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.