importance of vigilance and determination, of the need to develop political, diplomatic and operational options for dealing with the myriad challenges posed by those who have no respect for the bounds of ordinary morality, of the need to stand resolute in the face of terrible pain and anguish.

Of course, there will always be those who seek to link Tuesday's horrendous assault on the free world to the Arab-Israeli peace process, but it is insulting to the intelligence, let alone to the victims of this crime, to suggest such crude causality. All it takes is a quick look at the statements, publications, ideology and actions of the world's terrorists to understand that their hostility to the West is fundamental to their sense of self, and is not conditional on concessions at the Arab-Israeli negotiating table.

The brutal reality which has been brought home so terribly this week is that there is no room for compromise - in any quarter of the globe - in the face of the threat these groups pose.

A range of measures is available to the international community as it addresses this challenge in the coming days and months. Fundamental to them all is the need to act in concert. A war such as this cannot be won if cracks exist in our defences. Indeed, this is one of the reasons that the terrorist scourge has flourished for so long. A broad coalition of all peace-loving states must be built to defeat this enemy.

A concrete, operational plan must be developed, one which will harness and deploy the full diplomatic, intelligence, economic, and operational resources of the free world. This plan must use the broadest possible array of preventive measures and effective responses to all evidence of terrorist activity, wherever it may be found. Terrorists must be pursued wherever they may hide, using every means. They must not be allowed passage through any port or airport, their economic and material resources must be diminished, their funding and communications networks disrupted and downgraded.

New international norms must be set. The international community must make it clear that anyone who harbours, aids, or gives succour in any form to terrorist groups will be held accountable and pay the price of such behaviour. Sponsors of terror and the rogue states who harbour such people must be immediately isolated by the family of nations, and their ability to aid terrorism curtailed. No government must be able to consider itself immune to the consequences of allying itself with those who target the citizens of the world.

Under the leadership of America, Great Britain and the other European powers, and Russia, the civilised world must maintain the values and clarity of purpose that have made it possible to build democracy and freedom and to ensure their primacy in the modern world. The coalition they build must include the many moderate Arab and Muslim states, and all who seek stability and order in the world.

This is a time for action and a time for all nations to stand up and be counted. Terrorism respects no borders; neither can the defences against it. All nations must make it clear on which side of the divide they stand. This campaign will not be quick and it will not be easy. The network of terror already enjoys too much immunity and it may take years, and perhaps more tragic losses, before it can be overcome.

The alternative to fighting back, however, is further devastation, fear, and damage to the way of life which all peace-loving peoples rightly hold so dear.

This is a defining moment. The world as we have come to know it is now a different place and the community of nations must respond. The direction the civilised world takes in the years to come will be determined by how it mobilises now to address this systemic threat to all civilisation. With unity and resolve we will prevail.

Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd.

Dan