Yoni Rosenweig: New world demands new policy

The trauma of the last few days has for many of us seemed only comparable in recent history to Pearl Harbor, an event whose 60th anniversary looms just a few months from now. And if we focus upon lost innocence and revolutionary changes in national policy, the comparison is apt.

Like the generation that emerged from that infamous day, our lives -- our conscious regard for safety, civil liberties and national identity -- will be forever changed.

There can be no doubt that some of the most important and far reaching changes must involve a new relationship with the international community. That new relationship must be characterized by an energetic spirit of diplomacy, compromise and generosity.

Looking back through the smokescreen of the explosions, we can see the days when Americans considered international conflict to be detached from our concern; so innocently were we convinced of the blessed protection of democracy and wealth, that no one wondered if airport guards making $6 an hour had the training or ability to stop terrorist hijackings. That innocence shattered with the 21,000 windows of the World Trade Center. It died, almost as tragically as the men and women inside.

Yet, we are hardly alone in being forced from comfort to fear. In total 40 countries lost innocent citizens to the attacks. British Prime Minister Tony Blair recognized that the hundreds of Britons presumed dead makes Sept. 11 "the worst attack on British citizens since World War II."

In our new vulnerability, we might ask ourselves: When is a superpower not really a superpower? When its policy must be conducted the same way its people suffered -- together with the world. From this insight we arrive at a need for a re-engagement of foreign policy and we young Americans must lead the way to re-educate those who regarded our superpower status as conferring freedom to act unilaterally.

Of course, December 7, 1941 crushed the same sort of conceptions about America. Eventually, our bombs in Europe and Japan reshaped the physical landscape, but our dollars and involvement in international affairs constructed a favorable political landscape. We destroyed enemies by military might, but we earned allies through a determined diplomacy of good faith and generosity -- unsurprisingly, those same allies stand beside us today.

The only viable investment in a future where commercial airliners are not missiles requires another carefully constructed political landscape, forged by diplomacy. This week, the Bush administration must assemble as broad a coalition as possible that rejects the evil witnessed Tuesday.

Make no mistake, the time is already ripe for discussions of this nature -- for courting former enemies -- and it does no disservice to the victims to talk with nations who have been known to associate with terrorists.

The process has already begun. Pakistan's leaders -- who have long supported fundamentalists -- have publicly announced that they will assist in bringing bin Laden to justice in return for U.S. economic support. Reading the writing on the wall, Yasser Arafat canceled a trip to Syria which was widely seen as one being made to court fundamentalists, presumably hoping to receive an offer from the Americans. These are signs of diplomatic approachability that must be vigorously pursued.

Vice President Dick Cheney discussed America's use of the "carrot and stick" in recruiting Arab and Muslim countries. This well-reasoned approach could only be improved by greater application. Without undermining other nations' political viability, we can offer the rewards of the comity of nations --- trade, finance, assistance -- in return for their support in a war against terrorism.

If you are skeptical of this, you are not alone. Building a coalition in 1945 followed a devastation that, in total, dwarfs any war. Likewise, to think that Arafat will suddenly disassociate with Hamas, that Sudan will change its policy toward non-Muslims and that Afghanistan will hand over bin Laden might border on a pipe dream. Then again, five days ago, Pakistani help against the Taliban would have seemed just as impossible.

With the dust now settling from an unspeakable catastrophe, there just may be new goodwill about. Now is the best time to build bonds with other nations by using our financial resources. The investment in nations who claim willingness to abandon terrorist links will pay off in security and in lives saved.

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