Main focus of Monday, September 11, 2006

September 11 - five years on

The September 11 attacks on New York and Washington shook the world. At the time, people said the world would never be the same. Five years later commentators explore whether this is true. Did September 11 and the ensuing war on terrorism mark the beginning of a new era?

Der Standard - Austria

Eric Frey examines how the world has changed since September 11, 2001. "When historians of the future study these times, they will probably mark March 20, 2003 – the day the US invaded Iraq – rather than September 11, 2001, as the decisive date. But unlike the invasion of Afghanistan, which was an inevitable step for any US president, the 19 terrorists of September 11 did not force the Bush administration into this war. The world of today has been shaped by willful decisions made in the White House rather than the collapse of the twin towers… Perhaps a future US president will be able to repair some of the damage Bush has caused, but the radicalisation of the Middle East remains a phenomenon under which the world will suffer for many years to come. It will affect Europe more than it affects the US, protected as it is by its geographical position and its greater ability to achieve integration. And Europe's problems will continue even after America's 'war on terrorism' is over." (11/09/2006)

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NRC Handelsblad - Netherlands

"Five years of war against terrorism have given unsatisfactory results," explains the daily which is calling for a change of strategy. "The United States and their allies are engaged, in various parts of the planet, in struggles against radical Islamism. The battle is lasting a long time, requiring a lot of means and the results are uncertain. There is no winner yet. The World after September 11th is not better, things are even far worse in some areas. In Iraq, the invasion is increasingly turning into a civil war. Sectarian violence and insecurity are masking the fall of Saddam and the success of free elections. Iraq has become President Bush's Waterloo in matters of foreign policy. It is also there that an ideology has disappeared, that of the Middle-East's democratisation." (11/09/2006)

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Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

According to Stefan Kornelius, the US has lost the most important battle of all since September 11 – the battle of ideas. "It isn't the attack itself that causes the destruction but the reaction to the attack. It changes things, triggers revolutions and leads to coups… Osama bin Laden's plan was based on the assumption that others would do the work for him; that focussing on a common goal would create unity in Islam, that a supranational organisation – a caliphate – could be created. The idea may seem absurd but the concentration on the US as a target and the negative dissociation from the West and America has helped the idea to take hold. The Bush administration has let itself be fooled in the way a sumo wrestler is fooled by a judoka who uses lever holds to exploit his opponent's mass for his own purposes. Terrorists create fear and paranoia in people's minds, so the battle against terrorism is mainly a battle of ideas, a battle for minds and moral superiority. The 'war on terror' which Bush started and which is still being waged has therefore been America's greatest strategic mistake and, to top it all, a rhetorical blunder." (11/09/2006)

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Le Soir - Belgium

"The United States remains the number one target, but is certainly not the only one, as has been demonstrated by the attacks in Bali, Madrid, and those in London", explains the former American Senator, Bob Kerrey, member of the commission investigating the September 11 attacks in an interview conducted by Nathatlie Mattheiem." I think there is now a consensus in what, for lack of a better term, is commonly referred to as 'the free world', even if we are still uncertain of what to do. We are however considerably less tolerant, concerning language inciting violence, than was the case before September 11th, or March 11th [terrorist attacks in Madrid]. (...) Europeans must be afraid of a post-Iraq syndrome implying that Americans are withdrawing into themselves, because the United States have information and logistical capacities without which it is not possible to do much at all." (09/09/2006)

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ABC - Spain

"With time, the impact due to the gigantic dimensions of the attack perpetrated in New York and Washington (over 3, 000 dead) has diminished.", considers the daily in its editorial. "The terrorist attacks in Madrid and in London that have since taken place have not permitted the sketching-out of the contours of a conflict in which free western societies are implicated. Since the end of the Second World War, we Westerners, Europeans in particular, have turned tolerance and peace into the primary axis of our relations with the rest of the world. It is appropriate to recall, five years after the biggest criminal attack against our civilisation, that we are threatened by a force that wants to destroy it, in the face of which our noblest desires are turned against us." (11/09/2006)

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Postimees - Estonia

Igot Taro contends that September 11 has had the effect of bringing the US and Russia closer – something that would have been unimaginable just five years ago. He points out that both countries have used the slogan "war on terror" to serve their own interests. "This slogan has enabled the US to get rid of what it regarded as problematic regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq and it has allowed Russia to go ahead with campaigns on its own soil: the war in Chechnya could now be fought as a war against terrorism… Since 9/11 it has become almost obligatory to seek a connection to al-Qaeda behind every shot fired. This has given Moscow an excuse to weaken federal structures: since the tragedy in Beslan, it has been able to take the necessary and long prepared steps virtually without opposition. Those who thought five years ago that the terrible tragedy in New York would induce the great powers to put aside their ambitions and join forces to create a better world were simply naïve." (11/09/2006)

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