Actually A Good Point

Jim Hoagland, in the Washington Post makes what is actually a good point about the Bush administrations recent stand on terrorism. They are not paying enough attention to our allies in this struggle.

But if the sense of vulnerability has spread abroad in the past five years, the international response to the threat of terrorist assaults has remained far from being unified or even particularly coherent. The greatest task for the next five years in the post-Sept. 11 era is to create and manage a truly integrated international campaign to displace and contain jihadist terrorism as a political weapon.

The Bush administration can help start that effort by adjusting the rhetoric, goals and style of its war on global terrorism. That is particularly true when its statements will reach non-American audiences. They are increasingly aware that they, too, are in the sights of religiously and racially inspired fanatics but are hard put to see how Washington's approach will help protect them as well as the U.S. homeland, which has been spared since 2001.

The White House should acknowledge that the gains in global vigilance and intrusive police work thus far have largely been a case of collateral help: These gains have everything to do with self-interest and only secondarily with U.S. leadership. Other nations have adopted cumbersome and spotty security measures at airports, government buildings and other sensitive spots — the long-term legacy of Sept. 11 — to protect themselves first and foremost.

Self-interest in this area should not be disdained, or obscured by U.S. boasts that the war on terrorism and a coalition assembled by Washington are alone responsible for keeping terrorist networks off balance and on the run. Americans need to be told by the president and his senior aides more, and more often, about the role that European, Asian, Arab and other forces and investigators are playing in this effort.

The White House paid passing tribute to the international dimension of this broad conflict in the new National Strategy for Combating Terrorism released on Tuesday as part of a pre-anniversary campaign to argue that it has made the world and the country safer. Terrorists have struck "from Bali to Beslan to Baghdad," the document notes.

I understand that this is an election year and that this is a major internal debate. But the administration should also try to point out all the help the allies are giving us. They need to feel they are part of this, too.