General Wesley Clark, who served as NATO supreme allied commander in Europe during the war in Kosovo, writes in The Washington Monthly, "In the war on terrorism, alliances are not an obstacle to victory. They're the key to it." [The Washington Monthly, September 2002]

Reuel Marc Gerecht argues in The Weekly Standard, "Friends aren't necessary to gain respect in the Middle East. Power is." [The Weekly Standard, Oct. 1, 2001]

"The starkly different perspectives -- the overseas view that the United States has disengaged from the world and the American insistence that it has never been more engaged -- demonstrate how the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that left more than 3,000 people dead have actually served to widen the gulf between the United States and the rest of the globe. This is the picture that emerged from extensive interviews with foreign officials and experts by correspondents in seven key countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, along with interviews with administration officials, experts and diplomats in Washington." [The Washington Post, Sept. 1, 2002]

"The events that led to the brokering of the coalition must be examined, as well as the performance of the coalition's military, diplomatic, and financial coordination. Finally, what are the risks for the future of the coalition, especially if the war widens? What are the limits of the international coalition against terrorism?" [The Washington Quarterly, Spring 2002 -- Note: this article is in PDF format]

"Nine months after the attacks, it seems clear that managing the coalition will be even more challenging than putting it together." [Brookings Review, June 22, 2002]

In July 2002, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University released the report of a task force to study the broader geopolitical consequences of the war on terrorism. Members of the task force included: Samuel Berger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Wesley Clark, Robert Gates, Sam Nunn and Brent Scowcroft. Their recommendations for U.S. policy included: supporting the expansion of NATO and the European Union; forging a coalition through the U.N. Security Council to pressure Iraq to adhere to a "robust" weapons inspection program; and "attaching the highest priority to serving as a catalyst to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace." [Center for Strategic and International Studies, July 10, 2002]