Oh-so-sophisticated Europeans are in an uproar over the CIA's reported handling of captured terrorists. The Wall Street Journal is unimpressed by the Euros' claims of moral superiority, given their profit-driven blind eye towards events in Sudan and elsewhere.
In much of Europe's public debate, the true meaning of human rights has degenerated into a tool that gives anti-Americanism an aura of legitimacy. The real, horrendous human-rights violations in the Middle East, North Korea, China, Cuba, etc., are largely ignored or relegated to news blurs on the back pages. For front-page coverage, you need an American angle.Anti-Americanism is so prevalent in Europe that it has permeated almost all areas of public discourse -- from arts to politics to economies. "American conditions" is a popular German slur against alleged social coldness in the U.S. -- one that former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has "successfully" used to reject necessary economic reforms. And just as it has poisoned the economic debate in Europe, anti-Americanism also poisons the debate about how to deal with terrorism. Any measure that involves the U.S. is almost immediately tainted as being beyond the pale.
That's particularly true because in the public debate in Europe, as all too often in the U.S. as well, terrorism is still seen as a conventional threat. That it is decidedly not, one doesn't need to trust the Bush Administration alone. Here is what Europe's anti-terror czar, the Dutch Gijs de Vries, told us recently: "Bin Laden has called the acquisition of nuclear weapons by terrorists a religious duty. There is every reason to believe that here, as elsewhere, he is deadly serious about this."
Those decrying secret prisons and tougher interrogation methods (assuming the allegations have some validity) have yet to spell out what kind of "humane" treatment they would give to bombers whose mission it is to destroy Western civilization. If they can't, their complaints are hypocritical and intellectually shallow. How many bombing murders on European soil does it take for this realization to sink in?
It really appears that a nuclear attack by terrorists is the only thing that might shake off Europe's torpor. Unfortunately, that test might happen.
Posted by Alan at December 3, 2005 09:54 AM