12 November 2002
Terrorism Destroys Lives and Economies, Taylor Says
(Amb. Francis Taylor's remarks in Manila November 8) (2580)
Terrorism not only destroys lives, but has a "tremendous economic
impact" as well, says Ambassador Francis X. Taylor, the coordinator
for counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of State.
In remarks delivered November 8 in Manila, the Philippines, to the
International Conference on Terrorism and Tourism Recovery, Taylor
said the World Bank estimates that over 360,000 jobs in Indonesia were
effectively lost because of a single terrorist attack in Bali.
Taylor said the jobs that were lost in Indonesia "were connected to a
global economy that enables tourists from Australia, Europe, the
United States, Japan and many other countries around the world to go
to beautiful beaches and resorts, and the resorts of Bali, and to
vacation spots here in the Philippines and in many other nations
around the world."
The "global economy," he said, is supported by global institutions
that include transportation systems and security standards,
international banking and financial institutions, and information
systems.
"More fundamentally, political institutions, democracy, and the rule
of law create the stability that allows our economies to prosper in
this global environment that we operate in," Taylor said. "These
global institutions are key to our prosperity, but they can also be
exploited by terrorists who use them to move money, manpower, and
materials, such as explosives or weapons, across borders and through
our banks."
According to Taylor, terrorists exploit the weaknesses that result
when nation-states do not communicate and coordinate with each other.
He urged greater cooperation among nations to increase their
capability in fighting terrorism, which includes not only sharing
intelligence but building institutions capable of dealing with this
global threat.
Taylor refuted accusations that the war on terrorism is a war against
Islam.
"This war against terrorism is a war against one thing: that is,
against criminals who would use indiscriminate violence against
innocent human beings for political purpose," he said.
(begin transcript)
"Building Institutional and Regional Cooperation for Combating
Terrorism"
Remarks by Ambassador Francis X. Taylor
At the International Conference on Terrorism and Tourism Recovery
Makati Shangri-la Hotel
Manila, November 8, 2002
I was delighted when Adviser Golez called me in Washington, and asked
me to come to participate in this conference. Conferences are
important in the exchange of ideas, but what is more important is what
happens after those ideas are exchanged and action is taken. So I
would hope that once this conference is concluded and we've shared
ideas that those ideas go home and those ideas get implemented in
real, practical ways.
The threat we face is a threat that is global. With our first speaker,
we heard about terrorists operating from one country on one side of
the world, plotting attacks on the other side of the world, and
joining with people from another part of the world to execute those
attacks.
We are a global system, living in a global world; interconnected to
each other. And the thing that joins us all together is the Internet.
Someone sitting in Timbuktu, indeed, can have a conversation in Toledo
with someone who shares like ideas that he has never known, never
seen, and never will see.
That is the environment that we operate in, and that is why the six
cardinal rules of counter terrorism have to be reinforced today. And
those six cardinal rules are pretty simple to remember: it takes
coordination, coordination, coordination, and it takes cooperation,
cooperation, and cooperation. The threat that we face is a global
threat, and it takes global coordination and global cooperation to
close the seams in which terrorists operate against our countries, our
people and, based upon the subject of this conference, our economies.
Let me first focus on the global war on terrorism. President Bush on
the 20th of September 2001 called on the world to join the United
States of America in a unique campaign against terrorism. And the
President said that this campaign would be unique, not only because of
its world-wide scope, but because we would synchronize the use of
diplomacy, military power, economic power, law enforcement and
intelligence capability from the United States and among our coalition
partners to take on this world-wide threat.
And indeed, to date we have been quite successful, our coalition.
Afghanistan is no longer a haven for terrorist criminals to plot
against the world. A government that has been selected by the people,
and is moving towards independence and a government that does not
threaten its neighbors, or provide a sanctuary for terrorism now rules
it. Al Qaeda no longer has a base of operations. Its training
infrastructure in Afghanistan has been destroyed. Its leaders are on
the run, not only in Afghanistan and Pakistan but also throughout the
world. We've arrested, along with our law enforcement partners, more
than 2700 al Qaeda operatives and members in more than 90 countries
around the world. Indeed, Mr. Aysu had mentioned the fact that law
enforcement had been surprised by the scope of al Qaeda operations.
