Beyond Madrid: Winning Against Terrorism

From Council on Foreign Relations

Speaker: Goh Chok Tong, prime minister, Republic of Singapore

Moderator: Richard Haass, president, Council on Foreign Relations

Council on Foreign Relations
Washington, D.C.
May 6, 2004
(Note: The question-and-answer session has been transcribed from the meeting. Prime Minister Goh's remarks appear here as prepared for delivery.)


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PRIME MINISTER GOH CHOK TONG: The terrorist attacks in Madrid in March this year could become a turning point in the war against terrorism. Unless we make the right moves, I fear the turn could be for the worst.

The choice of the target and the timing of the attack were strategic. The Spanish Socialist party had made the withdrawal of troops from Iraq part of its election platform. Attacking Madrid just before the election was obviously calculated to achieve a strategic effect; as indeed it did when the new government so quickly confirmed its intention to pull out of the U.S. led coalition in Iraq.

This will only encourage the terrorists to exploit political differences within countries and divisions between the U.S. and Europe. We must not let them succeed.

Any lingering doubts about the terrorists' strategic intentions should have been put to rest by a statement attributed to Osama bin Laden in April wherein he offered a "truce" to Europe if it stopped "attacking Muslims or interfering in their affairs including [participating] in the American conspiracy." And, notwithstanding what some critics of the war in Iraq have alleged, this statement also demonstrates that Osama bin Laden himself sees the war in Iraq as part of the larger struggle against terrorism. He pointedly said "the killing of Europeans came after their invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan."

The war against terrorism could shape the 21st century in the same way as the Cold War defined the world before the fall of the Berlin Wall. To win, we must first clearly understand what we are up against. I am grateful to the Council on Foreign Relations for the opportunity to share my views on this important subject.

Terrorism is a generic term. Terrorist organisations such as the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka or ETA in Spain are only of local concern. The virulent strain of Islamic terrorism is another matter altogether. It is driven by religion. Its ideological vision is global. It is most dangerous. The communists fought to live, whereas the jihadi terrorists fight to die and live in the next world.

Read the whole article.

Does anyone doubt that Al-Qaeda will strike before the US elections? Or, possibly, before the Indonesian elections in July?