12 November 2002
Taylor Calls Jemaah Islamiya Terrorist Group
(Group has links with al Qaeda, is active in Southeast Asia) (1760)
Jemaah Islamiya is a terrorist organization that uses terrorist
tactics to impose its political vision on innocent people, according
to Francis Taylor, the coordinator for counterterrorism at the U.S.
Department of State.
In a November 8 news conference in Manila, the Philippines, Taylor
said Jemaah Islamiya has existed in the Southeast Asian region since
the mid-l990s.
The terrorist organization is active in Malaysia, Singapore,
Indonesia, and the Philippines, he added.
Taylor told reporters that the threat of terrorism is more than just a
threat to Americans because groups like al Qaeda, and adherents to al
Qaeda's philosophy, also target other people who stand in their way.
Although progress has been made in the struggle against international
terrorism, much still needs to be done against a "worldwide threat,"
he said.
In particular, Taylor cited the need for governments to build
anti-terrorism capabilities and pass laws to enable law enforcement to
"be more effective" against terrorists.
Following is a transcript of Taylor's November 8 press conference in
Manila:
(begin transcript)
Press Conference
with
Ambassador Francis X. Taylor
Makati Shangri-la Hotel
November 8, 2002
Q: How big is the threat of the Jemaah Islamiya to America? How much
of a source of worry is it? Nelly Sindayen from TIME magazine.
Taylor: We are very much concerned about the international terrorist
threat of which Jemaah Islamiya is part of -- an international
terrorist threat. That is why we designated them under the foreign
terrorist organization list. They have been very active in Southeast
Asia against both American and British, Australian, Indonesian,
Philippine, Malaysian and other authorities. And so, in that sense,
we're very much concerned about them. They're part of the global
threat that we're concerned with.
Q: Have you established links to the Al-Qaeda, Sir?
Taylor: There are links to Al-Qaeda and JI. But I'm not speaking
specifically about recent events that JI may or may not have been
involved in. We want the investigation in Bali to continue under the
very able leadership of the Indonesian police, and we want the
evidence to speak for itself. So, we won't jump to conclusions about
who is involved or the extent of that involvement until the evidence
speaks for itself.
Q: Sir, what do you think about the police generals of Indonesia who
said that the targets of the Bali bombings were Americans? Are you
concerned about the safety of Americans anywhere in Southeast Asia?
Taylor: I'm not familiar with those comments. Certainly we are
concerned about the safety of Americans anywhere in the world where
terrorist groups would target them. And clearly we have put out a
warning to Americans in Southeast Asia about the potential for
terrorist attack from many elements that may operate in this region.
Q: Do you have information that Al-Qaeda is funding Jemaah Islamiya
and to what extent?
Taylor: I'm not in a position, at this point, to go into specifics of
the relationship between JI and Al-Qaeda, except to say that there are
well known linkages between the two organizations and its leaders. And
that's the extent of my comments on that.
Q: Regarding MILF, what are your definite plans? Do you intend to
include them in the foreign terrorist organization list or other
terrorist organizations?
Taylor: We don't discuss publicly our intentions on any organization
around the world. Our support is for President Arroyo and her efforts
to work out an agreement, a peace agreement, with the MILF. We believe
that putting terrorists or people involved in terrorist activities or
insurgent activities out of that business and into the legitimate
political process would always be good business. And we want to
support that.
Q: In what countries has Jemaah Islamiya established cells, Mr.
Ambassador?
Taylor: JI has been in existence in Southeast Asia for sometime since
about the mid-l990s and we know having had arrests in Malaysia,
Singapore, and more recently in Indonesia, that they are actively in
those areas as well as the Philippines.
Q: The State Department has mentioned possible threats in its
advisories for anytime from now till the end of the year. Is there
something you know about this?
Taylor: There is a general threat from terrorism. I mean, we've gone
through 9-11. We've seen terrorist groups attack innocent people
throughout the world and so it should be no surprise that we would
have warnings for our people and to our partners around the world
about the potential for terrorist activities against Americans or
American interests around the world. If we had specific information,
we would provide specific information. We don't have specific
information about specific acts of terrorism that we're protecting
against, but there is a generalized threat across the world from
Al-Qaeda terrorist organizations against Americans and indeed all the
members of the global war against terrorism coalition.
Q: But what's with the timetable from now until the end of the year?