And we're surprised every day where we find al Qaeda and al Qaeda
adherents throughout the world. After 9-11, we spoke about al Qaeda
existing in more than 50 countries, and as I mentioned, one year
later, we now have arrested, with our law enforcement partners, in
more than 90 countries. And indeed, I predict, that before this
campaign is over, we will have arrested al Qaeda members, al Qaeda
associates in every country throughout the world.
But that's not the end of the global war on terrorism. Al Qaeda,
indeed, is on the run. But regional terrorist groups, such as Abu
Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya, present an even more immediate threat,
most especially to Southeast Asia. We must work together to prevent al
Qaeda from taking even deeper roots through JI or Abu Sayyaf, or MILF
or the other groups within the region, while working harder to root
out other, regional terrorist groups.
One need only think about the 12th of October in Bali. And I am
pleased that General Pastika to talk about that very, very important
investigation which he is so ably and professionally leading; an
international team to unravel the events of October 12,th and to bring
those individuals to justice. But that attack shows that terrorism
threatens us all, and it can happen anywhere. It is also an example of
the connection between the global economy and international
terrorists. Bali thrived on international tourism. It was a soft
target, and the repercussions of that attack, I would submit, not only
impacted Indonesia but also tourism throughout ASEAN. According to the
World Bank, over 360,000 jobs in Indonesia were effectively lost
because of that one attack. And an Indonesian official stated to the
press that the economic impact of that attack, in Indonesia alone, was
5.6 billion rupiah. The cost of terrorism, as devastating as it is to
individual loss of life, has tremendous economic impact on our
countries and our governments. Those jobs that were lost in Indonesia
were connected to a global economy that enables tourists from
Australia, Europe, the United States, Japan and many other countries
around the world to go to beautiful beaches and resorts, and the
resorts of Bali, and to vacation spots here in the Philippines and in
many other nations around the world.
This global economy is supported by global institutions:
transportation systems and security standards, which allow millions of
travelers to travel globally every year. International banking and
financial institutions are the lifeblood of our tourist industry as
well as our financial organizations. Information systems allow
advertising communications to go worldwide to attract the global
travelers that I spoke about earlier. More fundamentally, political
institutions, democracy, and the rule of law create the stability that
allows our economies to prosper in this global environment that we
operate in. These global institutions are key to our prosperity, but
they can also be exploited by terrorists who use them to move money,
manpower, and materials, such as explosives or weapons, across borders
and through our banks.
Now, those of you who have heard me speak know that I am a sports nut,
and when I am in America, I talk about American football, but since I
am talking internationally, I'm going to talk about international
football. Terrorists exploit seams, seams that are created when
nation-states do not communicate and coordinate with each other. Now,
if you play soccer, and my daughter is a pretty good soccer player,
she's a striker on her team. If she goes towards the goal, she has one
objective, and that objective is to confuse the defense. To get two
defenders not talking and thinking together, so that the ball can go
through and the other striker can get to the ball and get it into the
goal one-on-one with the goalie.
That's how terrorists operate. They exploit the same seams of
defenders that do not cooperate, do not think in unison, and do not
apply tools in a synchronized way against their activities. That's how
our global institutions become threatened. In the global world, small
cells of terrorists have become the true transnational threats without
the need for a state sponsor or a single home base. They support
themselves through global networks of crime, complex fund-raising
operations, both legal and illicit, charities and business operations.
As 9-11 taught us all too well, we live in a world where events in a
small, land-locked South Asian country can have life or death
implications on the citizens of more than 90 countries who died on
9-11 in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Bali brought that same
message home to us here in Asia. An attack in Bali can have
implications on an entire industry of tourism within this region. Our
challenge, therefore, is to increase security while maintaining the
free flow of goods, services, people and information that builds
economic prosperity in our global world. The key is institution
building. I submit to you that we are all up to the challenge. If we
take the lessons from conferences like this, and take them home and
apply them.
