Free Essays on Terrorism: Europes Contempt Toward the U.S :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

September 11 and Europe's Contempt Toward the U.S Lest we forget the heroic resolve of our many European "allies," the French surged forward into the fray last week. Well, perhaps "surging" isn't quite the word, and the "fray" has become a meager affair as of late. Their token gesture to join the U.S. and Great Britain in orchestrating a Northern Alliance victory amounts to little more than tactical cowardice, a dashing display of minced words and foot-dragging that only the French seem capable of. However symbolic the gesture, the French and their European counterparts tend to deliver such offerings of goodwill sealed with the usual stamp of anti-Americanism. The irritating Euro-superiority complex recently surfaced over the issue of extraditing captured terrorists to the United States. In September, Spanish authorities infiltrated the Soldiers of Allah, a radical Islamic group based in Madrid with links to al Qaeda. The operation led to 14 arrests of key al Qaeda operatives and shed new light on the financing of bin Laden's operations preceding the September 11 attacks. Hundreds of millions of pesetas (i.e. millions of dollars) flowed through this unit of al Qaeda's financial network. Despite this damning evidence, Spain still sniffs at the thought of extraditing the detainees to the U.S. And what is the source of Spain's moral indigestion? The "backward" American justice system, of course. After all, the U.S. still employs such barbaric anachronisms as the death penalty (and even worse, a solid majority of Americans seem to support it). As evidenced by the continual stalling of Spanish diplomats, the moral burden of any extradition to a country as primitive as the United States is simply too much for the collective Spanish conscience to bear. The fate of al Qaeda operatives must not be abandoned to the crude methods of American jurisprudence. Instead of rejecting such anti-Americanism, the 15 members of the European Union echoed Spain's sentiments in their sanctimonious reports to the press. The Bush administration's establishment of military tribunals further inflamed the E.U.'s righteous indignation. Several countries kindly reminded the U.S. that sending the al Qaeda henchmen across the pond would violate the EU's extradition ban against countries that use the death penalty. This was consistent with what seems to be the E.U.'s role of the meddling whiner, seizing some disputable moral high ground to voice complaints instead of solutions. Perhaps the most annoying aspect of most European indignation is its paternalistic tone, as if the Americans were still reckless colonies in need of a scolding.