Posted on 11/21/2001 12:49:57 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Officials say second phase of war is under way in Asia, Middle East
By Jonathan S. Landay
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Even as U.S. and British commandos pursue Osama bin Laden and the remnants of his inner circle, the second phase of the U.S.-led military campaign against the al-Qaida network has begun far from the mountains of Afghanistan.
The new phase, said senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, is aimed at eradicating al-Qaida cells, operations and allied terrorist groups elsewhere in Asia and in the Middle East, North Africa and perhaps even on the high seas.
Only after bin Laden's global network of Islamic extremists has been "torn up root and branch" is the United States likely to turn its attention to alleged state sponsors of terrorism, such as Iraq and Syria, said one official.
Planning for the second phase of the U.S.-led drive began weeks ago, when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld directed the chiefs of the U.S. military commands around the world to draw up counterterrorism strategies in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
As part of the effort, the officials said, the United States is to provide intelligence, equipment and training to help the Philippines crush Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic guerrilla group with links to al-Qaida.
President Bush and Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo discussed the issue Tuesday at the White House. The United States will assist Arroyo "in any way she suggests," Bush said.
U.S. military planners have also drafted plans for possible direct action against training camps, bases, personnel and other targets belonging to al-Qaida and allied groups in other parts of the world, the officials said.
One plan calls for Navy commandos, known as SEALs, to board and seize small coastal freighters that U.S. intelligence officials believe al Qaida is using to smuggle weapons from the Arabian Peninsula to Islamic militants in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, they said.
U.S. officials have also been discussing possible joint military operations with officials from Germany, France and other countries.
At the same time, the officials said, U.S. intelligence, financial and law enforcement officials will continue pursuing al-Qaida members, communications and financing in the United States, Western Europe and elsewhere.
"Where the law can be an effective weapon, we're using it," said one senior official. "Where we can't count on the government to enforce the law, or where there isn't any law, we're prepared to act ourselves or with our friends."
Expanding the war against terrorism will require the United States to forge new or closer relations with countries and militaries with unsavory human rights records.
Closer ties with Algeria, Ethiopia or the Indonesian military, for instance, could fuel criticism of the United States in many parts of the world. But administration officials said those concerns are secondary to the fight against terrorism.
Helping the Philippines crush Abu Sayyaf is among the early priorities.
"There is no question but there has been a good deal of interaction between the terrorists in the Philippines and al-Qaida and people in Iraq and people in other terrorist-sponsoring states over the years," Rumsfeld said on Tuesday.
A U.S. Army Green Berets assessment team visited the Philippines earlier this month to determine how the United States could bolster the Filipino military's counterterrorism capabilities. The team of about 24 soldiers also reviewed a special counter-terrorism army platoon trained last spring by U.S. instructors.
Abu Sayyaf is holding hostages, including an American missionary couple, Martin and Grace Burnham of Wichita, Kan. The terrorist group is being pursued by thousands of Filipino soldiers on the island of Basilan.
Abu Sayyaf is believed to have beheaded an American hostage earlier this year. It was involved with al-Qaida in failed plots to blow up 11 passenger jets over the Pacific Ocean and to assassinate former President Clinton during a 1994 visit to Manila.
The Philippines was once a U.S. colony and home to two of the largest American military bases overseas. But, officials said, it is doubtful U.S. troops will be involved there. The Philippines' constitution bans U.S. military operations on its soil, and Arroyo said Tuesday that her military is capable of crushing Abu Sayyaf by itself.
"Are we going to see U.S. boots on the ground in the Philippines jungles looking for Abu Sayyaf? I don't think so," said a U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Legal barriers also restrict the Bush administration in helping the Indonesian government deal with rising Islamic militancy in the world's most populous Muslim country.
A U.S. law prohibits the United States from providing Jakarta with military aid and hardware until Indonesian Army officers are held accountable for massacres of pro-independence civilians in East Timor.
Still, the Bush administration is eager for improved relations with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
"Going after al-Qaida in Indonesia is not something that should wait until after al-Qaida has been uprooted from Afghanistan," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine.
Two Indonesian groups, the Islamic Defenders Front and Laskar Jihad, are thought to have ties to al-Qaida, and U.S. intelligence officials said they believe bin Laden has established a terrorist training camp in the Molucca Islands, where there have been bloody religious riots.
A new U.S. intelligence report also says that militant Islamists allied with al Qaida have heavily infiltrated the country's police forces, so the police can't be counted on if riots break out, the officials said.
"Clearly they (the militants) present a challenge to the political system," said a senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
An even more daunting prospect for the U.S.-led anti-terrorism campaign is Somalia, which has virtually no functioning government.
The east African country is home to a number of al Qaida operations, from arms smuggling and terrorist training to al Itihaad al Islamiya, a militant Islamic group that is armed and trained partly by bin Laden, the U.S. intelligence officials said.
Somalia's nominal leader, Abdulkassim Salat Hassan, the head of the Transitional National Government, denies there are any al Qaida camps in the country.
But the U.S. intelligence officials said al-Qaida maintains a base on Ras Komboni island, in southern Somalia, not far from the border with Kenya. Al Itihaad, meanwhile, operates in a northeastern area known as Puntland, whose main port, Bosaso, was reportedly the departure point for some Somalis trained in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan.
U.S. intelligence officials believe that al-Qaida operatives in Somalia assisted in the 1998 bombing attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people.
U.S. military officials also haven't forgotten that bin Laden sent some of his guerrillas to help the late Somali warlord, Mohamed Farah Aidid, fight American troops who were sent there on a humanitarian mission in 1992 and became embroiled in the country's civil war.
A botched attempt to grab Aidid left 18 U.S. soldiers dead in 1993 in an ambush in which Mohammed Atef, a senior bin Laden aide killed in a U.S. air strike last week in Afghanistan, is believed to have played a role.
Algeria's military government has been waging a brutal campaign against the Armed Islamic Group (known by its French acronym, GIS), and a splinter group, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), another militant Islamic group with ties to bin Laden.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been cooperating with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, U.S. officials said, by providing the names of Algerians who have traveled to Afghanistan for terrorist training.
A French official, who insisted on anonymity, said some GIS members have returned from Afghanistan to establish their own training camps in southern and western Algeria that may be vulnerable to airborne assaults, aerial bombardment or cruise missiles.
Despite the Algerian government's poor human rights record, both France and the United States have a keen interest in helping the Algerians crush the militant Islamic movements.
Lotfi Raissi, an Algerian pilot arrested in Great Britain on Sept. 28, is believed to have helped train three of the four pilots who hijacked four American jetliners on Sept. 11.
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(Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondent Warren P. Strobel contributed to this report.)
The new phase, said senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, is aimed at eradicating al-Qaida cells, operations and allied terrorist groups elsewhere in Asia and in the Middle East, North Africa and perhaps even on the high seas.
This is not really a new "phase" - as is we target Afghanistan first, then the international networks, then other countries. This war will have at least three simultaneous fronts for the duration: (1) The Home Front and preventing / protecting from other terrorist attacks; (2) The Internation Front where we do everything this article describes; (3) The Foreign-Sponsor-of-the-Month Front (it's Afghanistan now) where we target foreign supporters of the networks in whatever sequence best suits our needs.
Only after bin Laden's global network of Islamic extremists has been "torn up root and branch" is the United States likely to turn its attention to alleged state sponsors of terrorism, such as Iraq and Syria, said one official.
Again, I disagree - the Domestic Protection "phase" and the International Hunt "phase" will happen in parallel to the attcks on supporting countries. It is these attacks which will occur in sequential phases - as long as it suits our needs.
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