some thoughts on day 1

[Arne Herl�v Petersen]

We on the European side of an ocean that unites us more than it divides
us are all in shock, all sending our thoughts and wishes for people we
know and for people we don't know, all sharing in your grief, all
mourning, all feeling wrath against barbarians who think they can
achieve anything by killing innocent people.

Feeling revengeful is natural, but I think it would be wiser to stifle
that impulse. In stead of learning from Northern Ireland and Israel and
retaliating - and get into ever widening loops of revenge and
retaliation - it might be better to learn from South Africa and try to
get on with our lives somehow.

We should all sit down and think about what to do, if we don't want this
to happen again. Remember, next time it could be worse. We could have
nuclear terrorism. We could have biological warfare.

It would probably be useful to examine our Middle East policy. Why do
the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular hate the US so.
Have we in the Western countries sacrified millions of Palestians just
to accomodate some Israeli settlers on the West Bank - religious
fundamentalists who claim God has given them the right to chase out the
people who lived on this soil?

It might be good to examine if we have hatched monsters. Most of the
Muslim fundamentalists today used to be on the CIA payroll - including
Bin Laden. The US trained these killer machines to use them against the
Russians. Today the chicken have come home to hatch.
Perhaps we should stop arming murderers, who sneak into our own house
the next day and slit our throats.

(That is: *If* Muslim fundamentalists are responsible for this. We still
don't know. It could even be American Nazis).

First of all we have to stop thinking like military dinosaurs. The
military brass is ready to fight the cold war battles all over again,
ready to take on an empire of evil that may never have existed and
certainly doesn't exist now.
The star war missile shield would not have helped one iota against this.
Even if it worked, it would probably mean that nuclear missiles from
Iraq were shot down over London or Paris in stead of reaching New York. 
Against terrorists it is worse than useless. Worse, because it gives a
false security.

The famous Echelon which monitors all telephone and e-mail communication
has not been useful here, either. Probably because the CIA is to busy
monitoring every Greenpeace activist who wouldn't harm a fly.

I do believe an intelligence system is necessary, but it should be used
against potential terrorists, not against people who just want to vote
for democratic reforms.

Terrorists should be hunted down everywhere. They should have no safe
havens anywhere. Countries that harbour terorrists should learn that
they will be ostracized - that they will not get economic aid, that they
will be cut off from the world, until they cooperate.

All countries should unite in taking terrorists to court, preferrably in
an international court of justice for crimes against humanity.
That means American terrorists, too. The US can not continue to live
outside the world community. So far the US has not been willing to
accept an international court against war criminals (probably because
war criminals like Kissinger might be indicted). That must change. The
whole world must unite against this deadly danger. No country can go it
alone. We are all together in a globalized world.

That was a few thought from a Danish outpost on this Day 1 in a world
that will never be the same again. I would love to hear some reactions.