Taylor: Well, we periodically update all of our warnings. We've done
for years, so I wouldn't put any special significance on the time
frame that's put in there. We'll continue to assess it and, when
appropriate, we will change it to reflect our knowledge of what the
threat is and where it emanates from.
Q: Sir, the US Embassy has cancelled the Memorial service on Veteran's
Day next week. What's the basis for the cancellation?
Taylor: I have to turn to...
U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone: You can read
it all in our website. We just issued a Department of State Worldwide
Warning and the message we sent out to the American community here
just a week or so ago. We had warned Americans to stay away from large
crowds, public places where there wasn't any ability to protect them.
In the case of the cemetery ceremony that was scheduled, that was
going to be another public thing that we felt that we were unable to
secure properly. There was nothing more about that. It's consistent
with our previous waning. That's all.
Q: Only in Manila or other...?
Ricciardone: Just that one ceremony in the cemetery. That one event.
It was a warning to the American community planning on gathering for
that event, but we're not going to hold the event. That's all.
Q: Would the US consider giving more specific warnings to its
nationals and their other interests? Because earlier that's what
travelers were complaining about that the warnings are so general and
that they would want more specific warnings?
Taylor: Of course if we had specific information about a specific
terrorist event, we would not undermine that event. So, I'm not sure
that a more specific warning is going to really be available except
that the general threat that we all have from terrorist organizations.
By the way, you know, there is general warning within the Philippines
about terrorist attacks, but I'm here. There has been a steady stream
of senior Americans coming here. We've not discouraged Americans from
visiting the Philippines. The last check I had there more than a
hundred thousand Americans citizens living and working in the
Philippines. So, don't take the threat warning to mean that the
American Government is discouraging Americans. We want our people to
come and enjoy the Philippines as much as any other part of the world.
But we recognize there are parts of the Philippines that are dangerous
to Americans so we want them to be aware of that and we want them to
be able to make decisions with the full knowledge of the threat and
that may be, not only here but in other parts of the world.
Ricciardone: The word warning has popped up a couple of times and I
say there is no American threat warning about the Philippines. There
is a list of American threat warnings posted in the Department of
State website, consular page information for travelers, including
twelve or fifteen countries where there are warnings strongly urging
people to stay away -- defer travel, not go. The Philippines is not on
that list. There is no warning to Americans to stay away from the
Philippines.
Q: Sir, regarding this conference, is there a new objective that you
want to accomplish in this conference?
Taylor: As I mentioned to the conferees the opportunity for nations of
like mines to get together and discuss the threat and to develop best
practices or methods to attack the threat are always good. In that
sense, it's wonderful to have the opportunity for me to come here and
join our partners in Southeast Asia to talk about the threat of
terrorism in this region, and most especially to leave this conference
with a shared sense of direction for action against terrorist groups
that threaten the countries of the region, the economic livelihood,
and indeed the people in governments in this region.
Q: With Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya and other groups scattered in
different parts of the countries, do you feel that the threat of
terrorism is more serious now than before and that the Americans are
more vulnerable than before?
Taylor: Well, the threat of terrorism is not just to Americans.
Al-Qaeda and those who are adherents to the Al-Qaeda philosophy are
also targeting all groups of people that stand in the way of their
vision of government that would want to impose on the world. So, I
think we've done an excellent job to date of beginning the process of
taking on Al-Qaeda and its adherents around the world. Are we at the
point where we can declare victory? Absolutely not. Much of the
conversations in this conference is about governments' building
capability, institutions, passing laws, enabling law enforcement to be
more effective against this worldwide threat. That is demonstrated by
Al-Qaeda. So, while we're quite pleased with the progress of the
campaign against terrorism, we have much more work to do before we
could all say we're safe from terrorism and terrorists.
Q: Any reactions, sir, to JI's plans of forming a pan-Islamic state?
Taylor: Any reaction. How would you want me to react? JI is a
terrorist organization that uses terrorist tactics to try to impose
its political vision on innocent people. That's why we designated them
as a terrorist organization. There is no legitimate reason for anyone
who has political aspiration to have concerns about the ways in which
they are treated by government to use indiscriminate violence on
innocent human beings for that purpose. That's what JI does. That's
why they have been designated. And that's why we want to work with the
countries in the region, and indeed any place JI is operating, to
arrest its members and bring them to justice.
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)
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