29 January 2002
Transcript: Adm. Blair Praises Counterterrorism Efforts in SE Asia
(Cites arrests in Singapore, U.S. troops in Philippines) (4650)
The commander-in-chief of U.S. forces in the Pacific (CINCPAC) praised
counterterrorism efforts in Southeast Asia, citing Singapore's recent
arrests of suspected terrorists and the presence of U.S. troops in the
Philippines, but stressed that countries must "bear down even more,
work harder, cooperate more, pursue the intelligence."
"One area I think we need to understand a lot more about is the
connection between international terrorism, illegal migration, drug
smuggling, piracy," Admiral Dennis Blair said in a January 28
interview with Channel News Asia in Singapore.
"We need to overcome some of the suspicions between and among our
countries which sort of keep us from cooperating against this new
threat," the admiral continued.
Blair said the recent arrests of suspected terrorists in Singapore has
made the Pacific Command feel safer, but added that "we can't stop
right here."
"[Singapore] Prime Minister Goh himself has said that there's more to
do in terms of continuing to pursue these terrorist organizations to
make sure Singapore and this whole part of the world is even safer,"
he said.
In general, Blair said, a new, proactive approach to combating
terrorism has made the world safer.
"I think after September 11th, we and many other countries of the
region have gone over onto the offense. Most dramatically in
Afghanistan, as everybody has seen, but I think Singapore's actions,
the actions within the United States, we aggressively arrested
terrorists and interrogated them for cells, have made a difference,"
he said.
Blair downplayed the proactive nature of the mission of U.S. troops
being deployed in the Philippines to assist the Philippine government
in combating Abu Sayyaf terrorists. "There's no question that this is
a Philippine operation. They're in charge," he said. "It's Philippines
units with Philippine officers under Philippine control with U.S.
advisors in the advisory role."
"It's also important to remember that this didn't start just
yesterday," Blair noted. He mentioned that the United States trained a
Philippine company to be more effective in hostage situations
approximately a year ago, and he said he anticipates the United States
will be providing more of such training.
When asked how long he expected U.S. troops to be stationed in the
Philippines, Blair replied: "I would say that it's going to be months
but not years."
Blair said the United States and Indonesia "are cooperating on
international terrorism," but added that U.S.-Indonesia military
relations will remain very much reduced "until the Indonesian armed
forces do a better job of the accountability standards which are
really expected of modern armed forces."
Following is the CINCPAC transcript of the event:
(begin transcript)
UNITED STATES PACIFIC COMMAND
TRANSCRIPT
Adm. Dennis C. Blair
Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command
Interview - Channel News Asia
Singapore
January 28, 2002
Adm. Blair: Glad to be here.
Question: Admiral, there is speculation that the war on terrorism was
going to be directed at Sudan and Iraq but it seems to have shifted to
Southeast Asia. Why is that?
Adm. Blair: I think the first thing is that Afghanistan was probably a
unique first phase of the war. There we had a government that was
actively assisting, providing sanctuary for an international terrorist
organization and military means were most appropriate there. I think
if you look around the rest of the world, particularly in our part of
the world, you don't see governments who are like the Taliban
government really actively supporting the international terrorist
organizations. So this next phase of the war I think is going to be
much more a case of cooperating with countries in order to root out
the terrorist infrastructure and terrorist organizations that are
there. And virtually all other governments, certainly in our part of
the world, are much more cooperative in that area. And the U.S. will
primarily be involved in assisting those countries in ways that we can
help -- those countries working with each other. Because I think we
recognize this is really a common scourge.
Question: Right. So would you say that the [war] has moved to
Southeast Asia now?
Adm. Blair: I'd say it's really moved worldwide, not just to Southeast
Asia. Other countries you mentioned, I don't have day-to-day
information because they're not really in my part of the world. But as
I talk with my colleagues I know that the government of Yemen is
taking action against terrorists in this organization and has received
some assistance from the United States. There are conversations going
on with the government of Sudan for us to take action. So I think it's
wrong to think that chapter one was Afghanistan, chapter two is here,
chapter three is here. I think what you're seeing are a bunch of
simultaneous actions really suited to the particular country or the
particular region. But Southeast Asia is certainly a region in which
there are international terrorist organizations. The countries of the
region are working effectively against them, cooperatively.
Question: So the recent arrests in Singapore and the breakup of the
organization. How has that impacted your command, the Pacific Command?
