Introductory Comments by Ralf Fücks for a Discussion Meeting, Heinrich Böll Foundation North America, Washington D.C., March, 3, 2003
Ladies and Gentlemen, dear Friends!It is a great pleasure for me to be part of this memorable meeting in the Washington Club.
We hardly could find a better opportunity to present the new head of our Washington office than this meeting, because we will all need a lot of good will, cool blood, mutual understanding and political wisdom on both sides of the atlantic to avoid a deep rift in the transatlantic relations over the conflict on Iraq.
In the last weeks emotions have run high, the language turned bitter and arrogant, on all sides. The wave of sympathy and solidarity with the United States, which swept through Europe after 9-11 is turning to anger and protest. Millions of people marched against the idea of war - not only in London, Madrid, Rome and Berlin, but also in Washington and San Francisco. No doubt, the ongoing division within the Western World brings comfort to the dictator in Baghdad and increases the political risks of the US and their allies of going to war unilaterally.
In this case one of the major collateral damages of the war could be a fatal crisis of the international political order built after world war II: the demolition of NATO and a sustainable delegitimation of the Security Counsil, not to mention a severe split within the European Union. There is too much at stake for our mutual security to let things just go their way.
We all know that time is running out for a political solution of the Iraq-Issue. Both sides have caught themselves in a self-constructed trap: The European public widely shares and supports the aim to disarm the Iraqi Regime. But in the eyes of the overhelming majority this is no convincing reason to go to war at this stage as long as the inspections are working and the international control regime on Iraq is extended.
We also could agree to join forces in a common effort to transform the autocratic regimes in the Middle East into democracies and to create a region of peace and cooperation as we together managed to do in Europe. But the project to overthrow Saddam Hussein and to sweep democracy in the Middle East by war is not backed by international law, is not the object of resolution 1441 and raises serious questions about whether it could work. There are a lot of concerns that the Iraq enterprise could easily turn into a recruiting sergeant for Osama bin Laden instead of draining the swamps of terrorism.
Is there a possible common way out of this trap? The only narrow chance I can see would be the building of a transatlantic commitment on two essentials points:
1. The campaign of the United States and the Security Council to disarm Saddam Hussein since Nov. 2002 has been so far successful. The combination of military threat and an extended, aggressive inspection regime, including air observation, works. Therefore it should be continued. If the Iraqi Regime fails to cooperate its disarmament will be enforced.
2. Parallel the US and the EU will start a joined political campaign for peace and democracy in the Middle East. Within this project they will increase efforts to reactivate the peace-process between Israel and the Palaestinians as a core-question. We will offer increased economic aid and cooperation linked with substantial progress regarding human rights and the rule of law in the region.
We would be very interested to learn from this afternoon's debate, if such a commitment is seen as a possible solution or if we just have to watch the final show down like in an ancient Greek tragedy.
Ralf Fücks is a member of the executive board of the Heinrich Böll Foundation since 1996. He is a regular contributor to numerous newspapers and political periodicals and co-author to numerous books.