29 January 2002
Transcript: EU Counter-Terrorism Efforts Superb, State's Taylor Says
(Jan. 29: Amb. Francis X. Taylor press roundtable in Brussels) (4280)
European Union efforts to combat terrorism since September 11 have
been "superb," Ambassador Francis X. Taylor, U.S. coordinator for
counter-terrorism, said during a press roundtable in Brussels January
29.
Taylor, who was in Belgium for two days of meetings with EU and NATO
officials, said that it was now time for the United States and the
European Union to build on the excellent cooperation already achieved
by dealing with extradition matters and improving the exchange of
intelligence and law enforcement information.
The United States and the EU's police office Europol signed an initial
cooperation agreement in December 2001 that aims to facilitate
cooperation on serious international crimes such as terrorism. "We
have other areas we want to move forward on now ... in terms of the
second agreement on Europol that allows the exchange of personal data
and completing other discussions on mutual cooperation on criminal
justice and matters of extradition," Taylor explained.
The real threat remains Usama Bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network,
he said, emphasizing that it is not known what impact the arrests,
detentions and military operations have had on the organization's
ability to commit further terrorist attacks.
"The al Qaeda still exists in about 50 countries around the world, and
we still need to work very diligently with our law enforcement and
intelligence partners around the world to identify and interdict those
cells," he said. "The one thing the world can't do is think that
because we have been militarily successful in Afghanistan that we have
solved the problem of al Qaeda as a significant threat to
international peace through terrorism."
Taylor said the United States believes that intelligence, law
enforcement and especially financial cooperation will provide the
long-term success against global terrorist organizations like al
Qaeda.
"The work is not over," he said. "There is still a lot to be done, but
we are confident of our eventual victory."
Asked about the condition of al Qaeda and Taliban detainees being held
at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Taylor replied:
"The United States has treated every detainee consistent with the
provisions of the Geneva Convention since they have come under U.S.
control. And they have been treated humanely, which has been the
U.S.'s way of doing business in any conflict that we have been
involved in."
Following is a transcript of the press roundtable:
(begin transcript)
PRESS ROUNDTABLE WITH AMBASSADOR FRANCIS X. TAYLOR, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
STATE COORDINATOR FOR COUNTERTERRORISM
U.S. Mission to the European Union
Brussels, Belgium
January 29, 2002
AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Good morning, it is my pleasure to be here in sunny
Brussels. (laughter) As was mentioned I did have the opportunity this
morning to spend a couple of hours with the PSC [the EU's Political
and Security Committee] to update them on the campaign against
terrorism. Some of you will recall that I was here on the third of
October [2001], and initially did a presentation to the PSC on the
nature of the campaign, the threat and how we had assessed al Qaeda as
the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. So this was a follow-up, some
four months later into the campaign. My presentation was very well
received in the sense of a continuing consultation with our EU
colleagues on the global campaign. The (EU) Presidency expressed
continued solidarity, continued with the President, and the campaign
as we progress further on. I guess with that, I can take your
questions.
QUESTION: Ambassador, I would like to take you back to last month, you
were in Beijing, you spoke then of setting up a joint U.S.-Chinese
financial terrorism working group. You also said that the Chinese
would give consideration to allowing you to open an FBI office in
Beijing. And one of the things you mentioned there was that people
from Western China, presumably Muslim separatists, had been arrested
in Afghanistan, and presumably are still being held. I wonder if you
could elaborate on these three points.
TAYLOR: Certainly, President Bush and President Jiang Zemin met in
Shanghai and part of their discussion in Shanghai was an agreement to
have a counter-terrorism dialogue, first at an experts level, which
occurred very shortly after that meeting, and then with the successful
conclusion of that, a discussion at an ambassadorial level, which was
why I was in Beijing in December.
The two things that came out of that were: one, an agreement with the
Chinese that we would exchange information among experts on the
challenges we face in terms of financial intelligence, financial
crimes investigations as it refers to terrorism. That group is
scheduled to come to Washington, either late February or early March
in the following-on from that agreement.
