Europe and the Terrorist Threat

I went down to the south of France to spend a few days with my Swiss cousins before they close the house they rented for the summer. It's past the big enslaught of tourists who fill Provence in July and August, but the little villages with their stone houses and cobble streets still have their fair share of Americans, English and Swiss enjoying the last hot days before autumn sets in. One night we ate at a country inn - the food and service were good and as fate would have it, there were two American couples dining at the table next to us. They were retired and obviously enjoying a holiday in Provence, something most Americans can only dream about. At our table and around the room the French speakers were talking about the wine and food - that is mostly the topic of conversation when the French dine out...even at the local cafe. But I couldn't help but pay attention to the conversation among the Americans. After the usual "what we did today" bits, they turned rapidly to 9/11 and America's job in the world...and to commenting about the valor of her military. They weren't boastful, only trying to express their concerns and their pride in their soldiers. It was interesting for me because I am far more often exposed to European opinions about America's role and about the necessity for American superiority, even though Europeans would like to be able to make it without America more or less setting the rules. What Europeans feel is that the GWB invasion of Iraq set off a chain of unnecessary catastrophic events. They feel this even while they have great sympathy for America's profound 9/11 wound and wonder how they would have handled such an attack. But what Europeans fail to get right is the real chain of the cause-and-effect sequence around 9/11. They forget the 1979 hostage taking at the American Embassy in Iran. They never paid much attention to the Kenya bombing or to the two prior attacks on Wall Street. So they judge Iran II as a stand-alone event and it seems like an over-reaction to them. Yet they have been through similar but less murderous attacks - the Madrid train attack that killed several hundred, the London metro bombing that killed almost 80, and various attempts in France, always thwarted by the efficient French national security police teams. But, as my cousin said to me the next evening while we were watching a program on French TV about 9/11, "it's hard to imagine killing 3,000 people." And that is the heart of the problem. Europeans cannot - even when they visit Ground Zero, as most Europeans who are in New York do - get their heads around 3,000 innocents dead in a fight they really have little experience with. So they shake their heads at the American reaction and they pretend that they are safe from such atrocities. But, they are not safe. And when Europeans face up to the terrorist threat, they trust that America and a few of their own troops will keep the terrorism away from their door. I hope they are right. And I also hope that America will continue to care enough about Europe to protect it - because Europe is an unprepared sitting duck in the war in terrorism and most Europeans are blind to this truth.