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Jewish World Review May 14, 2002 / 3 Sivan, 5762
Michael Ledeen
How come our senators don't talk like that? For that matter, how come our secretary of state doesn't talk
like that? Indeed, how come he seems to have assumed that the Italians would be pleased to have more
terrorists come in, even though nobody seems to have bothered to figure out just what their status would
be. Are they technically under arrest in their posh hotel on the beach on Cyprus? Or are they now free
men?
It seems they must be prisoners, since free men can go most anywhere. Especially in the new Europe,
where there are no institutional borders between most of the countries. Once you arrive in Europe,
nobody's going to check your passport as you move from country to country. So if, for example, the
terrorists end up in Holland, they could easily get on the next plane to Rome and invite Senator Calderoni
to share a pizza with them. Which Italy obviously doesn't want. So it's best they go to jail somewhere, and
stay there for many years.
There are two aspects to this story that tickle my fancy: Why did Europe accept these guys? And why did
the United States want the terrorists to go to Europe in the first place?
It seems that some of our diplomats must have forgotten about the recent decision to have the European
Union make common foreign policy for all the members, because we pressured the Italians and the
Spaniards to accept a reasonable terrorist quota. Now I ask you, why would any civilized country want to
have a number of certified murderers? So why would we even ask? It strikes me as the embodiment of
everything the Europeans love to criticize about us: It's gauche, it's presumptuous, it's heavy-handed, and
it's stupid. If you doubt it, go read the remarks of some of the Eurocrats who went for it. They say the
most amazing things, like the failure to clearly define the status of the Palestinian terrorists is a fine example
of "strategic ambiguity." A less grammatically challenged person might just call it a fine example of the
appeasement of terrorism, but what do I know?
But the Europeans went for it, which either shows that there really is no hope for this generation of
European leaders (with the notable exceptions of Italy's Berlusconi and Spain's Aznar), or that the United
States found some really convincing arguments. What could they be? I mean, if we felt so strongly about it,
why not invite the terrorists to come live in New York City, where they would quickly meet a lot of
stimulating people who have recently been deprived of their loved ones by people just like the Bethlehem
terror gang.
Instead, we asked the Europeans. Was it because the Vatican had just launched a passionate appeal to
free the terrorists (that might explain the choice of two Catholic countries - Spain and Italy - as the
terrorists' hosts)? Or was it Colin Powell's attempt to enforce the principle that "no good deed will go
unpunished?" Aside from England (which still doesn't count as part of Europe), Italy and Spain have been
the most loyal and the most helpful allies in the war against the terror masters, and we certainly chose a
peculiar way of thanking them for their support.
Why did we want the terrorists to go to Europe? I'm only guessing here, but I'm pretty sure that we felt the
Europeans couldn't very well reject our entreaties and still claim to be active supporters of the war. After
all, they had been so overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian, it would appear churlish of them if they refused entry
to the terrorists.
Still, they didn't enjoy it. Berlusconi quickly denied that he'd made any promises to Powell during their
several long conversations, and insisted that Italy had no right to say either "yes" or "no." Only "Europe"
could make such a decision.
Finally, I was astonished, as I so often am nowadays, by the lack of surprise in our media coverage of
these very peculiar events. None of our journalists seemed to think there was the slightest thing odd about
opening Europe's door to these thugs.
I guess the journalists all think of these guys as freedom
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