Jesse Winger

Professor Vanessa Robinson

Composition and Rhetoric ENGL17889GD
29 Nov 2014

Counterterrorism: USA and Western Europe

Over the last several years terrorism has become a significant global issue and one that
affects our daily lives whether we are aware of it or not. Since 9/11 governments have
responded to increased terrorism, especially the governments in North America and Western
Europe. The way terrorism is treated and the way counterterrorism laws differ in effectiveness
between the USA and Western Europe is the focus of this paper. Most people in North America
and Europe think that we are safe in a bubble in our part of the world, that we are really
invulnerable to a large degree. Imagine thousands of attacks against our nations, these attacks
ranging from bombing a small market to bombing a whole complex or national state building.
Threats, and even attacks like these, have been happening more frequently than we may realize
all the time, but generally we are so well protected that we believe we are safe.
Counterterrorism laws have increased dramatically due to large-scale attacks against Western
nations. In the last decade counterterrorism laws have been radically reformed to address the
radical change in threat.
Counterterrorism has become a top priority for our governments. This issue, however,
may have you wondering: "How do our governments deal with terrorism? and Is terrorism
really more an issue in distant place rather than affecting our everyday lives? There have been
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many terrorist attacks since 9/11 and many security or counterterrorist organizations have
been created all over the world, especially in North America and Western European countries.
As in other parts of the world, in Western Europe these threats were not as severe in previous
years but threats and attacks have now become much more common.
With the reality that both threats and actual attacks have become a more constant
reality, the key question of this paper is: How can Western Europe learn from the effectiveness
of American counterterrorism laws? The Americans and Europeans need to learn how to
better work together rather than dealing with these issues separately; seeing terrorism, and its
related issues, as an international threat. It can be argued that Western European governments
are not doing enough to protect their citizens and to stop terrorists from taking advantage of
the European system. American counterterrorism laws have been effective within the
American context. The United States has rarely witnessed an actual terrorist attack post 9/11
because of the many counterterrorist laws, the development of security organizations, and the
depth to which these laws and organizations go to protect national security. However, in
Europe terrorist threats and actual attacks have become all too common though even though in
many cases attacks may have been prevented if the laws and security organization had been
stronger.
Most of Europeans counterterrorism laws are still very weak and ineffective in the way
they are carried out. "EU institutions range from fledgling to pathetic when it comes to
counterterrorism" (Shapiro 10). This quotation directly addresses the lack of strength that
counterterrorism laws have in Europe and highlights the need for improvement. Europeans

tend not to understand the level of threat terrorist individuals or groups present. The European
governments allow far more movement of people across borders, increasing potential threats
to security. Rather than dealing with issues that may contribute to the threat of terrorism now,
Europe leaders tend to place the issues aside, allowing these problems to grow and fester.
Europeans are much more subject to the fear that their owns citizens will become violent,
whereas the Americans do not share this fear to the same degree. There needs to be a way
that Western Europe can efficiently identify and remove terrorist organizations, either with
American help, or with changing the way they go about prosecuting terrorism. Should terrorists
really be treated as any other person when it comes to the rule of law?
In an interview with one researcher in May 2005 a German terrorism expert cynically
summed up the view that Europe is generally ill-prepared by declaring that European
counterterrorism will improve... after about three more attacks (Shapiro 10). This shows the
lack of acknowledgment by European governments and shows where their true intentions lie.
According to one German intelligence official, [t]he problem with intelligence in Europe is that
we are far too bureaucratic and fragmented across borders. The extremists also move
relatively freely across borders. In this sense, ironically, they are more European than we are
(Shapiro 10). This view shows the lack of connectivity the Europeans have and how European
governments need to work together to find these terrorists, not allowing them to abuse a
loophole in the immigration and cross-border travel system. This is one of the greatest
differences between the Europeans and the Americans and the challenges and weakness they
have with counterterrorism.

Europeans need to understand that when it comes to the threat of terrorism, human
rights need to be balanced with the ability to effectively prosecute religiously inspired
terrorism, which has become a threat on a world scale. "In Europe you cannot prosecute
terrorists without law enforcement cooperation" (Hamilton 7). This lack of coherence with
prosecution and human rights, have been blinding the European court in seeing the large
numbers of individuals wanting to abuse this system. European countries need to introduce
their own versions of the USA Patriot Act, which directly confronts the issue of terrorism and
targeting these kinds of threats. As well, Western European countries need to develop a united
effort with the United States, especially the working together by their respective intelligence
agencies in dealing with counterterrorism more effectively.
Additionally, Western Europe should make counterterrorism a top priority given the
growing number of terrorists coming from Europe to fight all over the world. In 2014 in
Brussels, Belgium, Mehdi Nemmouche was the first European jihadist committing an act of
terrorism after returning from Syria and likely it won't be a last (Brussels 1). Despite arrests
made, European counterterrorism experts believe that there may still be more than 1000
suspected terrorists currently living and operating in Europe (Michael 16). The wars waging in
various settings have become another potential for cultivating homegrown terrorists. Some
experts put the number of EU nationals fighting in Syriaat 3-4,000 [and]in post-9/11
Afghanistan there were an estimated 100 Europeans fighting with al-Qaida and the Taliban and
that presented a big problem then" (Traynor 1).

The terrorist threat is increasing. How can Western Europe really move to a more safe
and peaceful society? "If you seek a world where our children are safer.... that world will
require us to draw deeply from the reservoir of nations powers" (Hamilton 13). Over the past
several years fear has increased due to the kinds of attacks that have taken place. Some
examples: the March 11, 2004 bombings in Madrid witnessed 191 people killed wit nearly 2,000
injured (Hedgecoe 1); the July 7 and July 21, 2005 explosions in the London Underground trains
and a bus saw 56 people killed and more than 700 others injured (CBC 1). How can Western
Europe learn from the United States in prosecuting these threats and ending years of fear?
Perhaps there is much to learn from the US approach.
However, it is appropriate to concede that there has been some reform in
counterterrorism approaches in Western Europe. But changes have been made and European
counterterrorism laws have stopped many terrorist attacks and terrorist movements. Recently
in Austria there was an arrest [of] 13 jihadist recruiters for Syria" (Austria 1). In UK alone there
have been up to five plots stopped in 2014, including a potential attack on the Queen; there
were four men arrested for allegedly plotting a terror attack to kill Queen Elizabeth" (Miranda
1). The UK has recently passed a law giving the ability to strip terror suspects of UK passports.
The prime minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, has given spy agencies power to
vet airline flight lists" (Watt 1). These examples are just the beginning of how Western
European governments should use counterterrorism laws to protect its citizens. These small
steps will lead to a better future.

While counterterrorism laws will not always be effective and there is no way of
guaranteeing our protection, creating that safety and security remains a key issue. But to get
that safety most of us need to realize we cannot take our protection for granted. There must
be sacrifices and some people's feelings might have to get hurt so that we can all be safe.
Counterterrorism laws have not reached their full potential but need to be if we are to save the
lives of our citizens and to maintain peace and security.

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