How the west followed Bin Laden's script  The world, it was
said, had changed for ever after 11 September 2001. Since 1945,
international conflicts had had only a limited effect on western
homelands, particularly the American homeland. Now London, New
York and Paris could no longer feel safe; ruthless terrorists
threatened the deaths of millions; the west faced a new kind of
enemy with whom it was impossible to treat; the gloves would
have to come off; there could, in George W Bush's words, be no
hiding place. We now know that the world has indeed changed, but
not in quite the sense that politicians and commentators
envisaged three years ago.  They looked forward to a new
crusade, in which the west went forth to vanquish evil, all the
stronger because it was confident of its own rightness. Instead,
the west - or at least those parts of it most closely associated
with the "war on terror": mainly Britain and America - is losing
its moral legitimacy. What matters here is not so much the loss
of support and sympa