Like everybody else I am reeling from the attack on the US last week. Certain moments stand forever in my memory, The day when Jack Kennedy was shot in Dallas, the evening when three bombs exploded in Dublin city centre and the massacre of the innocents on Bloody Sunday in Derry come immediately to mind. The sight of those airliners plunging into the World Trade Centre last Tuesday week and the resulting carnage will stay with me for the rest of my life. So many lives lost, families devastated, children orphaned.
I watched those scenes from Egypt and saw, on CNN and Sky, those clips of Palestinians celebrating in the streets. This did not reflect the shock and outrage among the community in which I travelled and most serious journalists were quick to point this out. Indeed, the almost instant response of Yasser Arafat condemning the acts did much to galvanise the support of the right thinking Arab world behind the US. And if our own Minister for Foreign Affairs played a part in this, however small, he is to be complimented.
What we saw in New York and Washington was caused not by a group of mentally deranged fanatics, but by an intelligent, dedicated adversary, with a sense of moral conviction which can spur followers to sacrifice their own lives, as well as the lives of their chosen targets. That this moral conviction was supplemented by an expert grasp of the basic tactics of warfare, namely, simplicity, security and surprise, indicates to me that this adversary anticipates a strong military response and is well prepared for a long war. It may be that is what this adversary most desires.
America is right to be cautious, any swift hardline blanket attack on Afghanistan will merely stoke future hatred and breed the fundamentalist bombers of tomorrow.
Just as internment helped build the IRA, any unjust action, any militarist assault on generalised Islam will create a sense of injustice which will cause untold damage later. Besides, there is little point in the US bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age, the Russians, the Mujahedin and the Taliban have already done that.
Security Council Resolution 1368 "unequivocally condemns in the strongest terms the horrifying attack which took place in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and regards such acts, such as any act of international terrorism, as a threat to international peace and security" is just and deserves our unequivocal support. We should try to move beyond condemnation now, and build peace and reconciliation.
Our nations's role in this process will be highlighted in our chairmanship next month of the UN Security Council. As a militarily non-aligned nation we are in a position to bring balance to the decision-making process, not having any strategic interest. Were we hypothetically to train every man, woman and child in Ireland to the peak of military fitness, and provide them with the best of military apparel, we would not have one tenth of the international influence our military neutrality and non-colonial history confers upon us. The challenge is to use that influence for lasting peace.
Our role on the Security Council has now taken on an importance, which I admit not to have contemplated when we campaigned to secure our seat. The challenge now is to use such influence to ensure the war against terrorism is strategically complete and proceeds beyond the retaliation which seems inevitable, to resolution, restoration of peace and, ultimately, reconciliation.
By all means, punish the wrongdoers and all who give them solace, comfort and support, but be mindful that the punishment, to be effective, must include an attack on the causes of hatred and sense of injustice that fuels fundamentalism worldwide. If this does not happen and the process develops into a witch-hunt against Islamic fundamentalists alone, there is a risk the process will fail.
It may be that the US does not have the stomach for a long war. Look at the way the mood of the American people changed during the years of the Vietnam war. Young men who went to war to the sound of brass bands and cheers came home to be reviled as murderers.
It seems to me the same dedication which has been demonstrated by the terrorists will be needed in spades if this particular adversary is to be defeated. And this dedication may involve setbacks as well as victories, because, as we have so starkly observed, it is not easy to defend against terrorism.
The great war philosopher Claude von Clausewitz believed there is a "remarkable trinity of war", composed of the will of the people, the political leadership of government and the chance and probability that plays out on the battlefield. The most important of these may well prove to be the first.
Neither blind aggression nor appeasement will avenge the deaths of all those who perished in America. Nor will they bring an end to terrorism. Addressing the root causes of the hatred and the bigotry and the isolationism must be the goal, underpinning the need to punish the wrongdoers. Our recent experience on our own island may in no small way assist us in playing a real and meaningful part in this process, both in the UN and the EU.
dandrews@irish-times.ie