01 February 2002
Powell Pledges Continued Focus on Terror
(Affirms U.S. commitment to fighting global poverty) (620)
By Berta Gomez
Washington File Staff Correspondent
New York City -- The Bush administration remains focused on fighting
global terrorism and is prepared to take its campaign beyond
Afghanistan to nations that support terrorist activities, U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell says.
In February 1 remarks at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in New
York, Powell said the military campaign against terrorist elements in
Afghanistan "is only the beginning" of the initiative launched
following the September 11 attacks against the United States.
Nations that provide "aid, succor and support" to terrorists and
"states that proliferate weapons of mass destruction" are potential
targets, Powell said. "We can't just stop with a single terrorist or a
single terrorist organization; we have to go and root out the whole
system."
He also drew a connection between terrorism and the despair engendered
by extreme poverty. "We have to go after poverty," Powell said.
"We have to make sure that, as we fight terrorism using military means
and legal means and law enforcement and intelligence means and going
after financial infrastructure of terrorist organizations, we also
have to put hope back in the hearts of people," he said. "We have to
show people who might move in the direction of terrorism that there is
a better way."
The multinational effort to rebuild Afghanistan is driven in part by
the understanding that "terrorism really flourishes in areas of
poverty, despair, and hopelessness," Powell said.
The secretary of state made the comments during a WEF panel discussion
on burden sharing and coalition-building for a stable world. He and
other participants pointed to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a
key source of instability in the Middle East, and Powell affirmed the
Bush administration's continued engagement in the region to seek a
solution.
Powell pointed out that President Bush is the first U.S. president to
go to the United Nations to share a vision of the Middle East that
includes a state for the Palestinian people "by the name of Palestine,
living in peace and security next to Israel, a Jewish state."
At the same time, Powell made clear that U.S. officials "are spending
a lot of time" talking to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat
about the need to control violent elements that oppose a stable peace
with Israel -- particularly following Israel's capture of a ship laden
with weapons apparently destined for Palestinian groups.
The discovery of the ship was "a very damaging event." Powell said.
"We've asked Chairman Arafat to account for it, to do something about
it," and prevent such events in the future.
"We've asked Chairman Arafat to do something much more aggressive
about bringing under control those elements of Palestinian Authority
and other elements of the Palestinian society that conduct these
terrorist actions that will not allow us to move forward," Powell
said. He said that U.S. officials are simultaneously urging the
Israeli government to help stop the cycle of violence.
"The problem is that the level of violence has been so high that you
can't restore confidence, and you can't get a cease-fire in place," he
said.
Powell said the United States seeks and welcomes the support of other
countries and organizations that share the goal of Middle East peace.
Over the past year, U.S. officials have been in "constant"
communication with officials at the United Nations and around the
world to coordinate their efforts and "to try to give a consistent,
coherent message" on the Middle East, he said.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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