09/05/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10111
COOPERATION AGAINST TERRORISM
Recent arrests and other actions by the United States and its allies demonstrate the importance of international cooperation in the war against terrorism.
On August 28th, the U.S. government charged five men in Detroit, Michigan, with conspiring to provide "material support and resources" to terrorists for future attacks. Three of the men were arrested shortly after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon last September 11th. During searches of the suspects' homes, police discovered documents detailing planned attacks in Turkey and Jordan. There was also a videotape with footage of potential targets of terrorist attacks in the United States.
At the same time, police in the Netherlands arrested eight men on suspicion of recruiting terrorists for al-Qaida and providing it with financial and logistical support. In a separate case, a judge in Rotterdam extended the period of custody of three suspects accused of plotting attacks against the American Embassy in Paris and a U.S. munitions depot in Belgium.
In May, the government of Kyrgyzstan deported two members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement to China. They were accused of planning to attack various facilities, including the U.S. embassy, in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital. The group was recently designated under a U.S. law that blocks assets of terrorist groups.
For its part, the government of Pakistan recently sent hundreds of soldiers into the North West Frontier Province, along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, in pursuit of six suspected al-Qaida men.
While many governments are cooperating in the war on terrorism, there are indications that others continue to aid and abet al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. President George W. Bush has said that the United States will act decisively against terrorists and the nations that harbor them. Last year's removal from power of Afghanistan's radical Taleban movement was proof that the United States and its allies are committed to that goal.