<

U.S. Helps Other Nations Root Out Terrorists
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

"Either you have terrorists or you don't," the vice chairman stressed. "If you don't, and you have a strong security environment, it is less likely that terrorists will come. If you have a weak security environment, it is more likely that terrorists will come.”

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network found a safe haven in Afghanistan. But there will be no more safe havens for terrorists in Afghanistan or anywhere else if the United States can help it.

On March 11, six months after last year's Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush vowed he would not relent in the struggle for the freedom and security of America and the civilized world.

The second stage of the war on terrorism, the president said, calls for "a sustained campaign to deny sanctuary to terrorists who would threaten our citizens from anywhere in the world." Every terrorist, he said, must be forced to live as an international fugitive with "no place to settle or organize, no place to hide, no governments to hide behind, and not even a safe place to sleep."

To make that pledge a reality, defense officials are extending Uncle Sam's help to nations that are working to eliminate terrorists within their borders. Bush said the United States "encourages and expects governments everywhere to help remove the terrorist parasites that threaten their own countries and peace of the world."

U.S. defense leaders aim to train and equip forces in countries facing terrorist threats. U.S. officials are developing military-to-military relations and working with international counterparts to identify and disrupt terrorist networks. The ultimate goal, defense officials say, is to "pursue the nexus of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction" wherever it exists.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says the al Qaeda network has terrorist cells in as many as 60 countries. "If we have to go into 15 more countries, we ought to do it to deal with the problem of terrorism so we don't allow this problem to damage and kill tens of thousands," he said in January when announcing the deployment of some U.S. troops to the Philippines.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan