Iraq and Afghanistan

At a conference on terrorism just concluding in Spain, Kofi Annan outlined in a few words a comprehensive strategy for fighting terrorism. In its simplicity, directness and balance his talk might be a useful starting point for all governments concerned with terrorism. The full text may be found here.

The Secretary-General organizes his talk around five D's: dissuading groups from choosing terrorism as a tactic; denying terrorists the means to carry out their attacks; deterring states from supporting terrorists; developing state capacities to deal with terrorism; and upholding human rights during the struggle against terrorism.

Dissuasion involves attempts to show any group that has taken up or is thinking of taking up terrorism that it is wrong under any circumstances. Deliberately killing civilians cannot be justified in any way, even as a defense against so-called "state terrorism". Civilian and religious leaders must clearly denounce terrorism.

Denying terrorists the means includes measures against money laundering and denying access to nuclear materials and other WMDs. States can be deterred by maintaining a firm line against all states that harbor or support terrorists. State capacity to counter terrorism, especially in poor states, must be strengthened with international assistance. Among the capacities for effective governance that Annan especially emphasizes is strengthening public health capacities everywhere, which he regards is the first line of defense against the possibilities of biological terrorism.

Finally, the Secretary General emphasizes the importance of upholding the principles of human rights during the war against terrorism. He strongly supports a recent proposal to create a special rapporteur to report to the human rights commission on the "compatibility of counter-terrorism measures with international human rights laws".

We should note that the approach is notably hard-headed. He does not begin, as too many analysts have, with proposing to treat the so-called "causes of terrorism". Although well aware of the crying needs of Africans and others, he does not consider "want" or "state terrorism" as a justification for terrorism. His argument is that we have to be clear. No group is justified in attacking civilians to advance its cause.