Six-year War Alarms Europeans
NCM Online, Paolo Pontoniere, Posted: Jan 17, 2002
Europe's growing uneasiness with the war on terrorism was reflected this week in reports published in the Belgian and Austrian press. According to Brussels' weekly The European Voice, and Vienna's daily Der Standard, the Pentagon is readying for a conflict that could last a minimum of six years and which will almost certainly expand from Afghanistan to many other nations that have been accused of harboring terrorists.
Even though President Bush has never made a clear statement to this effect, observers at the two European media believe that the Pentagon is using a six-year timeline to plan its operations and budget its resources.
The possibility that the war effort could last so long concerns Europeans primarily for two reasons: first, for the depressive effect that the military campaign could have in the long run on the world's economy; and second, because the war's extension to other nations could profoundly jeopardize Europe's geopolitical interests in the Middle East and in the horn of Africa.
It is no mystery that, while willing to pursue terrorist cells wherever they may be, Europeans find the idea of acting militarily against another national government extremely unpalatable. This is especially so in the Middle East, where US Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and democratic Senator Joe Lieberman would like to see the US take action against Iraq and Iran. A military initiative in this region would incur not only the wrath of America's Muslim allies in the region, but would also force Germany and France to revisit their support of Bush's endeavors against international terrorism.
On more than one occasion, both German Chancellor Gherard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac have stated that any military action in the region, especially those which would involve Iraq, must be taken exclusively under the authority of the United Nations. They have also stressed that their countries would prefer a positive engagement of the Iraqi government through the implementation of smart sanctions-sanctions that would reward Iraq's effort to comply with the UN resolutions, rather than penalize its violations--to having to extend air patrols over Iraq indefinitely. Currently unpopular in Washington with Democrats and Republicans alike, the strategy of acting under the UN's authority while seeking a positive engagement with Iraq has recently made inroads even among former US cold war warriors.
In an interview released recently to the Italian weekly L'Espresso, Lawrence Eagleburger, former Secretary of State in the Bush administration, underlined the necessity for the American administration to use restraint in acting against rogue states. Stressing the importance of respecting the opinions of allies in pursuing the defeat of al-Qaeda and in disbanding international terrorist networks, Eagleburger affirmed that the US should strive to implement a foreign policy that values human rights and promotes the expansion of democracy, as much as it champions America's economic and political interests.
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