U.S. terrorism report dangles carrots

By Dave McIntyre

WASHINGTON (DPA): Naming "state sponsors of international terrorism" each year seems like an academic exercise, but the U.S. State Department's annual report released on Monday reflects how U.S. foreign policy is changing with diplomatic carrots dangled and sticks brandished.

On the surface, Patterns of Global Terrorism 1999 lists the same seven state sponsors of terrorism that have been excoriated in each annual review since 1993: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, Cuba and Sudan.

At the same time, the report warns that "the locus of terrorism directed against the United States continued to shift from the Middle East to South Asia."

This despite the absence of any state sponsors from South Asia. More ink is spilled describing Pakistan's support for Kashmiri militants and the Taliban's harboring of Osama bin Laden than on the terrorist activities sponsored by North Korea, Syria or Cuba.

Therein lies a diplomatic tale: U.S. relations with Pakistan have been steadily worsening, especially since last October's military coup against the civilian elected government.

President Bill Clinton's five-day visit to India in March, with a brief stopover in Pakistan, dramatically demonstrated Washington's new tilt toward New Delhi in relations with South Asia.

The terrorism report cites "credible reports" of "official Pakistani support for Kasmiri militant groups that engage in terrorism," including the Harakat ul-Mujahidin, the group implicated in last December's hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane. It also noted that Pakistan is one of only three countries with diplomatic ties to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"The United States repeatedly has asked Islamabad to end support to elements that conduct terrorist training in Afghanistan, to interdict travel of militants to and from camps in Afghanistan, to prevent militant groups from acquiring weapons, and to block financial and logistic support to camps in Afghanistan," the report states.

"In addition, the United States has urged Islamabad to close certain madrasses, or 'religious' schools, that actually serve as conduits for terrorism," it says.

Harsh words indeed. Yet Pakistan avoids being labeled a "state sponsor" of terrorism and slapped with U.S. trade sanctions by virtue of its long history as a Cold War ally in the region and its "mixed record" on terrorism -- the report includes a passing reference to "material cooperation" in counterterrorism efforts, particularly with "arrests and extraditions".

By contrast, the report praises India for taking "a number of steps against terrorism at home and abroad". Those include ratification of an international convention against terrorist bombings and creation of a U.S.-India counterterrorism working group.

The State Department report also dangled some carrots, most notably for North Korea, Syria and perhaps even Cuba in their efforts to be removed from the list.

"There have been encouraging signs recently suggesting that some countries are considering taking steps to distance themselves from terrorism," the report said.

"North Korea has made some positive statements condemning terrorism in all its forms."

Ambassador Michael Sheehan, the department's coordinator for counterterrorism and author of the report, spent a week in March berating North Korean diplomats about how they could improve relations with Washington and get off the terrorism list.

Those steps include extraditing five Japanese Red Army faction members accused in a 1970 hijacking and severing "low level" links to terrorist organizations, he said.

The terrorism list is one carrot in Washington's diplomatic enticement of Pyongyang. Others include the possibility of high- level visits and bilateral cooperation on regional issues.

With Syria, "A Middle East peace agreement necessarily would address terrorist issues and would lead to Syria being considered for removal from the list of state sponsors," the report said.

So far, however, that dangling carrot has not proved delicious enough to entice Syria back to the negotiating table with Israel.

Libya could be removed from the list only after cooperating fully with the trial of two suspects in the Pan Am 103 bombing and complying with United Nations resolutions, Sheehan said.

But that would only be a first step, and Washington would come up with other conditions, he said.

Cuba came in for muted criticism in the report, but Sheehan denied that it was kept on the list purely for domestic political reasons.

Cuba, while not actively involved in terrorism currently, maintains links to several terrorist groups and harbors fugitives, he said.

There were neither "encouraging signs" nor muted criticism in the U.S. report for Iran -- "the most active state sponsor of terrorism" -- Iraq or Sudan.

Iran actively supports Hezbollah and HAMAS in Lebanon, support Washington blames for helping to disrupt the Middle East peace process. Iraq provides support and safe haven to "various terrorist groups", including the Mujahadeen Khalq opposition force from Iran.

And Sudan serves as "a central hub for several" terrorist groups, including bin Laden's.

Some carrots can only go so far.