SE Asia tightens security for Iraq war spillover<\/p>\n
Michael Christie
\nReuters
\nSydney, Australia<\/p>\n
Commandos guarded Western embassies, heightened border security
\nchecks caused gridlock and foreign schools braced for a Muslim
\nbacklash as Southeast Asia prepared on Monday for a U.S. war on
\nIraq.<\/p>\n
Visitors of Arab background faced increased scrutiny from
\nThailand to the Philippines as security forces took steps to
\ncounter any retaliation from Islamic militants in a region that
\nincludes the world's most populous Muslim country, Indonesia.<\/p>\n
While U.S. backers such as Australian Prime Minister John
\nHoward say any attack on Iraq will not be against Islam,
\nterrorism experts say an offensive could see mass street protests
\nand opportunistic bomb attacks on soft targets such as
\nnightclubs.<\/p>\n
\"There's a lot of...anger at the West and especially the
\nUnited States,\" said David Wright-Neville, former senior
\nterrorism adviser to Australia's Office of National Assessments,
\nthe equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency.<\/p>\n
\"Islamic radical groups will leap on this war on Iraq,\" said
\nWright-Neville, now at the Monash Global Terrorism Research Unit
\nin Melbourne.<\/p>\n
In the Philippines, which saw a bomb attack on a U.S. embassy
\nlibrary in 1991, five months after Iraq invaded Kuwait and
\nsparked the first Gulf War, the police chief in charge of
\nprotecting embassies said security had been stepped up.<\/p>\n
Brig. Gen. Jose Gutierrez said Special Action Force commandos
\nand police had been deployed around the U.S., British and
\nAustralian missions.<\/p>\n
Groups of up to three armed police, some with bomb-sniffing
\ndogs, patrolled the Makati financial district where many foreign
\ncompanies and upmarket hotels are based.<\/p>\n
One aim was to stifle pro-Iraq demonstrations. But Gutierrez
\ntold Reuters another concern was \"to prevent a spillover to
\nManila\" of recent attacks blamed on Muslim separatists in the
\nsouth of the mostly Roman Catholic country.<\/p>\n
The latest was on March 4 at Davao city airport, where a bomb
\nkilled 22 people.<\/p>\n
\"We also check the backgrounds of any group of Arab or Arab-
\nlooking guests who check into hotels,\" said another Philippine
\nsecurity official, who asked not to be identified.<\/p>\n
In sprawling Indonesia, security at the U.S. embassy and at
\nthe homes of U.S. diplomats was tightened after warnings of
\npossible attacks last September and again after the Bali bombings
\nin October in which 202 people were killed.<\/p>\n
International schools in Jakarta said they were bracing for an
\nanti-Western reaction to an Iraq war even though most Indonesian
\nMuslims are regarded as moderate.<\/p>\n
\"(An Iraq war) has been at the forefront of our minds for a
\nnumber of months and we have done a lot of planning,\" said
\nBritish International School principal Peter Hoggins.<\/p>\n
Hoggins said he would consider shutting the school for a while
\nif things got out of hand.<\/p>\n
In mostly Buddhist Thailand, security around the embassies of
\nthe United States, Britain, Spain and Australia -- President
\nGeorge W. Bush's \"coalition of the willing\" -- and also around
\nthe Indonesian and Iraqi embassies was boosted this month.<\/p>\n
Lt. Gen. Chumpol Manmai, commissioner of Thailand's Special
\nBranch, told Reuters Middle Eastern visitors were getting closer
\nattention as war became more likely.<\/p>\n
\"We may need to follow some of them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Malaysian officials say security has been heightened around
\nWestern embassies and economic interests as well as potential
\nsoft targets such as night spots and churches.<\/p>\n
\"We've moved back to a state of heightened security,\" said one
\nofficial.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines have
\ntogether locked up more than 100 suspected members of the Jamaah
\nIslamiah, a shadowy Muslim group whose leaders are believed to
\nhave had ties with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.<\/p>\n
Jamaah Islamiah, which wants to create a conservative Islamic
\nstate running from Indonesia through Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei,
\nthe southern Philippines and southern Thailand, is suspected of
\nbeing behind the Bali attacks.<\/p>\n
In Singapore, traffic slowed to a crawl at the border between
\nthe ethnic Chinese-majority island state and its Muslim-dominated
\nneighbor Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Officials from the wealthy state that serves as a regional
\nbase for many multinational firms inspected every car, truck and
\nmotorcycle crossing over the waterway that forms the border,
\ninfuriating many travelers who revved engines and honked horns.<\/p>\n
Singapore stepped up security after the Sept. 11, 2001,
\nattacks on the United States, blamed by Washington on al-Qaeda,
\nand tightened them again after October's bomb blasts on Bali.<\/p>",
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