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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (54247)	10/23/2002 5:25:45 PM
From: Condor	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Continued acts of terror (Bali,now Russia and such) assure continuing vigour in the war on terrorism. A cessation of terrorism at the moment would be counterproductive to the "war on terrorism". Consider the following...... Interpol: Terrorists Waiting Out War By EDWARD HARRIS 10/23/2002 14:28:21 EST YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) - Terror groups may switch to attacking smaller targets, "in a long-lasting campaign of attrition" to avoid being wiped out in the international anti-terror campaign focused on al-Qaida, a confidential Interpol report warns. "Terrorists might, in the short- to medium-term, 'go back to basics,' choosing symbolic targets with limited casualties in a long-lasting campaign of attrition, hoping that over time the collective will of states to fight terrorism will wane," according to the Interpol document. A copy of the report, which was obtained by The Associated Press, also says al-Qaida is probably rebuilding its communications and support networks and "will search for more lethal and devastating ways to attack." Other groups associated with al-Qaida also "will continue to carry out attacks," it says. The 30-page "Global Threat Assessment," circulated among 455 top law-enforcement officials attending an annual meeting of the international policing organization, does not mention specific terrorist plans. Edgar Adamson, who heads the U.S. delegation at the four-day Interpol meeting in the west African nation of Cameroon, said the report would mainly be helpful for police officials from countries lacking sophisticated intelligence services. "Much of the information likely came from the United States, so it's not so enlightening for us," said Adamson, director of the Treasury and Justice departments' joint Interpol Bureau. "But it would be for many others who are here." The report "gives everyone a view of the world as it is now," he said in an interview. The report says that more than a year after Sept. 11 there was little firm intelligence about terrorist activities, particularly those of al-Qaida. The report drew on information from Interpol's 181 members and addressed the whole spectrum of organized criminal activities, not just terrorism. But the report says the devastation of the Sept.11 attacks, which were attributed to al-Qaida, may inspire other groups to take up terrorism. "Al-Qaida's activity has perhaps created an environment where other radical and confrontational nationalist movements, ethnic groups or religious movements will get involved in smaller terrorist activity," it says. Some groups, on the other hand, may lower their profile, hoping the international campaign against terrorism will ease. In Europe, a combination of border-free travel, criminal rings selling weapons and travel documents, and large immigrant communities provides fertile ground for terror groups. "Europe will continue to be used by al-Qaida, and affiliated groups and networks, as an area of logistics activity," the report says. It suggests broad guidelines for combating terrorists, including the anticipation of new forms of terrorism; blocks on the movement of suspected criminals and terrorists, and seizing assets. The report appears to have been carefully worded to avoid embarrassing any of Interpol's members, mentioning few nations by name. The report says one of al-Qaida's greatest threats is its ability to subsume similar networks. It cited Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamic group suspected in the Oct. 12 bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, that killed more than 180 people. "Intelligence and investigations suggest that historically, al-Qaida has been successful in co-opting already existing fundamentalist terrorist groups and their logistical networks," the report says.