Adm. Blair: It's made us feel safer, frankly, because we have a lot of
our forces that come through here for visits. For example here in
Singapore we had a carrier battle group scheduled to visit in late
December; also one of our amphibious ready groups with a Marine
expeditionary force on board. The Singapore government made that
series of arrests in December, and when we took a look at that we
figured that Singapore was even safer than it had been before. We went
ahead with those port visits. The sailors who were here I talked to
later, they had a great visit. They felt they were safe. So it's
affected us positively. But I think we can't stop right here. Prime
Minister Goh himself has said that there's more to do in terms of
continuing to pursue these terrorist organizations to make sure
Singapore and this whole part of the world is even safer.
Question: What is the U.S. role for Singapore?
Adm. Blair: Singapore is one of our strong supporters across a wide
range of factions. As you know we have a very small number of forces
who are actually here. They're all in terms of support, but our
carrier battle groups stop here on the way. They're able to tie up at
that wonderful new pier at Changi which Singapore built, and enables
the sailors to be alongside a pier and not have to be out in a
man-of-war anchorage. It means that we can do maintenance and
transfers much more effectively there. When I landed at Paya Labar
Airfield I saw another U.S. airplane that was on the ramp there in
Singapore. It helps us as we move through the region to go on to other
places. I think something that a lot of people don't know about is
that we cooperate very well with the Singapore armed forces in terms
of high technology aspects. Singapore has a very small but very highly
technologically proficient armed forces and we work with them on some
pretty cutting edge military technology applications which are in both
of our interests.
Question: Would you say collaboration has been stepped up?
Adm. Blair: I'd say, if I had to characterize it, it's not new but
it's more intense in the areas. And in the area of combatting
terrorism they have really stepped up.
Question: I'm sure you had a chance to view the tape that was found --
Adm. Blair: Yes, I did.
Question: How do you react to the tape?
Adm. Blair: I react to that as sort of a suspicions confirmed. There
are people out there who are actually making tactical plans against,
to take actions which would cause damage both to American sailors and
to our Singapore hosts in this country and it just makes we think we
have to redouble our efforts to find them and take them out of action
before they can hurt our people.
Question: What are you doing?
Adm. Blair: We, it's important to recognize that even before this tape
we had the USS Cole attacked in Yemen. Before that, in Khobar Towers,
Saudi Arabia, there was a truck bomb that blew up about 20 airmen who
were stationed there. In between there was the attack on the U.S.
embassies in Dar es Salaam and in Nairobi. So the armed forces of the
United States and our official embassies and all have taken a lot of
action to defend themselves. Putting bigger fences, standoff
distances. I know anybody coming to our embassy here in Singapore has
to sort of run a gauntlet unfortunately that we have to now that we
didn't do before. So we were emphasizing protective measures pretty
well. I think after September 11th we and many other countries of the
region have gone over onto the offense. Most dramatically in
Afghanistan, as everybody has seen, but I think Singapore's actions,
the actions within the United States, we aggressively arrested
terrorists and interrogated them for cells, have made a difference.
And I think that we're all safer because our countries are going on
the offensive ourselves now, not just waiting back behind a big wall
or more standoff distances.
Question: So being more proactive.
Adm. Blair: I think being more proactive makes us safer.
Question: Here in Singapore, are there concrete steps that we've taken
to really set up security of American facilities as well?
Adm. Blair: We've done some things internally in terms of our
procedures, the way we provide inner security, we call it, where we
have responsibility. Also talking with our Singapore counterparts and
friends here we see increased Singapore security. I was happy to see
my security here yesterday at Paya Labar as I made my way up to the
gate. More guards, more barbed wire, more careful procedures. Those
sorts of protective measures have been stepped up by -- And they are
Singapore's responsibility, and they're not cheap. Every time you see
one soldier out there on patrol there are five behind him in order to
maintain that security. So we see Singapore taking those aspects.
We've done some things within our ships in terms of our policies to
make ourselves a tougher target. The net effect, plus the offensive
actions, have been to I think make us all safer.
Question: Admiral, moving on to the Philippines. By February you will
have 650 U.S. troops for training?
Adm. Blair: That's a rough number, but it will vary.
Question: What exactly will be the role of the U.S. troops?
Adm. Blair: Combating terrorist insurgent groups like the Abu Sayyaf
Group is a complex operation. You need equipment, you need
intelligence, you need training, you need good tactical doctrine and
so on. Our effort is to assist the Philippines in that area. There's
no question that this is a Philippine operation. They're in charge.
Everything that we bring is in support of their actions. It's also
important to remember that this didn't start just yesterday. About a
year ago we trained a Philippine company to be more effective in
hostage situations and that company is operating in the Philippines.
Question: The light reaction company.
Adm. Blair: The light reaction company, the LRC. It's up to the
Philippines, but I anticipate we may well be doing more of that sort
of training. We can provide intelligence, primarily technical
intelligence, in which we have advantages to complement the human
intelligence which is pretty well developed by the Philippines. You
bring those together you get a much better picture of what's going on.
We learned things in our operation against terrorist groups around the
world and our special forces soldiers who will be working with the
Philippines can bring to bear. The Philippines themselves of course
have learned a lot. They've been working there in Basilan and Jolo and
so on for months themselves.
Question: But for all of the decade the government has not been able
to stamp out the Abu Sayyaf.
Adm. Blair: Uh huh.
Question: So a question with the U.S. troops or U.S. intelligence or
expertise can actually combat this?
Adm. Blair: I think we have pretty smart, flexible, a lot of good
people who learn pretty quickly and are generally pretty effective. In
Afghanistan, for example, I can't tell you how many people came up to
me before that happened and said Admiral, nobody can win in
Afghanistan. Look at the British, look at the Soviets. That's just a
pit that you'll never be able to be effective in. Right now you see in
the Philippines, "remember General Pershing, remember the years
earlier." My feeling is there's a renewed sense of urgency on the part
of the Philippines. The international terrorist threat to all of us
has given a new impetus to it. We've got smart soldiers who are very
adaptive and they can, working with their Philippine comrades in arms
who in my observation are also very good soldiers, can win this thing.
Question: Is the edge technology, then Admiral?
Adm. Blair: Certainly the U.S. has a technological edge but it's
really not just owning the technology, it's using the technology. In
Afghanistan, for example, you probably saw that wonderful picture of a
special operations soldier on a donkey calling in with a satellite to
B-52 airstrikes. It's blending technology with performance. The other
thing that's very important in the Philippines, and Mrs. Arroyo said
it very eloquently, it's a war on terrorism and a war on poverty. We
in uniform cannot finally solve problems like the ones in the southern
Philippines. It has to be economic development, social development,
along with a better security region in order to be effective over the
long term. So a big part of the Philippines program is not just going
down with military forces but it's bringing in economic development to
the people that will have some better life.
Question: We have both heard the accusations that the U.S. troops are
coming to the Philippines through the back door in the guise of
training. Because if you had come in on a combat role that would be
against constitutional restrictions. So you come in to train. How
would that really work? Is the U.S. actually going to patrol with the
Filipino troops? How would that work, Admiral?
Adm. Blair: The U.S. troops that accompany Philippine commanders go as
advisors to that commander. They are not running the show. The
Philippine commanders make the decisions. They can ask for assistance.
Question: But they have the right to self-defense.
Adm. Blair: Yeah. I mean if you're caught in a firefight as a part of
the team you help return fire with the people around you. But we're
not having U.S. units under U.S. control fighting. It's Philippines
units with Philippine officers under Philippine control with U.S.
advisors in the advisory role.
Question: But you would expect some sort of confrontation. Would the
modus operandi be going to look for the hideouts, and obviously there
will be some confrontations and exchange of fire? Would that be the
MO?
Adm. Blair: It will depend. You do have to anticipate that there will
be, there has been shooting in Basilan in the past and I don't imagine
it will all stop, so the U.S. soldiers will be with the command
elements of the Philippine units and they will be participating in
that command element.
Question: But is that where the decision actually -- that point would
be hard to determine whether there should be Filipinos, should be U.S.
troops (inaudible) a single platoon.
Adm. Blair: Right.
Question: So in that sense you could say the U.S. troops will be
playing more than a training role, but a combat role?
