While the U.S. continues to claim that terrorists hate our way of life, Europe understands terror is about our policies.
After a week in Geneva and London and many discussions with European, American and Arab political activists, business people, politicians, diplomats and academics, I sense that the United States and the United Kingdom may be finally, slowly, moving towards catching up with the rest of the world on the issue of terrorism and how to deal with it.
Ever since 9/11, the Western world as a whole has allowed the United States to define and lead the "global war on terrorism;" this process has proven to be only partially effective, and deeply flawed in both its analysis and results, as the quagmire of Iraq reminds us daily.
The most obvious sign of the failure of the American-led global anti-terror war is the pervasive, frequently expressed, and growing sense of vulnerability that defines much of the West, especially the United States and Britain. The certainty that something equivalent to or bigger than 9/11 is going to happen is matched by the almost total inability of the U.S. and U.K. political leaderships to comprehend the real nature, causes and aims of the terror groups that target them, like Al Qaeda. Consequently, the U.S. and U.K. counterterrorism strategies are failing across the board. Fear and ignorance together are a deadly combination.
