If you kill Bin Laden - ten new ones will arise

translated from German by Babelfish and me.

Johan Galtung is Norwegian peace researcher and holder of the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize of 1987. Galtung taught at the university of Hawaii, the university of Witten/Herdecke and others. 1959 he created the international peace research institute (PRIO) in Oslo. Today he operates as a director on the development and peace network TRANSCEND.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Galtung, in view of the American war euphoria you warn of inconsiderate retaliatory strikes. What is the appropriate reaction to the attacks against the USA?

Johan Galtung: Five things are necessary. First of all: Pause for thought. Second: Dialog. Third: Attempts to understand what's at stake. Fourth: Reconciliation. Fifth: Solving the conflicts. This pattern must be applied punctually regarding Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine/Israel and so on. I suggest concretely that three people, for example Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk talk with the parties, in order to avoid the spiral of violence.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Do you think Islamic extremists would really meet with such personalities?

Galtung: Absolutely. I had some contacts with these people. The prerequisite for a dialog is however that one knows a minimum about Islam. If one tells them for example, that "Jihad" means "holy war", they only shake their heads. For a firm believer of Islam, "Jihad" simply means "effort for the sake of the teachings". There are Islamic fundamentalists, who took over the western misinterpretation of the word Jihad. But those are exceptions, and even these people are addressable. It requires some effort from our side, in order to listen what the problems of the other side are.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The western diplomacy did not work with the Kabul Taliban regime so far.

Galtung: In February, I was mediator in Afghanistan and also spoke with Taliban people. Many Afghans are bitter. They say, they lost five million human lives in the war against the Soviet Union 1979 to 1989. The Soviet Union withdrew. They see themselves as the country, which released the world from the cold war - and nobody in the west thanked the Afghan people for it. They have the feeling that there is no Empathy at all for them. Perhaps the diplomacy begins here.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: There is nevertheless a difference between the Afghan people, the Taliban regime and extremist terrorists, who are ready to sacrifice their life for their aims and to also draw thousands into death with them.

Galtung: There are differences - quite as in Palestine. There, we must have a dialog with all parties also, including the extremists. One must ask of course, why radicals found such a fertile soil. That has to do with our politics also. There are extremists in American also, as we saw in Oklahoma. I avoid the word "terrorist " - also extremists have reasons for their concerns.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: But the poeople guilty for the attacks have to be found!

Galtung: I am not entirely sure that Osama Bin Laden ant the al-Quaida are behind the attacks against America. There could be several, also other groups. Second, I don't think that this can be resolved with a war. Even if you kill Bin Laden - ten new ones will rise. Anger is rooted much too deep in the masses on both sides.