Opinion: New Anti-Terror Tool Comes Way Too Late

No matter what one might think of the anti-terror database, in one respect it should give its happy proponents some serious food for thought -- namely, the fact that the measure only came about in the wake of the recent failed bomb attacks on passenger trains.

The security debate that followed the discovery of the planned attacks ran along familiar lines -- politicians howled for tighter laws though they knew well that no law in this world can stop terrorists resolved to do anything to carry out attacks with fatal consequences.

Frantic, populist politicians

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble did admit that the attacks, which luckily failed, could not have been prevented even if a centralized database for terrorism suspects had existed then. The failed attacks however were still reason enough to call a special conference of federal and state interior ministers.

The fact that there was no plausible link between the narrowly failed diabolic plan hatched by young fanatics and the understandable desire for more security and improved counter-terrorism measures thus played no role.

But what did play a role was a constructed link, devised by frantic, partly populist politicians who used the urgent mood to push through a controversial anti-terror database that they have wrangled over in the five years since the monstrous attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Five years, during which there have been countless further terrorist attacks in the world; five years, during which politicians and security experts have constantly spoken of a "German threat" without managing to localize or even identify a concrete danger.

Database could have been decided earlier

Just to avoid any misunderstandings: Of course one has to take international terrorism seriously -- even in Germany, which may be pretty low down on the enemy list of Islamist terrorists, but which has been particularly attractive in the past as a terrorist harbor and possibly still is. It's well known that the Sept. 11 suicide bombers hatched their plans here.

That may be a good, understandable and even convincing argument for an anti-terror database. But in the moment where the danger was not just theoretical, but very real in a tragic way, when over 3,000 people were brutally killed in geographically far-away yet politically close America -- in that situation, German politicians were incapable of introducing an anti-terror database.

The conservatives wanted to ride roughshod over every legal concern and do away with the constitutionally-anchored separation between the police and intelligence agencies. And the other camp -- leftists, Greens, Liberals -- saw the end of the rule of law in any attempt to gather and access data for counter-terrorism purposes. Both positions were overly exaggerated.

A compromise could have been possible even shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks -- particularly within an international framework.

Conveying a feeling of safety

The current compromise on the anti-terror database instead stems from a mixture of a real threat exemplified by the suspected suitcase bombers and a partly hysterical reaction by some politicians. The latter can be thankful that no one in Germany fell victim to a terrorist attack in the time they wasted since 2001. If that had indeed been the case, we would now be witnessing an embarrassing row over how such an attack could have been prevented. Should we really have victims of terror attacks some day, there will once again be strong words and accusations flying about -- even though everyone knows that there can never be complete security.

What counts is conveying a feeling of safety and the impression that the danger can be dealt with resolve and moderation. A frantically thrashed out anti-terror database however raises suspicion and mistrust.

If the creators of the law have real bad luck, the new weapon in the fight against terrorism may yet be defused by Germany's highest court because it violates the constitution.

Marcel Fürstenau is a political correspondent for DW-RADIO (sp).