Simultaneous Kurdish terror attacks all over Europe. A plan to bomb New York buildings and tunnels. Whether these events mark the arrival of a new wave of terrorism depends on how the West responds now, and an effective response requires a clear analysis of what we are up against. During the 1970s, the West lacked a conceptual basis for meeting the terrorist threat that had begun to besiege it. The successes the West had in the 1980s in controlling the spread of terrorism flowed from that shared perspective.
All civilized nations have laws to apply to criminals.
And the West, behind vigorous American leadership, showed that the international community was prepared to use diplomatic, political, economic and even military measures against states which use terrorism. Although in the 1990s we can expect statesponsored terrorism to linger, a new form of decentralized, religion-motivated terrorism is evolving. The Iraqi government's plan to kill Bush in Kuwait was a classic example of direct state use of terrorism. President Bill Clinton's response, though tardy and minimal, at least had the symbolic value of showing that America is still prepared to use military force against states using terror. The Kurdish terrorist attacks in many European cities in June 1993 showed how some states indirectly support terror.