Does Europe have capable leadership?

Everyone felt injured for the hundreds of innocent victims of the terrorist attack of al Qaeda in Spain. And everybody was worried because Europe is now included in the field of conflict of Islamic terrorism and the antiterrorist alliance established after America's initiative after the horrific and bloody attack of al Qaeda at the twin towers in New York.

While the problem was lying away from the Europeans, they had the "luxury" and the "excuse" to put the issue aside and leave the Americans to experiment and play the game of global domination as the European partners sided with or against the war in Iraq, depending on their interests.

Spain, the first victim of Islamic terrorism in Europe, wanted to accede into the club of great powers and have the support of President Bush and the United States in gaining a greater influence in Latin America and in Europe. Because of that perception, the Spanish voters had decided, a day before their elections, to congratulate Aznar's policies and bring his party to power -- even without his leadership.

It is difficult to detect whether the surprise in the elections -- the victory of the Socialist Party -- is due primarily to the correlation of Aznar's policies and the terrorist attack, or his effort to attribute the attack to the Basques to avoid his party's loss. What is important is that in the Spanish elections, the al Qaeda issue was voted on! The attack in New York offered George W. Bush an excuse to promote through war the strategic plans of the United States in Eurasia and the Middle East. The attack of al Qaeda in Madrid proved that Europe has no leadership capable of handling such a crucial period of time in the confrontation of terrorism with antiterrorism.

The fact that the European leaders had not realized that the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq would not close, but rather enlarge the cycle of terrorism, could be forgiven. However, the spasmodic reactions after Madrid are historically incomprehensible and politically irresponsible and dangerous. Osama bin Laden must be extremely satisfied seeing Europe mobilizing NATO forces as if it was about to be militarily attacked from a great power and encouraging panic among European citizens.

Should Europe stay out of this and not take additional measures of protection? Of course not! Every member-state separately and the European Union collectively are obliged to reinforce policing measures and encourage multilateral cooperation. The mobilization of NATO as a shield of protection for the Olympic Games in Athens this coming summer and the policing of the North African countries serve the American strategy; they do not prevent new terrorist attacks, because al Qaeda has proven that it has the means to discover those gaps that provide it with the potential to strike hard, cause shock, and appear as equal to an omnipotent America and NATO.

Europe does not "play" with terrorism to promote geopolitical interests. The question is therefore justified, why did they not decide to touch upon and investigate the reasons that cause terrorism and confront -- even alone -- the issue at its source? European history in the Arab World is full of examples: from the battle of Gallipoli during World War I, to the fiasco of De Gaulle in Algeria with half a million people dead.

The moral of the story through this short reference to European history -- with more examples recorded in the recent American history -- is that had we not tried to "liberate" the Arab countries and "democratize" the Muslim peoples, they, and us, would have been better off.

The pain was not gain, however. It is sad to see leaders and peoples trying to justify their support to the American policy or remind the world that they belonged to the opposite camp to be excluded from a possible attack by al Qaeda. I do not think that there is a single European citizen that would desire to live under the threat or the fear that one day he/she could lose his/her life, or be disfigured by a terrorist attack. Moreover, no European citizen wants to live in a police-ridden state and feel unprotected. Citizens cannot be happy with the thought alone that they have to spend the rest of their lives under the pressure of terrorism and the antiterrorist "everyday life."

The problem is political and only with the cooperation of the Muslim countries can we solve it. We have humiliated them enough. We have exploited them more than they can handle. Let's make them equal interlocutors and allow them to choose their own way of government, their own way of living, and their own way of managing their human and natural resources.

Does Europe have a leadership capable of handling such a great challenge, or is the attachment to the United States still prevalent?

Theofanis Exadaktylos is a senior majoring in International Relations.