We have not gotten a final decision from the Chinese on the issue of
the FBI Legatt [Legal Attache] office but certainly there was a clear
indication in December that they were favorably considering that. I
believe that when Vice Foreign Minister Li comes to Washington in
February, we will have a final positive answer on that aspect of our
discussion. Finally, I did indicate that there had been Chinese
Uighurs that had been captured in the fighting in Afghanistan. I
assume that they still are in detention in Afghanistan, but beyond
that I am not sure of what their status is.
Q. How many?
TAYLOR: I am sorry, I can't comment on that.
Q: Ambassador, can you tell us how you assess the efforts made by the
Europeans in the fight against terrorism, and if I may go from the
fight of terrorism to the Middle East. How do you understand the
position of the Europeans vis-a-vis the Palestinian Authority and the
affair of the Karine A?
TAYLOR: First, I think the efforts of the European Union have been
superb since 9/11 and have certainly been very consistent with the
call of our President for all who joined the campaign to lean forward
in executing whatever is necessary in order to improve the capacity of
the world to take on international terrorism. And we think that is a
very positive development and we have other areas we want to move
forward on now that we have made the initial move with the EU in terms
of the second agreement on Europol that allows the exchange of
personal data and completing other discussions on mutual cooperation
on criminal justice and matters of extradition which we believe will
further cement the excellent cooperation that we have. It is all about
continuing to build capacity to exchange information, law enforcement
information, that is so critical in our fight against terrorism.
With regard to the Middle East peace process, that is not a portfolio
that I monitor on a day-to-day basis. So it would really be
inappropriate given the fact that I have been on the road for the last
few days to even have a guess or a comment on that, so I prefer to
deflect that to Washington and have them address that.
Q: Have there been any investigations or follow-ups into the Saudi
religious community after the release of that video in December, there
were specific names of sheiks, is that part of the portfolio, part of
the investigations that the U.S. is leading?
TAYLOR: I don't generally comment at all on specific investigative or
intelligence matters that our government or coalition partners are
engaged in. I can only say rather definitively that we are following
every lead that gets us back to al Qaeda.
Q: What are you expecting from the EU in terms of agreement on
judicial cooperation, extradition, Europol, or are you linked enough
with the individual EU countries? And if I could ask a second
question, did you talk this morning with the PSC on questions of the
detention of the prisoners in Guantanamo?
TAYLOR: First, I have already mentioned the areas that we are
continuing our dialogue with the EU on. We have bilateral relations
with all the members of the EU on extradition and judicial
cooperation, and in the case of several, about half of the EU
countries, we have mutual legal assistance treaties. So certainly we
want to continue our bilateral discussions on these areas with the
bilateral members as well as the EU in general with hopes of
continuing to build capacity to exchange information that helps us on
both sides of the Atlantic being more effective in our law enforcement
and judicial efforts as we focus them on terrorism.
I did, as a part of my briefing today, discuss the detainees in
Guantanamo to give our colleagues an update on their status. What I
told the PSC this morning was the fact that our government has decided
that these individuals are unlawful combatants, not prisoners of war.
However, they have been since their detention and will continue to be
treated in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention.
And they have always been treated humanely, which is the American way.
We put great stock in the humane treatment of all individuals, and
these detainees have been treated in that manner since they were
brought under U.S. control.
Q: Ambassador, after September 11, you are now in Brussels for a
second time, what do you now see as the main threat in this continuing
war against terrorism? And secondly, do you really think the PSC has
the tools to deal with counter-terrorism?
TAYLOR: Well, the real threat remains al Qaeda ...
Q: And in Europe, if you could specifically, focus on Europe, how you
see it in Europe?
