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The devastating terrorist attacks in the USA constitute a challenge to defend the fundamental values
of all civilizations - against international terrorism, but also against a self-destructive
overreaction.
The attacks in New York,
Washington and Pennsylvania have to be condemned as a crime against humanity. With their thousands
of casualties, their furious cruelty and their methodical perfidy, they constitute a new dimension of
international terrorism. They show the global vulnerability in the high-tech-world. Beside their
victims, they hit a lot of targets: the symbols and power-centres of the USA and globalized capitalism,
the industrial countries´ safety and the peaceful coexistence of cultures in NewYork and the whole world.
The victims came from more than 60 nations, they were Christians, Muslims, members of other religions and
people with no religious affiliations.
We mourn
for the victims of the attacks. Our sympathy goes to the injured and the relatives of the victims. We
have understanding for the rage and anger. But our grief is not a cry for war.
In the face of this new dimension of international terrorism, we urge for fighting it
effectively and consequentially. A situation in which thousands of people can be killed by terror
at any time is incompatible with the fundamental principles of every civilization and the further
development of human rights, democracy and freedom. In this new situation, a change of views is
necessary. There can be no offsetting of casualties, no categorizing of victims under old concepts of
an enemy, no discrimination between human lives and no acceptance of the "logic" of
terror - either in its assessment or in counter-reactions. Nullifying the power of terror means not
to align with it, - either in talking about it or in fighting it. We have to defend the fundamental
principles of civilization without damaging them any further.
But in the face of the atrocious threat, in many ways a balanced view and response, which
are all too necessary, get lost. The different participants, their goals and interests as well as
the causes of escalation must be taken into account, without throwing suspicion on it as excusing or
relativising the crime that occurred. In the interests of de-escalation and peaceful coexistence,
reciprocal perceptions of the different cultural groups and religions deserve attention, even if they
include clear criticisms and the necessity to correct the mistakes of the past. Global injustices and
political humiliations are not justifications, but in fact the breeding-ground of a deep discontent,
on which terrorist fanatics thrive.
Currently we run the risk of heading for a state of affairs, where the boundary between war
and peace is permanently blurred. The disconcerting certainty that there can be no complete protection
against terrorist attacks, should not obscure the question, as to which steps would improve security -
and which would reduce it. A general strategy is necessary, having short- and longterm measures against
international terrorism, that won´t fall into the trap of escalation and destabilization. Instead, by
remaining calm and prudent, we should draw on the existing strengths of civilization´s basic tenets and
guiding principles, whilst defending these principles against attack.
That is why the reaction to
the terrorist attacks, both in its general strategy and in its individual steps, must adhere to
following civilized principles:
1) For good reasons,
international law tolerates no revenge, retaliation or actions of punishment. Violence is
only legitimate as self-defense or assistance in an emergency. All measures have to be proportionate
and appropriate with the least possible side-effects, and in addition must not exacerbate the problems
they aime to avoid. A mixing of self-defense and retaliatory acts would cause avoidable
counter-reactions.
- Preconditions for all
measures are credible evidence of guilt, aiding and abetting or concrete endangering by the
accused. The possibility of error about the originator must be ruled out. All governments that are
participating in the coalition fighting terror have the right to receive the evidence. The necessary
international cooperation requires acknowledgement of the evidence through the coalition members and
the UN Security Council. The terrorists´ followers and supporters should not have the luxury of the
excuse that no evidence was provided that their leaders perpetrated a crime causing the deaths of
innocent people and, therefore, offended a basic tenet of Islam as well as the Christian tradition.
- The differences between
guilt, aiding and abetting and concrete endangering should be taken into consideration. Instead
of bringing perpetrators and accomplices together by the threat of equal treatment, previous
accomplices should be encouraged (by pressure or with a "stick and a carrot") to stop
their support. It has to be about setting up a coalition against terrorism, without giving rise to
a coalition of terrorists, accomplices and "rogue states" as a counter-part.
- All measures have to aim
directly at the originators of the attacks of the 11th September and further possible attacks
and equally well-aimed support for the civilian population and all conceivable allied partners.
Whoever wants a life without terror should consider himself or herself invited to join an equal
partnership.
2) Political and
economic measures to support the civilian population and allied partners in the region must have
absolute priority. These measures have to provide a way out from the hopelessness of
poverty, shortage of education and violent conflicts and ways of neutralizing of the terrorism´s
breeding-ground, namely its recruiting and mobilizing potential. Conflict prevention and international
cooperation in the One World are the most effective weapons against globalized terrorism. These weapons
include alleviating poverty, improving health care, education, fair trade-conditions as well as
reduction and prevention of international indebtedness. This strategy has to be initiated immediately
with a strong signal. According to the World Bank, the economic consequences of the present and
worsening situation already threaten to plunge ten million people into poverty, in addition more than
five million Afghans and many refugees have to be saved from a starvation catastrophe.