Adm. Blair: I think you'll find that really the key is who's in
charge. Who is giving the commands. That is clearly the Philippine
chain of command. Let me set the numbers in perspective for you. For
example, a Philippine battalion will have maybe 600 people. Assigned
as advisors to that battalion will be on the order of 10 or a dozen
people working with the command element primarily. So we don't have
U.S. soldiers out in fire teams making assaults here. We have U.S.
soldiers advising the command element of the 600 person battalion. Now
if that command element where the U.S. advisors are located somehow
gets involved in a firefight, then the U.S. soldiers do what the
Philippine officers and soldiers on the left and right of them are
doing. But it's not that U.S. soldiers are being used as any sort of
an assault element or leading element. They're part of this larger
Philippine structure which has the responsibility. So maybe I'm
missing the point here, but for those of us who are involved in it
it's very clear what the rules are, it's very clear what the rules of
engagement are, and it's agreed by both governments and it keeps the
Philippines in charge of this problem which is what President Arroyo
wants and intends to do.
Question: Will this fight be extended to, against the Islamic
Liberation Front as well? Do you see that happening?
Adm. Blair: Our advisors are against and supporters are against the
Abu Sayyaf Group not against the MOR Islamic Liberation Front
Question: And on roughly January 26th at the Exercise Cope Tiger
opening ceremony in Singapore a U.S. official is quoted as saying that
the U.S. is ready to do whatever it needs to do should Asian countries
request help in fighting terrorism. How far will the U.S. go in
helping Asia fight terrorism?
Adm. Blair: Well, that was a nice forward-leaning statement by that
particular official, and we know what he's saying. This is a common
fight; that we are all threatened and we all have to contribute as
much as we can to making our own citizens safe and those of our
partners in this coalition. But the practical matter as we go into
each of these situations the governments confer, they decide what is
appropriate. We work out questions like the one we just discussed of
how would forces be used and who would be in charge and what would be
effective, and then we make a plan together. I anticipate that that
would continue. I think that what we feel is a primary responsibility
is of the governments concerned. It's not up to the United States to
go into countries --
Question: So you would be invited?
Adm. Blair: We would be supporting in cooperation with the governments
concerned, yeah.
Question: Actually if Indonesia -- Some have said that Indonesia has
seemed to be, because of all the political considerations, has been a
bit tardy in responding to terrorist arrests and interests. President
Bush has said, in what the White House calls its Bush Doctrine, we
will not make a distinction between the terrorists who committed these
acts and those who harbor them. We have to force countries to choose.
If Indonesia continues to be slow in this anti-terrorism war, would
the U.S. make Indonesia choose?
Adm. Blair: No, President Megawati has visited Washington and talked
with President Bush about our common efforts. I was in Indonesia last
month talking with Indonesian officers about it. I think we both share
the same goals against international terrorism. As you know, there is
some lively debate about to what extent the Indonesian groups within
Indonesia are tied with Afghanistan and al Qaeda and so on, and you
get statements from the Indonesia group leaders that are sort of
ambiguous themselves. You know, "I admire Osama bin Laden but I don't
have any connection with him." So that whole swirl of debate is going
on and it's a little confusing. But I think that the Indonesians
recognize, and this is what I found during my visit, they have a big
country lots of islands, lots of borders, lots of different groups
within the country, and maintaining order within their country from a
whole series of challenges is tough, whether it be controlling
sectarian violence in Sulawesi or an insurgent movement in Aceh or
whether it's taking care of illegal immigrants who come from Iraq all
the way down on their way to Australia. So I think the Indonesians
recognize that they've got a tough challenge of controlling what's
going on in their country. International terrorism is an aspect which
is one more threat and I think they're working on it.
Question: Was there already a plan with respect to this in terms of
U.S. presence?
Adm. Blair: In terms of U.S. what?
Question: Military presence in Indonesia. Is there a plan in place
already?
Adm. Blair: We're talking with the Indonesians about this all the
time. Our military relations with Indonesia are very much reduced
after East Timor. They went into a very minimal area. We still have a
small number of exercises with them. We still talk in multilateral
conferences. We still have visits. As I say, I went to Indonesia. But
it certainly is not what it was several years ago and it really won't
be until the Indonesian armed forces do a better job of the
accountability standards which are really expected of modern armed
forces. That being said, we are cooperating on international
terrorism, cooperating on individual things which are in our interest
are important and we're pursuing some of those.
Question: What is the hardest thing about this war for you?
Adm. Blair: The hardest thing is the illusive enemy. What it really
calls for is great cooperation with law enforcement, with
intelligence, with customs, with aviation authorities. Within each
government you have to get those entities together in order to be able
to move effectively and quickly across traditional organizational
boundaries. Then you have to, with other countries, have the same
sorts of connections. So it really require unprecedented cooperation.
