The Challenge of Terrorism and Organized Crime

The attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001 ushered in a new era of uncertainty that threatens the world system and presents new challenges to all nations. At the center of these challenges is terrorism, a scourge that is fueled by hate and, in many cases, financed by organized crime. Terrorism and organized crime are destructive phenomena that, apparently, will be with us for some time in the twenty-first century. Despite claims by perpetrators of acts of violence that they are motivated by noble goals, their actions are nothing short of sinister. Their assault on civility, legality, and order has hardly affected their main target, the United States, but has placed emerging nations and fragile democracies, like Albania, in a precarious situation. No sooner did we free ourselves from fifty years of totalitarianism than we were forced to expend resources and energies to defend our newly acquired freedoms from the shadowy threats of religious fanaticism and the crime syndicates, both of which thrive in disorder and poverty. It is for this reason that I believe the fight against terrorism represents a serious new challenge for the civilized world. Only its successful conclusion will guarantee that freedom will survive, democracies will triumph, and human dignity, world peace, and prosperity will be enhanced.

As President George W. Bush has stated on numerous occasions, humanity does not have the luxury of compromising in the war against terror or to equivocate about its causes. Because terrorism, like organized crime, operates beyond the boundaries of legality, if left unattended it will sooner rather than later affect global stability and prosperity. The question facing our societies, therefore, is not whether terrorism and organized crime are imminent threats to freedom and stability but rather what are the best approaches to negate their evil intent for the sake of our security and posterity.

At the outset, I believe, the world community must develop a common definition of terrorism as an essential first step toward a common response whenever and wherever it threatens human life and international legality. It is clear to the civilized world that terrorism has changed the security environment and highlighted the need to strengthen cooperation among nations for the long haul. After the tragic events of 11 September, an unprecedented and spontaneous display of solidarity bolstered the determination of diverse nations to close ranks with the United States in what has been called the first war of the twenty-first century. However, this solidarity is undermined when peripheral agendas are fused onto the war on terrorism and affect genuine struggles for human rights (be they in Chechnya or Palestine) and the legitimate grievances of oppressed people.

Matters were much simpler during the Cold War. The world then was not affected by the consequences of globalism. Transnational threats to security were limited and their origins easily traced. Borders were effectively controlled (one could say too effectively), movements of information and people were not easy or frequent, and money transfers (terrorism's life blood) were insignificant.

Matters have changed with the advent of globalization. Once walls came down, borders were opened and the movement of masses in search of their livelihood reached crisis proportions. Keeping track of demagogues and agents of hate that move in a murky political environment became a complicated matter. High security risks have accompanied globalization and the broadening of economic opportunities worldwide. Opportunities were provided to terrorists to exploit, for evil ends, the freedoms afforded by open societies. National borders have become more porous and even irrelevant with the advent of the Internet. A dilemma now faces mankind: whether to retreat from openness for the sake of security or to pursue globalization for the sake of prosperity and face risks to security, prosperity, and freedom. Terrorism can no longer be tolerated as the enterprise of marginal groups. As the Afghanistan and Iraq experiences show, modern terrorists and rogue states are capable of forming dangerous alliances. The first provide the "expertise," while...