The Economist - 22 September 2001 PDF
Preview The Economist - 22 September 2001
The Economist 20010922 SEARCH RESEARCH TOOLS Economist.com Choose a research tool... advanced search » Subscribe Activate Help Friday October 13th 2006 Welcome = requires subscription My Account » Manage my newsletters LOG OUT » » PRINT EDITION Print Edition September 22nd 2001 Previous print editions Subscribe The battle ahead To fight will be hard. But not to fight would be worse … More Sep 15th 2001 Subscribe to the print edition on this week's lead article Sep 8th 2001 Or buy a Web subscription for Sep 1st 2001 full access online Aug 25th 2001 The world this week Aug 18th 2001 RSS feeds Receive this page by RSS feed Politics this week More print editions and covers » Politics this week Leaders Full contents The next steps Enlarge current cover The battle ahead Past issues/regional covers Subscribe Technology Quarterly The causes The roots of hatred GLOBAL AGENDA OPINION The economic aftermath A crunch of gears POLITICS THIS WEEK More pain ahead MONITOR BUSINESS THIS WEEK Tapping the ether Letters OPINION MONITOR Leaders How to see through walls On terrorist attacks on America Letters MONITOR WORLD Special Report Visionary implant United States MONITOR The Americas Fighting terrorism Asia Seeing is believing Allies in search of a strategy Middle East & Africa Europe MONITOR The military options Britain “Instant-on” magnetically Take your pick Country Briefings Cities Guide MONITOR Osama bin Laden's network More than skin deep The spider in the web SURVEYS MONITOR Islam's tensions BUSINESS Safe keeping Enemies within, enemies without Management Reading Business Education MONITOR Executive Dialogue No hiding place for anyone United States FINANCE & ECONOMICS TEAM SPIRIT The home front Agility counts Economics Focus Getting to grips with evil Economics A-Z REPORT: PROGRAMMING The economic impact A lingua franca for the Internet SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY How big a blow? Technology Quarterly REPORT: SPACE TECHNOLOGY New York city A bigger role for small satellites? Waiting and praying PEOPLE Skyscrapers in the sky Obituary Dissenting voices Give peace a chance? To infinity and beyond BOOKS & ARTS Arab-Americans Style Guide REPORT: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Suddenly visible Machines with a human touch MARKETS & DATA Who did it? REPORT: SOFTWARE Weekly Indicators The manhunt begins List makers take control Currencies Big Mac Index Surveillance technology REPORT: PHARMACEUTICALS Uncle Sam and the Watching Eye DIVERSIONS Drugs ex machina Lexington RESEARCH TOOLS Last word A leader is born An incurable itch CLASSIFIEDS The Americas DELIVERY OPTIONS Business E-mail Newsletters Canada and the United States Mobile Edition World airlines Setting a new perimeter RSS Feeds Uncharted airspace Mexico and the United States ONLINE FEATURES Hollywood and disaster Fair-weather friends? Re-edit Cities Guide Argentina's economy Business and terrorism Zeroing in Country Briefings Taking stock Panama Water industry Audio interviews Becalmed Unquenched thirst Classifieds The Internet Asia Taxman.biz Pakistan and the United States Economist Intelligence Unit Caught in the middle Finance & Economics Economist Conferences The World In Afghanistan Wall Street's reopening Intelligent Life Honoured guest Back, if not bullish CFO Roll Call Japan and the United States Wall Street's running repairs European Voice On board? EuroFinance Conferences The markets rewired Economist Diaries and The Koreas and the United States Business Gifts The insurance bill Support of a sort What's the damage? Cantor Fitzgerald Advertisement International Carrying on Israel and the Palestinians Emerging economies Stop, says the superpower Ill winds Iran and the United States Japanese banks The enemy of my enemy Abandon hope Muslims in Africa Stoking fires Trade talks Somalia Looking hopeful Into the vacuum Economics focus The wages of war Science & Technology Europe Security technology Watching you Europe and the United States GM crops and insects Solid, but for how long? Butterfly balls Russia and the United States Medical technology Poacher turned gamekeeper Atom-heart father France and the United States Good for the (French) president Books & Arts Hamburg's election Japanese internment in America Day of judgment The consequences of terror Charlemagne Cultural history Recep Tayyip Erdogan Minds of their own Britain New fiction Saying sorry Reactions New fiction We're with you, sort of Strange but true The economy On terror and the Taliban The Bank joins in The published word Northern Ireland The face of portraiture The America effect Making a splash The BBC Defining masterpieces New Labour, new chairman Not in the head The Tory shadow cabinet Masaccio's panels Lurch to the right Equitable Life Obituary Compromise or bust Education Ahmad Shah Masoud Too testing for some Economic and Financial Indicators Bagehot His finest hours Overview Articles flagged with this icon are printed only in the British edition of The Economist Output, demand and jobs Prices and wages Consumer prices Money and interest rates The Economist commodity price index Stockmarkets Trade, exchange rates and budgets Top companies by market capitalisation Emerging-Market Indicators Overview Inward FDI index Economy Financial markets Advertisement Classifieds Sponsors' feature About sponsorship » Jobs Tenders Jobs Tenders Jobs Tenders Senior Business Economic Advice to Postdoctoral Science City: Legal Affairs Officer Request for Manager the European Fellowship at the International Rules Division World Proposals: A course Opportunities Commission (EC) Institute for the Social Sustainability Trade Organization on Budget Policies BE CHALLENGED Delegation Kigali, Sciences Competition The World Trade and Investments for SENIOR BUSINESS Rwanda Postdoctoral Science City: Organization in .... Children