The High Price of Interventions and Ideological Illusions

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the global press is attempting a grand audit of the War on Terror. The retrospective exercise reveals a clear split between American institutional self-justification and European skepticism over state overreach.

Within the United States, major editorial boards defend the overarching legacy of the security campaign. The Washington Post acknowledges that while catastrophic missteps were made in Iraq and Afghanistan, the essential security mandate was fulfilled. In a similar vein, the Wall Street Journal contends that aggressive forward defense and holding harbor nations accountable successfully shielded the American homeland from a repeat performance over the past quarter-century.

Across the Atlantic, European observers offer a harsher accounting of Washington's foreign policy maneuvers. Reporting in The Times highlights how swiftly the Bush administration conflated Saudi citizens responsible for the attacks with an unrelated regime in Iraq. French commentary strikes an even colder tone. A former French intelligence officer noted in Le Monde that the true success of Al-Qaeda lay in drawing America into endless, draining foreign wars.

While Washington calculates the geopolitical costs of intervention, France faces its own recurring domestic friction. The National Rally is currently attempting to distance itself from a scandal involving a security official and police officer in Carcassonne, who recorded himself uttering racial slurs against Black and Arab residents. Party representatives insisted to Le Figaro that such convictions have no place within their ranks, dismissing the matter as an isolated incident. Left-leaning critics at L'Humanité dismiss that defense, pointing to past public statements by MP Caroline Parmentier regarding the normalization of homosexuality, travelling communities, and Vichy leader Maréchal Pétain as evidence of broader ideological continuity.

Meanwhile, paleontology provides a refreshing reminder of real evolutionary pressure. Researchers studying a fossilized feather found inside dinosaur dung are investigating whether feather density determined which bird families survived the catastrophic post-asteroid climate. It turns out that long-term survival relies on structural insulation rather than defensive posturing.

Written by Thomas Nussbaumer thomas.nussbaumer@alpineweekly.com