Security efforts directed against terrorism, not Islam: FBI<\/p>\n
Terrorists targeted, not Muslims say FBI<\/p>\n
Zen
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nNusa Dua, Bali<\/p>\n
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert S
\nMueller restated here on Friday night that U.S. security efforts
\nin operation in various countries around the world, were directed
\nat terrorism and not Islam.<\/p>\n
\"We understand that this is a war on terrorists, persons who
\nkill women and children. It is certainly not a war against
\nMuslims or Islam,\" he told a brief press conference after
\nattending a closed-door meeting with Indonesia's Coordinating
\nMinister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo
\nBambang Yudhoyono and National Police Chief Gen. Dai Bachtiar.<\/p>\n
The meeting was held in the Frangipani Room of the Sheraton-
\nBali International Convention Center under unusually tight
\nsecurity.<\/p>\n
The FBI agents, who apparently commanded the meeting's
\nsecurity arrangements, were so concerned about the safety of
\ntheir director that they initially prohibited journalists from
\nentering the building.<\/p>\n
When the journalists were eventually allowed to enter, their
\nbags and equipment were carefully searched by an FBI agent in the
\nbuilding's entrance.<\/p>\n
The agents' anxious demeanor was in stark contrast to their
\nIndonesian counterparts, who looked calm and friendly.<\/p>\n
Mueller also had a meeting with Indonesia's National
\nIntelligence Body (BIN) chief AM Hendropriyono on Saturday
\nmorning at the five-star Ritz Carlton Hotel, where the FBI
\nentourage stayed during their two-day visit to Bali.<\/p>\n
The United States, Mueller added, had large Muslim
\nAmerican, Seikh American, and Arab American communities. He
\ndescribed how in the days immediately after the September 11
\nterrorist attack the U.S. administration sought to assure the
\nsecurity and safety of those communities.<\/p>\n
Since that tragic day, Mueller said, the FBI had investigated
\n325 allegations of threats and assaults against Muslim Americans.<\/p>\n
As the result of those investigations eighty five individuals
\nhad been indicted by local authorities, and eleven individuals
\nhad been charged at federal level.<\/p>\n
\"The point we wish to make is that Muslim Americans, Arab
\nAmericans, and Sikh Americans are part of our community, and we
\nwill aggressively investigate and prosecute anyone who seeks to
\nmake threats or takes action against those communities,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Concerning the possibility of the existence of Al-Qaeda
\nterrorist cells in the South East Asia region, Mueller said that
\nthe U.S. government, together with the countries in that region,
\nwere seeking to identify those individuals, and to assure that
\nthey did not and could not present a threat of additional
\nterrorist attacks.<\/p>\n
\"We had, in my mind, an exceptionally productive meeting. I
\nlook forward to additional meetings not only today or tomorrow
\nbut also in the future, perhaps in Washington DC.\"<\/p>\n
A similar tone of satisfaction over the result of the meeting
\nwas conveyed by Coordinating Minister for Political, Social, and
\nSecurity Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.<\/p>\n
\"I have described our policy, strategy, and operational steps
\nin dealing with the international terrorism issue. The National
\nPolice chief has also explained in great detail our concrete
\nmeasures, and I am under the impression that the United States
\nunderstands that Indonesia is, and will keep, working seriously
\nto address that issue,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Susilo stressed that the United States government did not ask
\nthe Indonesian government to fulfill certain sets of requirements
\nor conditions in order to show that Indonesian was serious in
\ncombating international terrorism.<\/p>\n
\"I refute the allegation that Indonesia did nothing to fight
\ninternational terrorism, but I have to explain that we have very
\ncomplicated domestic problems, which we must deal with
\nsimultaneously.\"<\/p>\n
Besides terrorism, those problems included communal conflicts,
\nseparatism, and law and order enforcement, he said.<\/p>\n
Susilo said that international cooperation in the
\nwar against terrorism must be based on a mutual understanding
\nthat each country had different legal systems, laws, and domestic
\nmechanisms to cope with the terrorism threat.<\/p>",
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