NETANYAHU - A battle for our future?

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HoustonChron

Nov. 4, 2001, 9:50PM

`A battle for our future'

Terror war must be pursued to conclusion, Netanyahu says

Associated Press

The war on terrorism being fought by the United States and a coalition of nations is not simply about bringing down one terrorist leader or regime, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Houston on Sunday.

"It is nothing short of a battle for our very lives and our future," Netanyahu said about ongoing efforts to stamp out terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks on the East Coast. "What has to be done is to pursue the fight to its conclusion."

Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel from 1996-99, made his remarks to a crowd of more than 1,000 people during a speech at Houston's Temple Emanu El.

Security was tight at the event; those who attended had to pass through metal detectors.

During Netanyahu's 30-minute speech, he outlined three questions people must answer before terrorism can be eradicated: Who is doing it? Why are they doing it? What can be done about it?

Netanyahu, who has written books about terrorism, said there are about two dozen terrorist organizations around the world that are supported by such nations as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

"Why are they doing it? They all are infused with a basic anti-Western militancy, a hatred for the West," he said. "They want to make sure all Western presence is removed from the Arabic world."

Netanyahu compared the terrorist threat to another one the United States and other Western countries have faced this century, communist aggression, particularly from the former Soviet Union.

"If communists had to choose between ideology and survival, they would choose survival," he said. Terrorists today "are willing to sacrifice their own. They have a bloodlust. This pathology, a willingness to throw off all restraints, is what makes this movement so dangerous."

Stopping terrorism isn't limited to just stopping the organizations that conduct it but also the nations that lend their support to these groups, Netanyahu said.

"If you want to stop all kamikaze pilots, you go after the carrier, and the carrier here is the terrorist states," he said. "If sanctions don't work, you dismantle the regime."

Many things need to be done to achieve victory in the war against terrorism but none is more important than arming the West with moral clarity, the Israeli leader said.

"Terrorism is a systematic and deliberate attack on civilians," he said. "If we say (terrorist groups) might have a point, we lose.

"Nothing justified the Nazis. We have to say with equal clarity that nothing justifies terrorism. I think we have the moral clarity, and we will win."

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2001


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