TAYLOR: I think it is clear that despite the great success of our
military operations in Afghanistan, and our decapitation of the
Taliban, our destruction of the al Qaeda training facilities, the fact
that we placed much of their leadership on the run, the al Qaeda still
exists in about 50 countries around the world, and we still need to
work very diligently with our law enforcement and intelligence
partners around the world to identify and interdict those cells.
The fact that there have been many arrests, Britain, France, Belgium,
Spain, I cannot remember them all, Singapore, Malaysia, of al Qaeda
operatives since September 11, I think is a real indicator of the
continual threat that al Qaeda presents in nations around the world. I
think also the arrest of Mr. Reid, the individual with the explosives
in his shoe on the flight from Paris to Miami, is another indicator of
the fact that there are al Qaeda operatives out there with plans to
continue their terrorism whether or not they get direction from Bin
Laden, his lieutenants, or they operate independently.
I would remind you also that if you were to follow the Ressam case,
that is the individual who was arrested crossing from Canada to attack
the Los Angeles International Airport, that is available in the court
record. Ressam was trained in Afghanistan, sent back to Canada and
told to pick his own target. Essentially, he chose to attack LAX and
then through petty crime and other sorts of things developed the
finances to allow himself to do that.
So you have the kind of 9/11 attack but you also have the folks like
Reid and Ressam. I'm not going to get into the Reid investigation, but
the fact is we know that al Qaeda has trained people and sent them out
as kind of freelance guys to do their own thing once they have been
trained. We assess them to still be out there. The one thing the world
can't do is think that because we have been militarily successful in
Afghanistan that we have solved the problem of a Qaeda as a
significant threat to international peace through terrorism.
Q: And the PSC? Given that it's quite young in its instruments and the
availability of them, and [Javier] Solana [the High Representative of
the EU for the Common Foreign and Security Policy] mentioned, I think
back in October or November, although (inaudible) more
intelligence-gathering unit of the PSC. Do you think in the current
setup the PSC is capable of helping or facilitating or being involved
in counter-terrorism?
TAYLOR: Well it's probably inappropriate of me to assess the
capability of any institution that is a part of the EU. I mean that is
not my job. I certainly left today's meeting with the conviction or
the belief that the PSC is focused on improving capability. And any
organization that is focused on improving capability has to be a very
important tool in our worldwide effort to improve capability around
the world. But I am not in the assessment business of the EU so that
would be inappropriate for me to do.
Q: About the other organization, NATO, which has become really quiet
lately: What is your assessment of the role of NATO, what can they do?
TAYLOR: Certainly, as I did in October, when my briefing led to the
NATO decision to invoke Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, I returned
yesterday and provided the North Atlantic Council and the PJC with an
update on the campaign. I think [NATO] Secretary General Robertson
said it best and I think all military organizations in light of
today's threat have to assess whether they are organized and have the
capability to really handle the asymmetrical threat that we face as a
community from terrorists and terrorist-like organizations. And so I
think it is appropriate for NATO to be involved in the deliberations
that they are involved in, in assessing their capability and where
they need to improve or enhance capability to meet the threat. And
certainly that is where the Secretary General is leading NATO and with
hopefully good results in the end. There is a military role in
countering terrorism. And certainly as an alliance that is formed to
protect the interests of the nations that are members of the alliance,
the military wing of that alliance needs to consider its future
capability and roles in providing the military capability that is
required when needed to take on that threat.
Q: Could you speak a little bit about the talks with the EU on forging
closer links, particularly on Europol and the data protection
problems? And also are there any moves on intelligence sharing on a
EU-U.S. level, and on judicial assistance - do you want an extradition
treaty with the EU or just judicial assistance? I mean, how ambitious
are (inaudible)?
TAYLOR: We are looking to expand cooperation. We are focused on a
dialogue that helps improve cooperation. Cooperation is great today,
but cooperation can even be better as we work through the two systems:
the EU privacy laws and concerns as relates to how that information is
used within our own country; the extradition concerns the EU has in
extraditing people to the United States. And we can work through those
things. So that is our focus, it is to try to work through the issues
that could impact improved cooperation. And that in no way means that
cooperation is not good. It just means that it can be better. And that
is where our focus is, both judicial law enforcement and extradition.
