The thwarting of a "massive attack" by Al Qaeda-inspired terrorists on American targets in Germany, coming just a day after a similar bomb plot was uncovered in Denmark, is a somber reminder to Europeans that the war on terror is not a political catchphrase but a threat they share with Americans.
The plan, to bomb Americans in bars, clubs, airports, and American military bases in Germany, to mark the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on America, was hatched by two German nationals who had converted to Islam and a Turkish Muslim. They were all in their 20s and members of Islamic Jihad Union, an Islamist group with roots in Uzbekistan that is closely linked to Al Qaeda.
The detainees, now in custody in Karlsruhe, Germany, were thought to have learned their bomb-making skills from Al Qaeda instructors in training camps in Pakistan. German authorities are now searching for other members of the Islamist cell who are still at large.
The comment by the German federal police chief, Jörg Ziercke, that the terrorists were "driven by a hatred of U.S. citizens," will be of little comfort to Europeans, as the unraveled plot clearly shows that the succession of Al Qaeda attacks on Europeans are coordinated, indiscriminate, and intended to cause the maximum death and destruction.
The German plotters were observed making site inspections of their supposed targets: Ramstein Air Base, America's largest air base in Germany, and Frankfurt International Airport, one of Europe's three busiest.
Evidence of the close collaboration among Al Qaeda plotters based in Europe is clear from the German terrorists' choice of explosives: 1,500 pounds of hydrogen peroxide, the chemical employed in the bombing of buses and subway trains by Islamist terrorists in London on July 7, 2005, when 52 were killed and 700 injured.
"This would have enabled them to make bombs with more explosive power than the ones used in the London and Madrid bombings," Mr. Ziercke said. The comparison with the successful terrorist bombings elsewhere in Europe, in particular the Madrid attack in March 2004, in which 191 were killed and 2,050 injured, is telling.
Even under the direction of the pro-American, conservative Chancellor Merkel, Germans have been reluctant to acknowledge that the terrorist threat from Al Qaeda is real or imminent. But what Germany's chief federal prosecutor, Monika Harms, described yesterday as "one of the worst terror acts ever planned in Germany" appears to have radically changed perceptions.
The bombers were under close observation since February, and since then the German government has been issuing public warnings about an imminent attack. "We've said repeatedly for months that Germany is in the sights of Islamist terrorism and that we have to be vigilant," Ms. Harms said.
Germany's interior minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, confirmed that the attacks were planned on the orders of "an international network" and concluded that "the danger that international terrorism represents is a reality not only for the soldiers, police and personnel charged with the reconstruction in Afghanistan ... but also inside our own country."
Mrs. Merkel joined the chorus. "When it comes to fighting terror, international cooperation is of crucial importance," she said. "The lesson from this is the danger is not just abstract, it's real."
However, Mrs. Merkel's government has not said explicitly that the ultimate goal of Al Qaeda is the destruction of Western civilization itself. In June, government ministers declared that Germans had become the target of violent Islamists as a result of Mrs. Merkel's decision to send 3,000 German service personnel to help NATO forces fighting in Afghanistan against Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists.
But there appears to be a growing if belated realization that the Al Qaeda threat to German lives is motivated by more than events in Afghanistan. Mr. Schäuble said there was "a growing problem with homegrown terrorism that's also evident elsewhere in Europe."
Evidence of just such a widespread threat arrived on Tuesday, when police in Germany's neighbor Denmark arrested eight Islamists linked to Al Qaeda - an Afghan, a Pakistani, a Somali, and a Turk - who were planning what was described as a "major" attack on civilian targets.
The Danish security intelligence service director, Jakob Scharf, declared that those arrested, six of whom were released yesterday but remain suspects, were "militant Islamists with connections to high ranking members of Al Qaeda."
Denmark has been a likely target for Al Qaeda attacks since the publication in 2005 of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad, deemed sacrilegious by Muslims. The Danish government has also helped NATO in its purging of terrorists in Afghanistan and provided troops to serve in Iraq. Yesterday, four men went on trial in Denmark for plotting similar bomb attacks a year ago.
