- Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - While the war on terrorism
has made substantial progress during the last year, it still has a long
way to go - even beyond a U.S. strike on Iraq, experts here are saying.
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- They said rogue states such as Iraq must be prevented
from acquiring weapons of mass destruction to prevent a conflagration that
could develop into World War III.
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- Following the 9/11 terror attacks on the U.S., President
Bush pledged that America would fight terrorism around the globe. He declared
that the nations of the world would have to make a choice: Either they
would be with the U.S. or with the terrorists.
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- Israeli experts said this week that while progress had
been made in that war over the last year, it was only in its beginning
stages.
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- Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh said he believed
that substantial progress had been made over the last year in the war against
terrorism.
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- "There is more awareness, more cooperation,"
said Sneh, who is a former deputy defense minister and retired brigadier-general
in the army.
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- "The war on terrorism has certainly progressed,"
said Knesset member Moshe Arens.
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- "The U.S. succeeded in removing the Taliban [from
Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden had made his home]," Arens said.
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- "Here in Israel we've made great progress. Five
weeks with no major terror attacks - we haven't had that in two years,"
he added.
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- Israel was quick to identify with America's war on terrorism,
which began last October with military strikes in Afghanistan. During the
past year, Washington has been more willing to include Palestinian terror
groups among those held accountable for terrorist acts.
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- But counter-terrorism expert Ely Karmon said that while
there have been successes in the war against terrorism, the terrorists
still maintain some advantages.
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- "The American campaign against Afghanistan was a
surprise to al-Qaeda and the Taliban," Karmon said. They did not expect
that the U.S. would launch an "all out war against them," he
said.
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- While the campaign was quick and destroyed the Taliban
regime and a part of al-Qaeda's infrastructure, there are still some problems
that remain. It is not clear if bin Laden, himself is dead or alive, although
he has been forced to stay under cover, he said.
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- The al Qaeda network is not a "hierarchical organization"
but rather a loose network, which makes it difficult to check and identify
individuals connected with the group.
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- Also Islamic radicals are much better at using videos,
messages, CDs and websites to promote their own war propaganda and influence
the masses. This is one point where they are stronger than the West, he
said.
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- Karmon noted that this is not a quick battle and said
he was not sure if Westerners understood the need to continue the war even
beyond the likely U.S. military action in Iraq.
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- "President Bush from the beginning stressed it would
be a long war, a long campaign [for] several years," Karmon said.
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- Iraq is Next
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- "Iraq is the next stage," he said. "The
Iraqi regime is the most urgent problem. [Nevertheless], the continuation
of war is not clear to the public."
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- But Karmon warned that there would be an "enormous"
price to pay if the West does not have the courage to deal with the Iraq
and other countries now when they are "manageable."
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- "Not dealing with it, not fighting it does not postpone
the danger," he added. "[Being] afraid to deal with it, encourages
it... Victory [for them] is a sign to continue the fight."
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- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said this week that
the free world was gradually realizing that there is no such thing as a
differentiation between "good terror" and "bad terror"
and that it can strike anywhere on the globe.
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- The international community was also realizing the connection
between terrorism and the development of weapons of mass destruction, he
said.
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- "Countries such as Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria,
which support terrorist organizations and use terror to achieve their objectives,
are precisely the same countries working tirelessly to acquire weapons
of mass destruction," Sharon said at the ceremony marking September
11.
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- "Iraq is a terrorist state, also Iran and Syria,"
said Arens, who was Israel's defense minister during the 1991 Gulf war
against Iraq. Nevertheless, Arens was cautious not to offer advise on the
war against terror. An attack on Iraq is something about which only the
U.S. can decide," he said.
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- But Knesset Member Yuval Shteinitz said that a war against
Iraq goes beyond the war on terrorism and is necessary now.
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- "The real goal of the war against Iraq is not to
prevent terrorism. The main goal is to prevent a third world war,"
said Shteinitz who is chairman of the Knesset subcommittee on defense.
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- The aim is not just to stop Iraq or other countries from
supporting terrorist organizations by giving them money, a place for their
headquarters or preaching anti-Western propaganda. It is "first and
foremost to prevent them from [acquiring] nuclear weapons and long range
ballistic missiles in order to pre-empt a third world war," Shteinitz
said.
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- According to Shteinitz, the current situation with Iraq
in the Middle East is parallel to that of pre-World War II Germany when
British leader Winston Churchill advised the allies to use "brute
force" against Adolph Hitler.
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- The West is facing the same dilemma, Shteinitz said and
if the world will not face the Iraqi leader now it will be forced to face
him in a much more difficult situation later. It is better to launch a
pre-emptive strike now than to suffer later, he said.
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- "I hope the West is going to be able to tackle the
problem and not be too late. It's now or never. When Iraq will have nuclear
devices it will be impossible. We shouldn't wait too long."
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- A recent intelligence report suggested that Saddam Hussein
could have a nuclear weapon within six months if he can obtain the necessary
fissionable materials.
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- On Thursday, President Bush said that if Iraq continued
to defy U.N. resolutions and not come clean on the issue of weapons of
mass destruction, then "action will be unavoidable."
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