MANAGER Economic Advice to Fellowship Opening International Request for OPPORTUNITIES the European Cornell University .... Sustainability Proposals: .... We are see.... Comm.... Competit.... About Economist.com | About The Economist | About Global Agenda | Media Directory | Staff Books | Advertising info | Career opportunities | Contact us Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2006. All rights reserved. Advertising Info | Legal disclaimer | Accessibility | Privacy policy | Terms & Conditions | Help Produced by = ECO PDF TEAM = Thanks xxmama About sponsorship Politics this week Sep 20th 2001 From The Economist print edition Fighting terror The United States worked hard to build an international alliance against terrorism. George Bush received visits from President Jacques Chirac of France, President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic country, and Britain's Tony Blair. European countries, including Russia, backed America in its determination to hit back at terrorists and countries that harbour them. But several governments began to express reservations about who exactly might be the targets. See article: Allies in search of a strategy Osama bin Laden was named as the prime suspect in the attacks. Mr Bush said that he wanted him “dead or alive”, adding that “those who house, encourage him, provide food, comfort or money are on notice.” America's defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, reiterated that Afghanistan was not the only country facing possible military strikes in response to the terrorist attacks on America. See article: The spider in the web Afghanistan declined to hand over Mr bin Laden, accused by America of orchestrating the terrorist attacks. Thousands fled from Kabul, the capital, for the Pakistani border, fearing an American strike was imminent. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, said he would support possible American military action against Afghanistan. See article: Honoured guest Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, ordered a ceasefire and Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, gave the order to stop offensive military operations against Palestinians after intense pressure from America. Mr Bush wants relative peace in the Middle East to ease America's efforts to build a coalition against terrorism. See article: Stop, says the superpower Canada seemed ready to offer military backing to the United States to fight terrorism. Jean Chrétien, the prime minister, said Canada would “go every step of the way” with its neighbour. Earlier, 100,000 people gathered in Ottawa for a memorial service for the victims of the attacks. See article: Setting a new perimeter The European Commission put forward proposals to harmonise anti-terrorist laws (by introducing, for instance EU-wide arrest warrants for alleged terrorists) and to remove legal loopholes used by terrorists to escape justice. See article: Solid, but for how long? Russia's foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, arrived in Washington for talks on fighting terrorism. Earlier, a deputy foreign minister of Russia, Georgi Mamedov, and a senior official in America's State Department, John Bolton, who oversees arms negotiations, had talks in Moscow about America's plans for missile defence. See article: Poacher turned gamekeeper Rudy Giuliani, New York's mayor, said that the chance of finding any more survivors in the wreckage of the World Trade Centre was very small. He added that 233 people had been confirmed dead in New York, of whom 170 had been identified. The number of missing people rose to 5,422. The attack on the Pentagon in Washington killed 125 people, and another 64 died in the aircraft that crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Citizens from 62 countries were killed in the terrorist assaults on the two cities. See article: Waiting and praying Caucasus strife Rebels in Chechnya shot down a Russian helicopter near the capital of the disaffected republic, killing ten high-ranking officers, including two generals. The rebels also attacked Chechnya's second city, Gudermes. John Hume, a past winner of the Nobel peace prize who has led Northern Ireland's mainly-Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party since 1979, said he would step down as leader in November. See article: The America effect Macedonia's government formally asked NATO to provide a force to protect international civilian monitors, once the alliance's mission to collect rebel weapons ends on September 26th. Switzerland's upper house of parliament voted for its country to join the United Nations, but even those in favour said it would not forgo its neutrality in world affairs. After a request by Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the UN's war-crimes tribunal in The Hague, Greece's ministry of justice said it had started to look into more than 250 bank accounts in Athens linked to Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia's former strongman now awaiting trial. Closer to asylum? An Australian naval ship carrying asylum-seekers arrived in the Pacific island of Nauru, where their applications to live in Australia will be considered. Australia is trying to deter refugees from landing on its shores and has paid $10m to Nauru to act as a staging post. Nine Sri Lankans were jailed for up to five years in Western Australia for smuggling refugees. At a meeting in Seoul of senior officials of North and South Korea, the first for six months, the North asked the South to provide it with electricity. The countries agreed to resume reunions of separated families. See article: Support of a sort Four more people died in political clashes in Bangladesh in the approach to the general election on October 1st, bringing the death toll to 85 since the campaign started. At least 66 people were killed in Taiwan when a typhoon hit the island, causing