And I think both within our countries and certainly among our
countries and between our countries this requires a degree of
flexible, open communication and action that we haven't seen before.
And the things that the enemy demands of these terrorists, as you've
seen from the ones that have been shown in the Singapore papers, they
buy a plane ticket, they come in, they buy explosives, they leave, and
they do this all in a few days, then they can pose a threat to our
citizens. We have got to be able to move information around our
countries, among our agencies, take quick action, stop them, grab them
in ways that are just new to all of us. So it's that type of speed,
communications, cooperation that I think will challenge all of us.
Question: Are there any particular needs of the U.S. in this war
against terrorism? A case in point, the detainees at Guantanamo, have
been declared by President Bush that they are not prisoners of war but
the Geneva convention demands that, the tribunal decides that on a
case by case basis. And to date the U.S. said that there won't be such
a tribunal. As a military officer, how do you react to the decision?
Adm. Blair: What I find in this war against terrorism is that our past
rules and our past practices provide a starting point for how we have
to approach this war but continual adaptation and rethinking is
necessary in order to be effective and we shouldn't let the terrorists
have sanctuary behind old rules any more than they should have
sanctuary behind other barriers. Now we can't turn our constitutions
upside down and turn our practices upside down and become countries
that sacrifice the things that have made us great in terms of our
traditions, but we've got to be very creative about taking action
against these people who in our case have killed 4,000 of our citizens
as well as citizens of 40-some-odd other countries, and they did that
with a relatively small number of people, a relatively small
expenditure of money, and they could do it again unless we are very
aggressive and very ruthless against them.
Question: Do you feel this decision by President Bush jeopardizes U.S.
troops in the sense that other countries could say that if the U.S. is
not complying with the Geneva Convention then why should I, and
therefore why should I report the Americans that are captive in my
country?
Adm. Blair: There's clearly a difference between a U.S. serviceman in
a uniform like this trained and disciplined the way our forces are and
most of the people in Guantanamo. I think most people recognize that.
Question: Admiral Blair, about yourself before we end, how do you
juggle all this? I mean you have a family yourself, and you travel 40
percent of the time, and you make all these visits. What's your day
like?
Adm. Blair: The main thing I have is a lot of good help. That's my
main asset. A wonderful staff who does most of the work. And then a
tremendous group of allies and partners that I can work with. So it's
fun talking with a country like Singapore. If we can agree on the
general directions then the great people who work in our armed forces
around the world will take care of the details. So I try to stay
concentrating on the big questions, knowing that the well trained, the
dedicated people will make it all happen, so that's my secret
Question: And this new war, is there one thing that really makes a
difference about how you do your job, what would that be?
Adm. Blair: I think the, as I mentioned, I'd say it's, unprecedented
cooperation is going to be the key to success and I try to set that
tone and that way of approaching it, that's the way I work. I find
some people who work for me and who work for others do it even better
than I had imagined and that's how we win. That's how these things
happen. I think the example of this sequence of events here in
Singapore and in Malaysia, the Philippines. In the last month it's
really illustrated that, the comparison of intelligence, the actions
that were taken made things safe for both American sailors and for
Singaporians.
Question: Are you happy with the way things are progressing?
Adm. Blair: I am happy but not satisfied.
Question: What do you think you need to do?
Adm. Blair: I think we need go bear down even more, work harder,
cooperate more, pursue the intelligence. One area I think we need to
understand a lot more about is the connection between international
terrorism, illegal migration, drug smuggling, piracy. I have a feeling
that these shadowy activities, many of which in this part of the world
are unfortunately going on, have connections which we don't
understand. We need to bear down until we can understand them. I think
we need to overcome some of the suspicions between and among our
countries which sort of keep us from cooperating against this new
threat. We need to do more of that. So there's plenty of work to do.
Question: How long do you expect to be in the Philippines? Troops to
be in the Philippines in the fight against Abu Sayyaf?
Adm. Blair: Pardon?
Question: How long?
Adm. Blair: I would say that it's going to be months but not years.
Question: What is the timeframe for this war against terrorism?
Adm. Blair: I would say years but not months.
Question: Admiral Blair, thank you very much for being here.
Adm. Blair: Thank you very much.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