In the world already there are many guides to help us enhance security
while promoting prosperity. The UN's twelve conventions on countering
terrorism outline key areas for improvement. I have to congratulate
our host, the Philippines, for being party to eleven of the twelve
conventions. My nation has ratified all twelve conventions. I would
ask you, as you go home, if it's not been done, to make sure it's
done, because it provides the legal framework for taking on
terrorists. The Financial Action Task Force, called the FATF, has
forty recommendations for creating an anti-money laundering regime,
and eight special recommendations on countering terrorist financing.
Indeed, as we implement those recommendations, as we build our
financial intelligence units, we attack the lifeblood of terrorists.
No terrorist organization can exist and operate without money, and it
is through those cooperative, international efforts that we shut that
money off. We also do it by building cooperative, or comprehensive,
anti-money-laundering regimes and anti-terrorist financing regimes.
All that takes time, but without it, terrorists will continue to
exploit the seams that are created by the lack of nations having
compatible financial intelligence capabilities. Many of these steps
will require legislative support. As I mentioned, the United States
has passed all of the CT conventions in our legislation and has also
passed laws that increase the tools that are at the disposal of our
law enforcement and intelligence and other authorities. The
Philippines has an anti-terrorism legislative package before its
congress now that would criminalize terrorism and expand authorities
for CT action. I would commend the Philippines on that, and I know
that we're all looking forward to its passage of those measures.
Some states suffer from weak or corrupt law enforcement and
intelligence agencies. Some have lack of effective legal instruments
to prosecute terrorists. Others have porous borders, easily exploited
by terrorists, drug traffickers and those who traffic in persons. Some
simply need better administrative organization to its resources to
bear against terrorism. It is through cooperative conferences, like
the one today, where we share with our colleagues our needs, and our
colleagues respond. The United States of America stands ready to
assist any country in helping to build its institutions, write its
laws, and improve its capability to fight against terrorism. Indeed,
without that commitment this global war on terrorism will be lost,
because we will not have the capacity to work together as a global
community against this threat.
As we move forward on building our CT capacity, we must continue to
work together. We must exchange information, share best practices,
collaborate on operations, and synchronize our efforts against our
enemies. The United States has recently designated Jemaah Islamiya as
an al Qaeda-related terrorist group, and an unprecedented -
unprecedented -- fifty nations around the world joined the United
States and ASEAN in asking the UN to designate JI. That kind of
solidarity will cause us to win this war against terrorism.
All ASEAN nations have also supported the U.S. in our ASEAN
declaration on counter terrorism cooperation, which we signed at the
Asia Regional Forum in August. The United States will support this
process with training for police, with assistance for border security,
financial training, and assistance in drafting CT legislation. We will
work closely with our partners in the region, sharing intelligence and
consulting on CT actions and policies.
This conference today, and others planned in the coming months, also
clearly shows the commitment of the Southeast Asian nations to working
together to fight terror. Our task is to translate that commitment
into action, and to take actions that build strong, democratic
institutions that respect human rights and the rule of law;
institutions that increase security, protect our prosperity;
institutions that are part of a society in which terrorism can find no
place to root.
That task is already begun, and it is up to us to maintain our resolve
to finish what we have started. The war on terror will not be won
today, nor will it be won tomorrow, but it will be won over time with
long and dedicated commitment by all of us. We must remain committed,
we must cooperate, and if we do so, we will prevail.
Now I know that there are many who believe that this global war on
terrorism is a war against Islam, a war against people from the Muslim
world, a war against people who don't agree with the United States of
America. This war against terrorism is a war against one thing: that
is against criminals who would use indiscriminate violence against
innocent human beings for political purpose. Those criminals know no
religion. They know no allegiance to any nation. They only know one
thing: and that is to harm human beings for political purpose. The
world stands against that. That is what this campaign is about. That
is what our President asks the world to join us to fight against. And
indeed, that is what we will sustain this campaign against until that
behavior is not longer acceptable in our global community.
Roy, again, thank you for the opportunity to come and share these
ideas and thoughts with you and the people assembled here. We have
much work to be done. We are committed to working with you to ensure
that it gets done, and that we all can protect our people, our nations
and, indeed, our global system from this kind of tyranny.
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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