Mon, Oct 08, 2001 page9

• It's no use for countries to try to combat terror with terror

  • By Yevgeny Primakov
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  The world is holding its breath as the US prepares to retaliate for the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Although I understand the pain felt by the US people, I believe that you can't fight terrorism with the help of terrorism.

  Dividing the world into warring Christian and Muslim regions will pave a road to disaster. Instead, we must get Muslims to start fighting terrorists seriously, which is possible because Islam itself has nothing in common with terrorism.

  In the fight against terrorism, intelligence services form the front line. But in New York and Washington, the world's most lavishly financed secret services found themselves wanting. Had Russia known about preparations for the terrorist attacks, I have no doubt that we would have informed America about such preparations. But Russia did not. Indeed, everything indicates that no government had advance information about the attacks.

  So how did the world's governments miss seeing the terrorist's prepare? The answer to this question is obvious -- the terrorist cells took special precautions that made it impossible for the secret services to monitor their activities in an effective way. This failure tells us something about how difficult it will be to combat the terrorists in the weeks ahead.

  All of the world's existing state-security systems, even those on the drawing board, seem ineffective against international terrorism. Doubling defense budgets or unleashing the world's mightiest military alliance -- NATO -- cannot defeat the terrorist threat. Besides, the latest tragedies show that anti-terrorism cannot be entrusted to secret services alone. They lack the information and perspective required, though of course it would help if various national secret services coordinated their anti-terrorist activities.

  We must fight the disease of terrorism at the source, which is found in hotbeds of international conflicts, state failure, mass poverty, and ancient animosity. For only situations of utter despair produce fanatics ready to perpetrate kamikaze terrorist outrages. Addressing the source of the disease, however, is a question of good development and economic policymaking, and the world may not wait for these to work.

  So real actions must be taken. For example, special international anti-terrorist legislation is needed. I dislike the "rogue-state" concept; all the more so as it has now acquired a false meaning: countries are referred to as rogue states merely because they don't follow other countries' policies. So we must be careful in drawing this distinction. One clear line does, however, exist: any country found guilty of financing or covering up terrorism must be treated as a real rogue. Everyone in the world community must turn their back on them in all spheres.

  The risks to Russia in fighting a "war" against terrorism are so grave that thinking through the implications of the "war on terrorism" has consumed the Russian government like no event since 1991. Muslims account for 20 percent of Russia's population. The Taliban poses a direct threat to the countries of Central Asia; Russia's entire southern frontier could become as violently unstable as Chechnya.

  Moreover, although strikes against the Taliban might weaken the terrorists' accomplices in, say, Pakistan and other countries, this simultaneously poses the risk of extending the zone of instability. More opportunities for terrorist outrages may thus be created, not less. If Russia has seemed to hesitate to join the fight, it is because Russia has good cause to worry.

  Direct Russian involvement in a projected anti-Taliban operation on Afghan territory must, I believe, be ruled out. We must not forget our previous Afghan experience. This does not mean that all means for backing America's anti-terrorist efforts should be renounced. Indeed, President Putin has found clear ways to demonstrate Russia's support and commitment to this struggle.

  I don't believe the latest terrorist acts were masterminded by any specific government. The world's countries may be headed by leaders, good and bad, but it is hard to imagine that any sanctioning the attacks in New York and Washington.

  After all, self-preservation is an instinct that most leaders possess; those who sent those kamikaze terrorists on their mission signed their own death warrants.

  But if the guilt of any specific country is established, the world should issue an international ultimatum demanding the extradition of culprits. When we have absolute proof of complicity in the terrorist horrors inflicted on the US, specific countries backing terrorism can be isolated.

  Thus, when the US accuses Russia of countering its efforts to isolate Iran and Libya, it does the fight against terrorism a disservice. No hard evidence exists that demonstrates that these countries now support terrorism. Take Libya: all terrorist-training centers were bulldozed there years ago, and Libyan citizens suspected of blowing up a passenger airliner over Scotland in 1988 were extradited to the West. So an attack on Libya for past terrorist support would be perceived as evidence of an anti-Muslim bias.

  The question as to who supports terrorism is, indeed, complicated. Russians know with certainty that Chechen bandits once received money and supplies via Turkey. Does this mean that the government of Turkey supports terrorism?

  True, Turkey didn't take adequate action to prevent terrorists and their accomplices from abusing Turkish territory, but this does not make the government in Ankara a state sponsor of terrorism. So the question of punishing governments that harbor terrorists remains problematic.

  While people who seek to kill as many civilians as possible consider themselves heroes, states cannot implant such ideas; the roots for such beliefs are embedded in some strange psychic-cum-religious trauma. To confront them, we must show such people their true insignificance.

  Their Islamic brethren are the best placed to do this. So our priority should be to find ways to get Muslim countries and ordinary Muslims to act in such a way.

  Yevgeny Primakov, a Middle East and Arabian specialist, is a former Soviet Foreign Minister and Russian Prime Minister, and is now a member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

  Copyright: Project Syndicate
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