In the current climate of Republican hostility to most of the democratic countries of Europe, it's easy to forget how important cooperation with the EU governments is to combatting terrorism effectively. This article by John Clarke of the Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Securing the European Homeland, is a good discussion of some of the differences in American and EU approaches to fighting terrorism.
EU countries understand the fight against terrorism as primarily a law-enforcement task, not as a military one. Despite the willing participation of the NATO allies in the Afghan war in the wake of the 9/11 attacks - a participation that is very much maintained today, "Many European opinion leaders have a visceral dislike of the 'global war on terrorism' construct."
Clarke discusses at some length the differences in organization of military and police forces in Europe and the US. EU armies support even some routine law-enforcement functions, such as providing security for
sports and cultural events. They are trained and prepared for "essential services augmentation" in the case of civil disruptions like major strikes or terrorist attacks, and get involved in border security. A number of EU countries also have paramilitary forces that have no exact parallel in the US, like the Civil Guard in Spain or the Gendarmerie in France and Austria.It's also worth noting that extensive involvement in civic affairs gives EU armies training and experience in "nation-building" activities that the US Army simply doesn't have.
2 comments:
The font settings are driving me crazy the last couple of days. The 2500-word limit should have allowed me to add: As Clarke notes, Europe hasn't been struck with the kind of "catastrophic terrorism" represented by the World Trade Center/Pentagon attacks. But EU coutries have had considerable experience with terrorism such as the IRA in England, the ETA (Basque separatists) in Spain and the Red Army Faction ("Baader-Meinhof gang") in Germany.
One more thing: So despite the contempt of Republican politicians like Rummy for "old Europe," many EU leaders "feel strongly that they understand terrorism and its causes better than countries that have never confronted these threats."
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