The United States, Europe, and the Threat of Radical Islam: Different Means of Engagement

Abstract

P Lawler argues in the preceding article that Americans’ confidence in and commitment to a set of national values makes them more willing to accept the costs of war. Certainly the U.S. response to September 11 attests to its readiness to use military force. Europe on the other hand, chastened by two world wars, is more averse to military action. But the United States and Europe face a common threat in radical Islam, and addressing that threat requires cooperation. Given their entangled fates, it is worth examining more carefully why the United States is quicker than its allies to use military force and whether, ultimately, war serves their common interest. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama identified Afghanistan as the critical theater in the U.S. fight against al-Qaeda and promised to deploy two additional brigades there.1 Obama authorized larger troop increases—totaling 22,000—during his first months in office, but violence in Afghanistan increased over the ensuing months, prompting Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to request an additional 30,000 to 40,000 troops. During the lengthy strategy review that followed, many commentators recalled Obama’s campaign commitment to Afghanistan and demanded he immediately accept the general’s recommendation.2 While the administration solicited insight from an array of sources, the public voice was curiously absent from the debate. Opposition to the war in Afghanistan increased during the summer and fall of 2009, and by mid-September, 43 percent of Americans polled thought the United States should withdraw its forces immediately.3 Congressional Democrats too voiced their legitimate concerns over escalating a violent and costly war. Despite this anti-war sentiment, especially among Obama’s political base, the one option the administration did not consider was ending the conflict. Instead, President Obama endorsed the recommendation made by the