Fight against terrorism is far from over<\/p>\n
Dmitry Kosyrev, Political Analyst, RIA Novosti, Moscow<\/p>\n
If the situation in the so-called international counter-terror
\ncoalition were normal, the explosions on the Indonesian resort
\nisland of Bali could have become a subject of serious discussion
\nby the allies, who drafted plans of restoring order in
\nAfghanistan a year ago. But is the coalition alive yet or have
\nthe U.S. plans of launching an all-out war against Iraq have torn
\nit to smithereens? And what should the countries that are facing
\nthe choice between helping the U.S. in its war on Iraq, a war
\nwhose goals and motives are questionable, and focusing attention
\non a quite real and growing terrorist threat nearby, do?<\/p>\n
Australia is one of these countries. It was believed in the
\npast few weeks that Canberra supported the U.S. plans with regard
\nto Iraq as enthusiastically as Britain does. In fact, the list of
\nenthusiasts was limited to these three countries. Other
\ncountries, such as Bahrain and Kuwait, speak about their
\ninvolvement in the war on Iraq with great unwillingness and will
\ndemand a great deal for their contribution. But now Canberra must
\ndecide if it should fight against a Muslim country in the far-
\naway Middle East when the threat of Muslim extremism has moved
\nvery close to Australia's door?<\/p>\n
That the bulk of victims in the Bali disco clubs are
\nAustralians was not quite a coincidence. The terrorists clearly
\ndirected their blow, above all, at the government of Indonesia
\nand its tourist industry, with the white people as mere victims.
\nBut there are more Australian than any other tourists in
\nIndonesia and South East Asia as a whole, simply because of
\nAustralia's proximity to the region. Australia is certainly not
\nthe U.S. but the rise of terrorism in the region is directly
\nthreatening Australia not only as a U.S. ally. Relations between
\nCanberra and Jakarta have never been very good and they
\ndeteriorated when Canberra supported the secession of East Timor
\nfrom Indonesia in 1999.<\/p>\n
So, Australians are favorite targets for local terrorists.
\nBesides, quite a few Indonesian immigrants live on the fifth
\ncontinent and it is quite easy for terrorists to work among them,
\nif they wish to do this. If Canberra decides to support the U.S.
\nwar on Iraq, the question will be as good as settled. Bush is far
\naway but Australia and Australians are close targets.<\/p>\n
Who are the main suspects in the Bali terrorist acts? It has
\nbecome fashionable to blame everything on Jemaah Islamiyah, an
\numbrella group that is operating throughout the region, in
\nparticular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
\nIt is an umbrella group because unlike purely local Islamic
\nzealots, Jemaah was set up in 1999 as the key regional structure
\nof the international terrorist web centered around al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n
Its task was to coordinate the local jihad fighters and
\nguarantee centralized deliveries of weapons and money to them.
\nOmar al-Farouk, an al-Qaeda agent responsible in the organization
\nfor South East Asia who has been recently detained by the
\nAmericans, revealed many details about the Jemaah. It was his
\ntestimony that prompted the Americans to close embassies in
\nseveral Southeast Asian countries a month ago, a year after the
\nSeptember 11 tragedy in the U.S. The detained terrorist said
\nlorries loaded with explosives would be blown up at these
\nembassies. The explosives have not been found and were probably
\nused to stage terrorist acts in Bali.<\/p>\n
The problems of Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri
\nare very similar to the problems of his Pakistani colleague,
\nPervez Musharraf. It is a risky undertaking to clamp down on
\nlocal Islamists in a country with most Islamic population --
\nnearly hopeless if risked without international assistance. It
\nmay cost the president his chair at best and possibly lead to
\nchaos and violence is several cities. As if chaos and violence
\nhave been in short supply there.<\/p>\n
In short, South East Asia should be cleansed of local
\nterrorist organizations. The war will not help. A long and
\npainstaking work is needed that calls for international efforts
\nand funds. Central Asia and Pakistan (where the recent elections
\nregistered an incredible growth of the influence of local jihad
\nfighters) need the same medicine. And the situation in
\nAfghanistan, where the fight against terrorism began in the first
\nplace, is not optimistic either. Not to mention the recent
\nterrorist act against U.S. servicemen in Kuwait or the explosion
\nof the Limbourg supertanker off Yemen. Even the richest and
\nstrongest countries of the world have problems.<\/p>\n
Of course, the world could have left Afghanistan and bin Laden
\nalone a year ago. We could have waited until friends of the
\nTaliban seized power in Tajikistan or Pakistan or in some of
\ntheir provinces, and more skyscrapers crumbled down in the U.S.
\nBut since the war has begun, we must not stop it now; we must not
\nleave individual countries alone in their struggle against the
\nrearing terrorist snakes. And, most importantly, the fight
\nagainst terrorism must not be replaced with a war launched to
\nresolve the problems of American economy, in particular oil
\nprices and control of the Middle East, something which the Bush
\nadministration is trying to do now.<\/p>",
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