We have extradition treaties with all the members of the EU and so
certainly on a bilateral basis that is a tool that we use every day.
We would like to see that perhaps expanded to a EU-wide extradition
treaty as another means of improving cooperation. So that is where we
are trying to go.
Let's go over here. Yes sir?
Q: You mentioned Guantanamo Bay. As you know, a number of EU
countries, including the UK, has said it would like its nationals held
in Guantanamo Bay to be tried in the UK. What is the position on that?
Have you reached a position on that, or when do you expect to?
TAYLOR: I don't know and I have been on travel for the last few days,
so I am not sure where our government is in its deliberations on that.
So it would be inappropriate for me to speculate. British officials
have been allowed to visit their detainees at Guantanamo and it is our
hope that in time, other governments will also have the opportunity to
visit their detainees. But this position of detainees has not been
determined as of this point that I am aware of.
Q: If I may follow up on Guantanamo problem. Mr. Solana mentioned last
week that the important thing concerning this problem was just to
comply with Geneva Convention rules. Does the United States share that
view?
TAYLOR: The United States has treated every detainee consistent with
the provisions of the Geneva Convention since they have come under
U.S. control. And they have been treated humanely, which has been the
U.S.'s way of doing business in any conflict that we have been
involved in. I think that speaks for itself.
Q: Ambassador, you pointed out there are signs of continuing threats
by al Qaeda cells. Do you have any signs for Europe? Can you point out
this?
TAYLOR: I cannot go into the specifics of where specifically al Qaeda
cells are located and that sort of thing, except to say that I think
you can derive from the arrests that are ongoing right now that there
are al Qaeda sympathizers, al Qaeda operatives still in Europe and
that their job isn't finished yet. And we are continuing to work very
closely with our European law enforcement colleagues as we are working
with our law enforcement colleagues around the world to try to
identify these people.
Yet when we consider the campaign against terrorism, when the
President announced the campaign, there has been so much world focus
on the whole notion of the military operations, but what is lost quite
often is the fact that the President said that this would be a unique
campaign, synchronizing diplomatic, intelligence, law enforcement and
financial control efforts, around the world. It is the intelligence,
law enforcement and very particularly the financial cooperation, which
we believe is going to really provide the long-term success that we
will have against terrorist organizations like al Qaeda and others
that operate around the world. The work is not over. There is still a
lot to be done, but we are confident of our eventual victory using
that kind of cooperation and consolidation around the world.
Q: Ambassador, do you see any other organizations apart from al Qaeda
with a global reach without links to al Qaeda?
TAYLOR: Well, right now our focus is on al Qaeda and we don't want to
deflect our attention from Job 1 at this point in time by speculating
on other organizations that could have global reach or don't have
global reach. Al Qaeda is our focus of the campaign, and when we
finish with al Qaeda, we will consider where else we need to go next.
Yes sir?
Q: Speaking of cooperation, are you entirely happy with the
cooperation you are getting from the Arab countries, specifically
Saudi Arabia, in your quest for the al Qaeda?
TAYLOR: We have been very pleased with the support that we have gotten
from across the world from all of our coalition partners. We are
working very closely with our Saudi counterparts in this campaign and
to date have been quite pleased with their response. There is still a
lot more work to be done not only in Saudi Arabia, but across the
world. So we are never going to be satisfied totally with anything
until the campaign is won. But in terms of our working relationship
with our Middle East and other counterparts, we have been quite
pleased with the contribution of all countries that have joined the
coalition.
Q. How many al Qaeda operatives would you estimate there are still in
Europe and given that you have said that there are people who might do
acts of terrorism on their own, does that mean that it is less likely
that you might have a September 11 through our end?
TAYLOR: Less likely that we might have one ?
Q: Yes, this is less likely that they would be able to launch,...
