U.S. Defends Terrorism War to Wary Allies as a Righteous Fight

Addressing European allies’ concerns that the war against terrorism lacks legal legitimacy, U.S. officials claimed Sunday to be waging an irreproachable battle of good against evil.

At the conclusion of a two-day security brainstorming session here that exposed deep rifts between Washington and its European partners, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman likened the campaign to the righteous struggles in the last century against fascism and totalitarian rule.

Amending Winston Churchill’s famous statement, the Connecticut Democrat warned delegates to the 38th Munich Conference on Security Policy that Islamic fanatics are creating a “theological iron curtain” to isolate moderate Muslims from the democratic world. He also invoked the words of the prophet Muhammad in predicting that the “moral force” of the West’s war effort will ensure its success.

Lieberman’s appeal to U.S. allies to “be firm and unequivocal in pursuing and preempting other terrorist groups” echoed the hawkish patriotism espoused by Republicans at the gathering. Showing a united, bipartisan front, U.S. representatives stood their ground against a barrage of courteous but clear European objections to hints that the war could soon spread to countries in an “axis of evil.”

Russian Defense Minister Sergei B. Ivanov accused Washington of employing a double standard in branding those who assault Americans and their property “terrorists” while refusing to apply the same label to separatists from the rebel republic of Chechnya, who are accused of blowing up apartment buildings in Moscow.

Contending that the war against terrorism cannot be won by military means alone, Ivanov, a former Kremlin national security advisor, insisted that “any actions taken by the states and international organizations against terrorists, including the use of force, should be based on norms and principles of international law.”

U.N. and European human rights advocates have called upon Washington to respect the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war in its handling of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters captured in Afghanistan. The Bush administration has refused to label those held at a special U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as prisoners of war, while insisting that they are being treated humanely.

The U.S.-led coalition fighting global terrorism also needs to be more precise in identifying its targets, Ivanov said.

“To our regret, [the coalition] . . . has failed to elaborate a generally recognized legal definition of international terrorism,” he said. “As you may know, it complicates the introduction of an international legal basis for agreement on a framework to effectively counter the threat on a collective basis.”

German lawmaker Markus Meckel also expressed discomfort with the lack of clear international legitimacy for the anti-terror campaign and pointed out that Washington’s refusal to submit to decisions of the International Court of Justice in The Hague compounds the legitimacy problem.

Existing treaties and conventions govern only wars declared against sovereign countries, not transnational developments such as terrorism.

But the U.S. participants at the annual conference, which brings together strategists and officials from dozens of countries, appeared more interested in explaining their plans than consulting on the specifics. On Saturday, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz and former Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain of Arizona signaled the Pentagon’s interest in seizing the moment and making a preemptive strike against Iraq to prevent its development and use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

Lieberman agreed that the coalition needs to “decisively address the profound threat posed by Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction” and suggested that to do so would bolster the moderate majority in the Islamic world that is under attack by Muslim fanatics.

“If the wrong side should win this civil war, the new theological iron curtain that would fall would imprison behind it hundreds of millions of people, just as the old iron curtain did,” Lieberman insisted.

He urged the anti-terror alliance, however, to combine military targeting of the extremists with support for the majority that wants to embrace democracy, not wage a holy war against it.

While cautioning U.S. leaders to avoid having to resort to unilateral actions in the effort to destroy the forces behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Lieberman and others also criticized the widening gap in military capabilities between Washington and its European and Canadian allies.

U.S. partners in the 19-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization sorely need to modernize their armed forces if they want to have any influence in mission planning and execution, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson warned, conceding that “the truth is that Europe remains militarily undersized.”