arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

SENATE TOLD U.S. WILL BE ALONE IN WAR AGAINST TERROR

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The Bush administration is being urged to be prepare for a war against terrorism without European allies of the United States.

The reason: European Union states have large Muslim minorities and cannot support a campaign that might be seen as in opposition to the Arab or Islamic world.

Government consultants as well as officials appear to agree that the administration has lowered its sights regarding a coalition against terrorism. They said President George Bush has been disappointed by the lukewarm to dismissive responses by such countries as Britain, France and Germany to the war against terrorism.

"We've been complaining as long as I can remember about the inadequacies of our allies, but if they weren't willing to step up to the Soviet threat, they're sure not going to step up to this one," Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, said in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month. "I'm told that the left in France today can't even win an election without the Moslem vote. If that's the case, we're going to have to do this pretty much all for ourselves."