What Took Place in New York and Washington Will Not Be Repeated

Minister of the Interior Schily
December 14, 2001

Ladies and gentlemen,

we were very pleased and happy that John Ashcroft, the U.S. Attorney General, was able to visit us today. We had a very intensive and constructive discussion, we are both mutually thankful for the close and friendly cooperation between the security agencies of our two countries. We share the conviction that we must do everything we can to ensure that crimes like those that took place in New York and Washington will not be repeated, that we must also do everything we can to identify and to bring to trial the perpetrators of these heinous crimes, and that we must do everything we can to break up this terrorist network and that all appropriate means are used to achieve that end.

I informed my counterpart Mr. Ashcroft regarding the legal measures that we are taking, measures we will be discussing today in parliament, and regarding other measures of an administrative nature that we implemented after 11 September. But I also pointed out that the problem of international terrorism was not recognized only on 11 September, but that we have been confronted with this threat in the past, too, and that we also implemented measures in the past to counter the threat.

But we both share the conviction that what happened on 11 September demonstrates the depth and extent of the threat. We talked briefly about the video which has been broadcast on television and which demonstrates in the person of Bin Laden a depravity, a moral depravity, of a kind that really is quite beyond human understanding.

We also of share the conviction that what happened, especially in New York, was not just an attack on the United States of America, but an attack on all of civilized mankind, something that was reflected in the fact that the victims who died in the attack on the World Trade Center came from more than 80 nations.

And for Germany, New York has always been a symbol of freedom and democracy. We cannot forget that New York has always been a goal for people fleeing from totalitarian regimes. It is a symbol of freedom and democracy, and for that reason what these criminals have perpetrated is a direct attack on the ideals that bind America and Germany together, and that is why our common efforts in the fight against international terrorism not only are self-evident testimony to the close and unshakeable friendship between our two countries, but are also in our own, most fundamental interest.

We are also of the opinion that the fight against international terrorism will be successful only if it is a common fight, that it cannot be waged in isolation, and that in this respect we must coordinate with each other the measures we take, of course in adherence with our differing legal systems and differing legal traditions.