- With regard to these
constructive measures, non-governmental organizations should also be involved in the international
coalition for a civilized struggle against terrorism. They are allied partners for a coalition that
works from the bottom up to help achieve the interests of the many people whose misery is just
abused by demagogic fanatics, but not eliminated at all.
- Also, great significance has
to be given to an international interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Up to now, reciprocal
knowledge and understanding is missing to a large extent. By means of an intensive interreligious
dialogue, it is possible to stop the propagandists of a vulgarized Islam in their demagogic
business. In western countries, discrimination against Muslims and Arabs must be fought.
- Within the framework of this
international anti-terror coalition, the peace process in the Middle East is a central political
project. It is only possible to reduce the conflicts simultaneously with serious and fast
negotiations on the basis of the Mitchell Plan. In these negotiations, attempts must be made to
integrate directly or indirectly all Palestinian organizations, which would otherwise possibly make
their mark by trying to torpedo such efforts.
3) For actions
to be appropriate, political instruments must also have priority in the measures against the
originators of the terrorist attacks or possibly their accomplices. In every respect international
terrorism must be ostracized worldwide. For an internationally accepted treatment of apprehended
perpetrators the International Criminal Court must be set up quickly. Especially with regard to states,
possible further suitable measures can include ultimatums, consistent blockades - also enforced by
military means -, boycotts and sanctions.
- The financing of
international terrorism must be halted. This concerns money laundering, uncontrolled offshore
bank areas and "underground banking". Worldwide regulations must be introduced that facilitate the
tracking of terrorists financing.
- The arming of
international terrorism must be stopped. This concerns the whole international arms trade
including the black market. In a world under the threat of international terrorism, arms cannot be
put on the market, rather the arms trade and, with that, the arming of terror organizations and civil
war militias must be eliminated.
- In addition to international
cooperation and preventive measures to eliminate the reasons for conflicts, worldwide coordinated
investigations against the terror networks and their financial sources are the most effective
weapons against international terrorism. Improved safety standards in selected areas, international
co-operation and better technical equipment for the investigational authorities as well as well-aimed
searches hit international terror networks at vulnerable points. The failure of the secret services
and their practice of supporting temporarily apparently useful militias and terror organizations are
to be examined in great detail in order to devise careful targeting and effective measures to fight
those organizations. One of the main tasks is not military but the well-aimed tracking down and
combating of globally distributed terror networks. Even for measures by order of the police or the
secret service, the principles of accurate targeting and appropriateness are valid. As regards
domestic safety, the standards of civilization and legality, which are to be defended, should not be
thrown overboard. A symbolic policy of strong words and tightening the law does not help anyway, but
gives in to terror.
4) Military
offensive measures only have a place in a strategy, that serves the above considerations, when
they have their own area of application inside the context of the priority measures, - when they do
not interfere with the other methods, - and when they do not lead to avoidable creation of new
victims. On the one hand it is possible that these measures could be reasonable to avoid further
attacks. On the other hand they can even provoke further attacks, destabilize an area and cost many
lives. In questions of life and death, both risks have to be weighed under conditions of incomplete
knowledge about the consequences. However, one appraisal of this difficult question unites us: Every
military action that endangers civilians ("collateral damage"), that drops bombs or missiles in cities
or inhabited areas, that leads to the deployment of ground forces beyond small special units, that
drives masses of refugees to misery and death from starvation, - every war, surrogate war and civil
war - is, in the framework of a general strategy, unsuitable and even counter-productive, - which
costs many human lives and therefore sews further hatred, leads to wanton escalation and possibly
stimulates further terror instead of suppressing it. Then the fight against terrorism and the defense
of fundamental principles of civilization would result in the opposite effects. This is valid, too,
for every delivery of arms and military support that lead, for instance, to a bloodbath involving
Taliban and Afghanistan´s Northern Alliance. It is now all the more important to reject the use of
ABC weapons, which so far have not been expressly eliminated as an option. In military strikes that
have already taken place, we appeal urgently to follow these principles and avoid every further
escalation because of its unforeseeable consequences.
All in all this is about
resolutely fighting international terrorism and not unintentionally strengthening it. Terrorism
is to be fought most effectively without escalation. The German Federal Government should try to win
over the USA and their other coalition partners in the framework of the United Nations and the NATO,
also working bi-laterally for a strategy to fight terror whilst maintaining the above mentioned
principles of civilization. The Upper House of the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and the
Federal Government should show a high commitment to the political and economic measures to fight
terrorism and make every participation in military strikes with logistics, financial resources or
troops dependent on the adherence to the named principles. Loyalty to the alliance and historical
responsibility cannot mean to support a way of proceeding that damages all participants. For our
assessment of military strikes, the question of the German Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr)
participation is not in the foreground, because the named criteria are valid for every decision about
a military strike as a reaction to the 11th of September, since every human life counts equally -
whether in New York, Germany or Afghanistan.
We put
our trust in the common civilization of our world, to which there is no alternative. The worldwide
mourning for the victims of the terrorist attacks that was demonstrated by all cultural groups has
laid the foundation of peaceful coexistence, upon which world leaders now should build.
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