One German Seeing Eye to Eye with Uncle Sam

"The terrorists should know this: If you love death so much, then it can be yours."

Who's that speaking? A neocon American, assuredly. But which one? Dubya? Rummy? Ashcroft?

Wrong all wrong; you're listening to the voice of Otto Schily. "What?" a reporter asked, seemingly startled. Germany's interior minister went on to state that the situation was such that in extreme cases involving the potential death of thousands, Germany had to decide "if killing a person is justified as an emergency protective measure."

The level of frankness was all the more striking since it came from an extremely popular politician, a Socialist Democratic Party member, and, close to 30 years ago, the former lawyer of Germany's own Baader-Meinhof terrorist group

writes John Vinocur in his IHT column about "a palpable European adjustment to reality", which explains how "the psychic context of Europe's approach to terrorism appears to be altering significantly".

France is also concerned, with

Algerian newspapers on Sunday prais[ing] France for finally abandoning what one called its "benevolence" over the years toward Islamic fundamentalist preachers.

Talking about the connection between Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism as if he had discovered the wheel [our emphasis], Villepin explained on Saturday: "Here's today's reality: under the cover of religion, individuals present on our soil have been using extremist language and issuing calls for violence. These are statements that favor the installation of terrorist movements on French territory. It's necessary therefore to oppose this together and by all available means."