floods and landslides. A typhoon in July killed 150 people. China, South Korea and Malaysia were among the countries that banned the import of beef from Japan after a suspected case of mad-cow disease had been reported on a farm near Tokyo. South Africa's big killer A report by South Africa's Medical Research Council said AIDS was now the single biggest killer in the country, contradicting recent suggestions by President Thabo Mbeki that accidents and violence killed more people. Last year 25% of all deaths, and 40% of those among adults, were AIDS-related. The report said that, without effective treatment, 4m-7m people would die of the disease by 2010, halting population growth. Six leading members of the government of Eritrea were arrested after criticising President Issaias Afwerki. At the same time the private press was banned. The central bank of Zimbabwe said the country's economy was in a downward spiral and would shrink by about 8% this year. Argentina, which is struggling to banish fears of a debt default, unveiled a draft budget for next year which involves $6.5 billion in spending cuts. See article: Zeroing in Copyright © 2006 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved. About sponsorship Politics this week Sep 20th 2001 From The Economist print edition Fighting terror The United States worked hard to build an international alliance against terrorism. George Bush received visits from President Jacques Chirac of France, President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic country, and Britain's Tony Blair. European countries, including Russia, backed America in its determination to hit back at terrorists and countries that harbour them. But several governments began to express reservations about who exactly might be the targets. See article: Allies in search of a strategy Osama bin Laden was named as the prime suspect in the attacks. Mr Bush said that he wanted him “dead or alive”, adding that “those who house, encourage him, provide food, comfort or money are on notice.” America's defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, reiterated that Afghanistan was not the only country facing possible military strikes in response to the terrorist attacks on America. See article: The spider in the web Afghanistan declined to hand over Mr bin Laden, accused by America of orchestrating the terrorist attacks. Thousands fled from Kabul, the capital, for the Pakistani border, fearing an American strike was imminent. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, said he would support possible American military action against Afghanistan. See article: Honoured guest Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, ordered a ceasefire and Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, gave the order to stop offensive military operations against Palestinians after intense pressure from America. Mr Bush wants relative peace in the Middle East to ease America's efforts to build a coalition against terrorism. See article: Stop, says the superpower Canada seemed ready to offer military backing to the United States to fight terrorism. Jean Chrétien, the prime minister, said Canada would “go every step of the way” with its neighbour. Earlier, 100,000 people gathered in Ottawa for a memorial service for the victims of the attacks. See article: Setting a new perimeter The European Commission put forward proposals to harmonise anti-terrorist laws (by introducing, for instance EU-wide arrest warrants for alleged terrorists) and to remove legal loopholes used by terrorists to escape justice. See article: Solid, but for how long? Russia's foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, arrived in Washington for talks on fighting terrorism. Earlier, a deputy foreign minister of Russia, Georgi Mamedov, and a senior official in America's State Department, John Bolton, who oversees arms negotiations, had talks in Moscow about America's plans for missile defence. See article: Poacher turned gamekeeper Rudy Giuliani, New York's mayor, said that the chance of finding any more survivors in the wreckage of the World Trade Centre was very small. He added that 233 people had been confirmed dead in New York, of whom 170 had been identified. The number of missing people rose to 5,422. The attack on the Pentagon in Washington killed 125 people, and another 64 died in the aircraft that crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Citizens from 62 countries were killed in the terrorist assaults on the two cities. See article: Waiting and praying Caucasus strife Rebels in Chechnya shot down a Russian helicopter near the capital of the disaffected republic, killing ten high-ranking officers, including two generals. The rebels also attacked Chechnya's second city, Gudermes. John Hume, a past winner of the Nobel peace prize who has led Northern Ireland's mainly-Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party since 1979, said he would step down as leader in November. See article: The America effect Macedonia's government formally asked NATO to provide a force to protect international civilian monitors, once the alliance's mission to collect rebel weapons ends on September 26th. Switzerland's upper house of parliament voted for its country to join the United Nations, but even those in favour said it would not forgo its neutrality in world affairs. After a request by Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the UN's war-crimes tribunal in The Hague, Greece's ministry of justice said it had started to look into more than 250 bank accounts in Athens linked to Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia's former strongman now awaiting trial. Closer to asylum? An Australian naval ship carrying asylum-seekers arrived in the Pacific island of Nauru, where their applications to live in Australia will be considered. Australia is trying to deter refugees from landing on its shores