Averting Disaster

This time, Germany obviously had a lucky escape. Had investigators failed to track down the suspected terrorists in time, the country could have witnessed a tragedy on a similar scale to those in London in 2005 and Madrid in 2004, which together claimed hundreds of innocent lives.

Germany was spared this fate thanks to the efficient and professional work of the police and security services. For this, they deserve the sort of praise and recognition they are often denied, given that the bulk of their difficult and dangerous work tends to take place out of the public eye.

The arrests marked Germany's first victory in the fight on terror. Perhaps that's because it's the first time that terrorist plans had taken on such concrete shape. In the past, the terrorist threat has been less advanced and more abstract, with warnings of imminent attacks -- thankfully -- proving unfounded. It raises the question whether some people just wanted shore up support for unpopular plans to tighten anti-terror measures.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble cannot be accused of this in the current case. The leads were unambiguous, the charges specific: training in a terror camp in Pakistan, 730 kilograms of chemicals, a house rented in central Germany under a false name and much more. No politician or law enforcement officials would make up these things at the risk of losing his job.

Schäuble, a member of the conservative CDU, couldn't resist the opportunity to renew his calls for police-controlled spying of private computers to combat terrorism. His detractors responded by pointing to the fact that the arrests were possible without the controversial computer surveillance, which most parties broadly reject. One could put it this way: Suspected terrorists were caught without the state needing to infringe civil rights.

Of course it's possible to say that this particular victory would never have been possible without the tightened security laws in place since Sept. 11, 2001. But because of the criminal investigation, the public will probably never know this for sure. The debate surrounding the ethics of counter-terrorism measures will therefore most certainly not end here. There's one thing the Germans know for sure now, however: They are a target of international terrorism.

Since the potential perpetrators are not only foreigners, but also apparently include young Germans that have converted to Islam, the security situation likely got more complex. The situation, one has to fear, is more dangerous than ever. Hopefully, politicians and the media will deal sensitively with this development.

Marcel Fürstenau covers domestic security issues for DW radio (jp).