Nearly as many foreigners as Americans killed in towers

09/20/2001

By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – As certainly as its name suggests, the World Trade Center was the global office. And since terrorists plunged two airplanes into its twin towers last week, nearly as many foreigners are missing as Americans.

As many as 2,287 foreign citizens were among the 5,655 people confirmed dead or missing in New York and Washington. Sixty-four countries other than the United States lost citizens in the attacks.

"When the World Trade Center went down, the world's trade center went down," said Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser. "What really was attacked was this world community that trades and works and tries to make people more prosperous."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged his country would stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States to avenge the attacks. The 300 subjects of the United Kingdom inside the skyscrapers when they fell represent the largest loss of British life since World War II.

Not all governments will respond to the American call for a coalition against terrorism with the same vigor as the British. But several military and security experts said the widespread loss of life would play a role in how those countries choose to respond.

"In this era of globalization, everybody travels all over the world, and everyone will be at risk," said Lawrence J. Korb, an assistant secretary of defense for President Reagan. "All the world has to deal with this problem."

In addition to the United Kingdom, countries suffering the worst casualties were Colombia, Germany, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and Switzerland. Each probably lost 100 or more citizens, according to the U.S. State Department.

Bangladesh, Canada, El Salvador and Italy probably lost between 50 and 90 citizens each.

Retired Army Gen. William Nash said those governments' reactions would vary widely, but public opinion would in part shape their response.

"There is a possibility that there will be a visceral reaction just because of the loss of life for the countries affected," he said.

But the fact that the attacks claimed so many lives would probably not be the leading factor in whether governments answer the attacks with force, several experts said.

"It might play a great role in keeping the issue alive and pressing for support at the United Nations against the people who did it, said Gideon Rose, managing editor of the foreign policy journal Foreign Affairs.

But, Mr. Rose said, some countries in which anti-American and anti-Israeli feelings are pervasive could blame American foreign policy for their dead.

Some are uneasy about highlighting their dead as the motivation for military reprisals. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in announcing his country's decision to send ships to help with intelligence gathering didn't cite the 20 Japanese citizens who are unaccounted for in New York.

"People in Germany started mourning before they even knew there were any Germans among the victims," said Hinrich Thoelken, a spokesman for the German Embassy.