Address to the Marshall Center Conference on "Lessons Learned from Recent Terrorist Attacks"

Ljubljana, Slovenia
June 28, 2005

Minister Rupel, Dr. Rose, Ambassador Peters, distinguished guests:

First of all, let me thank the Marshall Center, our colleagues at the US mission at NATO, and the NATO-Russia Council for putting together this conference.

As the US Ambassador to Slovenia, I would also like to thank Minister Rupel, and his Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its special role in hosting and coordinating this event.

And of course, I cannot forget to thank my friend, Ambassador Hans-Jochen Peters, and the German government for their continuing support of all our common efforts at the Marshall Center in Germany.

Don’t worry, I won’t talk long.

I’ll be direct.  This conference is very important.  The global war on terror cannot be won unless we all cooperate. I am especially pleased to see that there is such a large Russian contingent here today. We are indeed Allies-NATO members and Russians alike, in a common battle.

Last night we heard Slovenian State Secretary Cerar list a number of cities and countries that have been hit by the cruelty of terrorists in the last several years. As that list shows, none of us is immune.

Often the terrorist strikes much too close to home.

I remember as a young diplomat almost twenty years ago, learning that a senior German diplomat I had worked closely with in Bonn, Germany’s political director, Gerold von Braunmuehl, was gunned down before his wife and children by the RAF one evening as he come home from work to dinner.

I was serving in Budapest only seven years ago when al-Qaeda killed many of my colleagues, both Americans and Africans, in the embassy bombings in Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi.

And of course none of us Americans can forget where he or she was on September 11, 2001. I was beginning my second week at the National Security Council at the White House working on Russian affairs. I had spent the last couple of days working on a message from President Bush to President Putin setting out an agenda for a new strategic relationship with Russia, one including enhanced cooperation on counter-terrorism.

Needless to say, the focus of that message changed considerably after September 11. The Russian Federation’s cooperation with the United States in the war in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda and the Taliban was exemplary. I was on the other end of the phone when President Putin promised our President his full cooperation. We all owe Russia our thanks for that cooperation.

And of course I remember so well that same week when NATO, for the first time in its 52 years, invoked Article 5 of the Treaty so as to come to the assistance of the US in the war on terror.

Who can forget Beslan, Madrid, Istanbul, and all the other soft targets of terrorists from the past few years?

It’s not easy being an American ambassador these days. The security of the American and Slovenian employees at our embassy, as well as that of other Americans in Slovenia, is the most serious responsibility I carry. In the back of our minds always lingers the very uncomfortable thought that the unimaginable has happened before and that it can happen again.  So I thank you for coming together this week to find solutions to help us deal with the threats and consequences of terrorism. It is especially rewarding to see people representing our militaries, our police forces, our security officials, our justice officials, our finance experts, our doctors and our diplomats all working together. If we are going to be successful, we must work across agency lines and across borders. God knows the terrorists do.

I sincerely hope that at the end of the week you will have gained new insights and information that you can take back to your capitals and apply to helping us end this scourge to all of our societies.

Just as importantly, I hope you will each establish a new network of friends and contacts, people that you will be able to call and email to keep this critical dialogue going.

Thanks for all of your hard work as we seek to provide better protection for the civilians of all of our countries.

And best wishes for a productive week!