9/11 - the European perspective

Below are several stories about how Europe sees 9/11. Most are about how European experts see the possibility of an al-Qaeda attack in Europe, though as the poll below shows, many in Europe don't believe al-Qaeda was responsible. The last story is about a concert in Denmark commemorating the attack.

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Source: WorldPublicOpinion
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Osama Bin Laden is still alive but Al-Qaeda has lost the capacity to organise large-scale attacks, according to Italy's leading anti-terrorism expert, Stefano Dambruoso.


Nevetheless, Dambruoso told Adnkronos on the anniversary of the 11 September attacks in the United States that Al-Qaeda was still a dangerous and widespread phenomenon that we would have to face for many years.


"Since then we have learned a lot, we have far more experience and capacity to better monitor sources of risk from this phenomenon with which we live, but we must remain on high alert," he said.


"Italy, like many European countries, is certainly more secure because it has increased the capacity of the security forces to prevent organised attacks.


"However, it should be said, without generating alarm, that security forces would find it difficult to prevent a single Al-Qaeda member or small groups, that are not directly linked to a central terror group."


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Source: AKI (English)


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Al-Qaeda no longer has the capacity to organise the attacks on United States cities it carried out on 11 September 2001 - but a new "spectacular" attack in Europe cannot be ruled out, according to a high ranking German terrorism expert.


"We cannot rule out a new spectacular attack by Al-Qaeda in Europe, given that the terrorist organisation is no longer capable of organising major attacks in Washington or New York," the expert told Adnkronos International (AKI), speaking on condition of anonymity.


"Today ,Al-Qaeda is no longer able to strike as it did seven years ago, and it finds itself under pressure in Europe, even if this organisational crisis should not be interpreted as inability to act in Europe," the expert said.


He holds a senior post in the German Chancellor's office.


"Al-Qaeda is ideologically stronger than it was on 11 September, 2001. But its organisation is now so fragmented and decentralised that it can no longer carry out attacks such as that against the World Trade Centre.


"But it could simultaneously detonate 10 or 20 bombs in as many countries," the expert warned.


"Fragmentation and decentralisation are at the same time a source of strength and weakness.


"Many organisations that take up the ideology disseminated by (Al-Qaeda leader) Osama Bin Laden and (second-in-command) Ayman al-Zawahiri act completely autonomously, as for example the groups operating in Iraq or in North African countries," said the expert.


The real threat to Europe is homegrown groups that set themselves up outside Al-Qaeda but which attend its training camps along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the expert argued.


"The immigrant factory worker in Europe who spends several weeks of his holidays in Afghanistan or Pakistan to attend training camps and receive indoctrination is the real danger.


"He returns from his holidays and organises an attack on a city he knows very well and where he is supposedly integrated," the expert stated.


As long as terrorism has operational bases in other continents, it will be difficult to fight the phenomenon in European countries, he noted.


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Source: AKI (English)


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Today, September 11th, marks seven years since the terror attack on the US. In Sweden, head analyst in the secret police Säpo’s counter-terrorism unit spoke to Swedish Radio’s P1 Morgon programme about changes to the risk.


Admitting the terrorist threat is moving northwards through Europe, Malena Rembe says it has hit southern neighbours Denmark, but not yet reached Sweden.


The reason being, she says, is Sweden’s good reputation in many Muslim regions of the world. This is partly because to Sweden’s neutrality but also due to the high numbers of immigrants this country has accepted.


Source: SR (English)


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Søs Fenger and Isam B will appear at the municipality square in Copenhagen this evening, in remembrance of the attack on the World Trade Center on Sep 11th, 2001.

The two singers are part of the song event "Danmark For Alle" (Denmark for everybody) where Danish colleges will turn this tragic day into a day where we in Denmark celebrate liberalism, community and diversity.

"One of the college's many communal activities is singing, and with our song event we want to mark and publicize this openness," says Helga Kolby Kristiansen, head of the Folkehøjskolernes Forening i Danmark (Danish Association of Community Colleges).

The concert will take place in the front of city hall in Copenhagen between 7pm and 9pm. Earlier in the day there will be communal singing from the college songbook with several cultural personalities such as Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Jakob Hougaard.

Source: Avisen (Danish)