In nearly two years since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, America’s counter-attack — the war on terrorism — can claim to have rallied one of the largest international coalitions in history. And yet with lethal bombings this year already in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Morocco, al-Qaida and its allies remain terrifyingly effective. “We’ve built a coalition against terrorism unlike any other,” says Marc Grossman, undersecretary for political affairs at the State Department. “We have 90 nations that have arrested or detained 2,700 terrorists and their supporters since September 11th; 17 nations contributed nearly 6,000 troops to Operation Enduring Freedom and to the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul; 161 countries have blocked terrorist assets totaling $116 million.” The great institutions of international diplomacy have rallied to the cause. The NATO alliance has now assumed responsibility for security in Afghanistan. The United Nations has backed the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. The European Union pushed its central banks to help identify and block money laundering, and U.S. Customs officers are now routinely working in European ports to monitor shipping containers. Despite other arguments between the United States and traditional allies like France and Germany over the war in Iraq, the cooperation of their police and intelligence and judicial services against terrorism has continued. Full Story
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