and has paid $10m to Nauru to act as a staging post. Nine Sri Lankans were jailed for up to five years in Western Australia for smuggling refugees. At a meeting in Seoul of senior officials of North and South Korea, the first for six months, the North asked the South to provide it with electricity. The countries agreed to resume reunions of separated families. See article: Support of a sort Four more people died in political clashes in Bangladesh in the approach to the general election on October 1st, bringing the death toll to 85 since the campaign started. At least 66 people were killed in Taiwan when a typhoon hit the island, causing floods and landslides. A typhoon in July killed 150 people. China, South Korea and Malaysia were among the countries that banned the import of beef from Japan after a suspected case of mad-cow disease had been reported on a farm near Tokyo. South Africa's big killer A report by South Africa's Medical Research Council said AIDS was now the single biggest killer in the country, contradicting recent suggestions by President Thabo Mbeki that accidents and violence killed more people. Last year 25% of all deaths, and 40% of those among adults, were AIDS-related. The report said that, without effective treatment, 4m-7m people would die of the disease by 2010, halting population growth. Six leading members of the government of Eritrea were arrested after criticising President Issaias Afwerki. At the same time the private press was banned. The central bank of Zimbabwe said the country's economy was in a downward spiral and would shrink by about 8% this year. Argentina, which is struggling to banish fears of a debt default, unveiled a draft budget for next year which involves $6.5 billion in spending cuts. See article: Zeroing in Copyright © 2006 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved. About sponsorship The next steps The battle ahead Sep 20th 2001 From The Economist print edition To fight will be hard. But not to fight would be worse IT WILL be long. It will cause anguish and arguments, both with allies and with others. It will involve more casualties, both military and civilian. It is as hard to define the exact objective as it will be to tell whether or when that objective has been achieved. It will be fraught with risks, both directly for the forces involved and indirectly for many of the governments and relationships that will be affected. Yet the battle that President George Bush and his advisers are now planning and preparing is nevertheless a battle that cannot be avoided. It must be fought, and won. Many are afraid of the battle that lies ahead. Some are horribly, even obscenely wrong in their reasons for objecting to it, notably those who blame America itself for the horrors that were inflicted upon it last week in New York and Washington, DC (see article). But others are understandably afraid, and are opposed to it for nobler-sounding reasons. They think retaliation would be to stoop as low as the terrorists. They think it would be wrong for more ordinary people to die, in Afghanistan or in a new cycle of violence elsewhere. They argue that it would be better to do nothing beyond self-protection, because that would deprive the terrorists of the satisfaction of having provoked a reaction, especially a reaction whose chances of success look daunting. They want peace, not war. The sad truth of human relations, however, is that you cannot get peace without fighting for it. Doing nothing would invite far worse consequences than doing something, perilous though that is. It would simply be to delay action rather than to avert it. It would encourage other tyrants and trouble-makers to believe that they can mount such attacks with impunity, in any country in the world, for if America cannot or will not hit back, then perhaps nobody can. Such attacks could well use even more fearsome means, including biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. It would be likely, indeed, that the same network of terrorists that planned last week's attacks would soon mount others, killing yet more innocent people and sowing even more fear. For one observation by the pacifists is surely true: that the terrorists do want to provoke a reaction, and will carry on their attacks until they get one. It is almost always wrong to dismiss terrorism as “irrational”. The word may seem appropriate when the perpetrators commit suicide in order to carry out their attacks, but it is misleading: terrorism is a horribly calculated attempt to use violence to help achieve an objective. Revenge against America over perceived grievances and acts in the past may doubtless play a part. But there is likely to be more, much more, to this act than that. The aim is plainly destabilisation, both of America itself and of the broad status quo in the world. More particularly, the aim is likely to be the destabilisation of the Middle East and Central Asia, to alter or even remove the presence there of both America and Israel, and to change or destroy the regimes governing the countries of that turbulent region. That is where the perils will be greatest. The action that must be taken will itself risk bringing about the very destabilisation that the terrorists desire. When attempting to defeat one enemy it is all too easy to create others. Many of the regimes of the Middle East face opposition on their own streets from their own discontented people and from violent groups who will be quick to exploit it if the government is seen to back an American response that goes wrong or is considered to have been misdirected. That worry applies above all to Saudi Arabia, the richest Arab nation, home to Mecca and Medina, and base for American soldiers. Osama bin Laden, if he is the string-puller behind the attacks, would dearly love to see the Saudi regime overthrown and the bases ejected.
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