09652

01/18/2002

EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09652

MALAYSIA ARRESTS TERRORISTS

The war against terrorism is not confined to Afghanistan, or to any one region of the world. As President George W. Bush said, the war against terrorism is global.

In Malaysia, authorities have announced the arrest of two more suspects reportedly tied to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network. It was al-Qaida that carried out the plot that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon on September 11^th.

The two men are reported to be members of an Islamic terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaida. Its apparent goal is to establish by terrorism an extremist Muslim state comprising Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

The latest arrests bring to fifteen the number of suspects that Malaysia has detained since December 9^th. Police are investigating whether some of the suspects had contact with two of the hijackers who were involved in the September 11^th terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

It is said that one of the Malaysian suspects let the two hijackers stay at an apartment he owned near Kuala Lumpur. Police also believe that in September and October of 2000, members of the al-Qaida-affiliated group were in contact with Zacarias Moussaoui. Moussaoui is now in U.S. custody. He is awaiting trial for his part in the conspiracy behind the September 11^th attacks.

Some members of the Malaysian group are reported to have ties to terrorists in other countries, including Singapore. Singapore authorities have arrested fifteen people reportedly involved in a plot to kill Americans and blow up the U.S. embassy and other diplomatic offices in Singapore. Police say the would-be terrorists stored four tons of the explosive chemical ammonium nitrate in Malaysia and were seeking seventeen more tons to make truck bombs. Investigators from Singapore and Malaysia are working on these cases.

In a global war, there are many front lines. As President Bush said, "We must find terror where it exists and pull it out by the roots. Terror is evil, and wherever evil exists, the free nations of the world must come together in a massive coalition that says terror will not stand. This is a struggle of good versus evil. And, make no mistake about it, good will prevail."