Global terror and security in the region

Global terror and security in the region

Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, United States

Last September, terrorists struck America's shores. But terrorism is no stranger to Asia. I still recall my own experience 16 years ago this month when a terrorist bomb, launched by an improvised mortar, struck the roof of my office in the American Embassy in Jakarta and landed in the courtyard. Fortunately, the fuse did not work so the bomb failed to spread its deadly load of nails and shrapnel. Almost simultaneously, the Japanese Embassy and the British Cultural Center were struck, while the Japanese Red Army terrorist who set up all three devices was on a plane out of the country.

Thanks to close cooperation between Japanese and Americans, he was eventually caught and tried and now serves a long sentence in an American jail. But fanatics like him later produced the much more serious attack on the Tokyo subway. And much worse can happen if the Al Qaeda terrorists who are plotting today in East Asia realize their evil aims. While New York and Washington may be thousands of miles away, the terrorists have Asia in their sights as well. I stand before you -- as someone who cares deeply about the future of this region -- to tell you in no uncertain terms that this scourge of terrorism threatens us all. It is a truly global threat, and we must respond forcefully, thoughtfully and decisively.

When evil of this magnitude is loose in the world, it will not stop until it has claimed the ultimate power of wrenching from people across the globe any sense of peace and security they now enjoy. Unchecked, this evil will spread. It threatens not only America. It threatens hundreds of millions of moderate Muslims in East Asia who are among the principal targets of the terrorists. And it threatens the fundamental dreams of freedom and tolerance and democracy that embody what the terrorists hate.

In the first volume of his memoirs, called The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill describes the events that combined to bring about the deadliest and costliest war the world has known. Churchill concluded: "There never was a war more easy to stop than that which has just wrecked what was left of the world from the previous struggle."

Now, certainly no one would say that terrorists willing to lose their own lives will be easy to stop. But like the world between the two World Wars there are warning signs ... The signs tell us that as terrorists continue to murder innocents, their methods will only grow more deadly. It would be a mistake to think that we have seen either the last or the worst of such attacks; that they will strike only in the United States. A mistake, too, to think that a precision-guided airplane would be the deadliest bomb that terrorists would use, if they could get their hands on weapons that could kill thousands or even millions. How attractive they would find that. How efficient. How horrific. Through a great deal of cooperation and a very great deal of hard work by those dedicated to victory over terror, we can win this historic war against global terrorism.

We will never completely eradicate the threat posed by those who are willing to kill themselves to kill others. But there is much we can do: To preempt their actions; to keep them from acquiring the most deadly weapons ever invented; to expose the lies at the heart of their methods; to convince their potential followers that their path is a blind alley leading to defeat and ignominy. Unless we dissipate its energy, the gathering storm of terrorism will unleash its fury on us all.

Words are inadequate to describe how Americans experienced the fury of Sept. 11; how it affected the people of the United States, how it changed our day to-day life. We had long grown used to the idea that the oceans that embrace our shores somehow isolate us from the sort of violence that has been commonplace in other parts of the world. We were shocked into a stark reality on that September morning. Many people are still in shock.

Mothers and fathers now face a new reality -- being alert to danger, wondering if sporting events or American national holidays will be occasions for more evil. In short, the very liberty we had come to take for granted -- going where we wanted, doing what we wanted, when we wanted, living free from the fear of attack -- has been curtailed in ways that are very real to us.

And yet, we should not lose sight of the fact that when the World Trade Towers were brought down, people from some 80 nations were killed as well. And many of citizens of the Asia-Pacific region were lost that day: People from Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Russia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines are numbered among the victims. And those innocent victims were not only Christians and Jews. The dead included innocent Muslims too.

This global attack requires a global response, and we have received support from close to 70 nations. The commitment of our allies and partners demonstrates that we are not alone in this defense of freedom and justice and peace. And, as President Bush said in his State of the Union address in January, our objective is greater than "eliminating threats and containing resentment. We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror."

President Bush also affirmed that we will continue to work with our coalition partners to thwart those states and their terrorist allies who seek even greater weapons of mass destruction to threaten peace in the world. "America," he went on to say, "will do what is necessary to ensure our nation's security. We'll be deliberate, yet time is not on our side ... The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons. Our war on terror is well begun," he said four months ago, "but it is only begun ..." "The price of indifference," he said, "would be catastrophic."

We've had wonderful support from our NATO allies in this campaign, including Britain and France. We have had great support from our partners in this region. Singapore, our gracious host country, has provided critical support for U.S. forces, and has also made tremendous strides in rounding up terrorists linked to al-Qaeda -- both here and in the region.

Japan's Self Defense Forces have refueled American and British ships, as well as a number of C-130s, and recently pledged to a six month extension of these efforts. Even more important, Japan has taken a leadership role in organizing the international effort to provide critically needed assistance for the reconstruction and economic development of Afghanistan. The U.S. is committed to helping Afghanistan become a viable nation that can provide for its own safety and security. We are grateful that many other nations see this an obligation -- not only to the people of Afghanistan, but to the world community as well.

Australia has once again proven to be one of our most reliable and militarily effective allies ... Korea has contributed key logistics support and has helped ferry humanitarian relief supplies for Afghanistan. Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo observed the unfortunate truth that "even terrorism [rides] the wave of globalization," adding that one of the means of fighting this development is for (the Asia-Pacific] "to cultivate deeper security relations." The Philippines has taken bold steps to contend with terrorist groups on its own soil, including the Abu Sayyaf Group, a terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda. And it has been a leader in the region in organizing multilateral cooperation against terrorism.

New Zealand has provided logistics and humanitarian support and its troops work alongside the multinational force now in Afghanistan.

Recent arrests in Malaysia, the Philippines and here in Singapore are encouraging signs of what individual countries can do. The recent tri-lateral counter-terrorism agreement between the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia gives us hope of even greater success as nations in the region work more closely together. We encourage other countries to see what they can do by themselves or by working with their neighbors.

China has supported our counter-terrorism efforts at the UN, and it has shared intelligence. It has pledged over US$100 million for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

This is just a partial list of what countries in this region have done to help in the war on terrorism. In doing so, they are not just helping us, but are also helping themselves. With our transatlantic partners and our NATO allies, whose efforts have also been indispensable to this on-going effort, we have a truly global response that can match the global threat.

The above is abbreviated from the writer's presentation on Saturday at the Asia Security Conference held by the International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia in Singapore. The talks took place from Friday to Sunday.