TAYLOR: Well, what we don't know is what we don't know. We don't know
the impact of our arrests, of the detentions, of our military
operations on this network called al Qaeda. We know that they have
operatives, what we don't know is how the security changes that have
been laid in, we don't know what the law enforcement changes have
caused in terms of disrupting their capability to act. Their existence
and capability to act are two different things. We hope we have had a
very positive impact upon their capability to act with these very
broad law enforcement and military operations, but we don't know what
we don't know. We don't know if they won't try to attack.
Certainly, if you follow the al Qaeda modus operendi, they would have
an attack and they would be planning another attack. So it is our
assumption when they did 9/11, they had other attacks that they were
planning to execute. It is hard to tell as of right now the impact of
our campaign on disrupting those sorts of things. I am not intending
to create great panic and fears, it is just a statement of fact that
al Qaeda operates, or has operated in more than 50 countries around
the world. There are still operatives out there that we are operating
against and yes, we assess that they could attack anywhere in the
world that they are currently operating in, including in the United
States. But we hope that our law enforcement and other efforts will
have a significant impact on their capability to do that, if they try
to do it.
Q. You said that the number of arrests in Europe were a barometer of
sorts of al Qaeda activity in Europe. The fact that there has not been
any high profile arrest, or any arrest that we know of Saudis, does
that mean that there is no activity in Saudi (Arabia). Is it not hard
to believe that so many of September 11 attackers were actually of
Saudi nationality. Yet, there have not been (any) arrests.... What...
TAYLOR: I do not comment on on-going investigations anywhere in the
world and won't speculate on locations for potential arrests or that
sort of thing, that would be inappropriate for me to do.
Q. Are there any concerns? Saudi (Arabia) doesn't seem to be a place
where there are active investigations going on.
TAYLOR: You are asking me a speculative question. You said, it doesn't
seem to be. I don't comment on on-going investigations involving our
partners around the world. I mentioned earlier that we are quite
satisfied with the responsiveness of our Saudi and Middle East
partners which are part of part of this campaign.
Q. And the religious leads. We don't think of the underpinnings as
much as we do of people who have the weapons. I hope I am not being
too philosophical here but for someone in a diplomatic role, are you
also addressing some of the religious underpinnings to al Qaeda?
TAYLOR: Well, whatever religious underpinnings al Qaeda has, we
believe they have hijacked Islam and have indeed blasphemed Islam as
providing a basis for this kind of evil that they perpetrated against
the world. That would be my answer. I am not sure what religious track
I would be following except to follow in the track of many Islamic
clerics who have said this is not Islam that supports this kind of
evil that al Qaeda has been involved in. Certainly, there is a sense
that terrorism has roots that need to be addressed but those roots are
many and people are worried about that as well. But as far as tracking
a specific religious track that is not something that we believe is
appropriate. As a matter of fact the religious community has spoken
out forcefully against al Qaeda's misuse of Islam as a rationale for
its activity.
I think I have time for maybe one more question.
Q. If I may come back to the Guantanamo question, you said that the
detainees are well protected by the Geneva Convention. How do you
explain that so many European governments seem not so convinced about
that? And secondly, as you know, many European countries will refuse
to extradite terrorists to the U.S. because the death penalty is still
in place in many U.S. states. Can you work around this extradition
issue?
TAYLOR: Well, we have worked on it for some time. In our bilateral
relationships with many countries we have been able to work through
the concerns that countries have about the death penalty and certain
agreements that our governments have made, government to government,
how certain persons will be handled and the judicial proceedings. The
death penalty has not necessarily been an impediment to our bilateral
extradition efforts with European countries. With regard to the
detainees at Guantanamo, what I said was that the detainees were being
treated consistent with the provisions of the Geneva Convention. I am
not sure whether it is appropriate for me to comment on the opinions
of some of our colleagues. The fact is, they are being treated
humanely and consistent with those provisions and that is the way it
is going.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for your time.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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