This is an editorial reflecting the views of the United States Government:
Since the attacks against the United States on September 11th, 2001, there has been an unprecedented level of cooperation in the war against global terrorism. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe explains why. “The greatest enemy of democracy,” he says, “is terrorism”:
“Terrorism is a new version of dictatorship. Security is a democratic value. Nowadays, it is impossible to foster democracy without providing security to the people.”
Some ninety countries have joined the fight against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida and other terrorist networks. And every day, progress is being made. On March 30th, the Philippines government stopped a plot to commit attacks in the capital, Manila. Four members of the al-Qaida-affiliated Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah terrorist groups were arrested and a large amount of explosives was seized. On the same day in London, police arrested eight suspected terrorists and seized a half ton of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which could have been used to make a massive bomb.
In the past two-and-a-half years, terrorist cells have been disrupted in Hamburg, Milan, Singapore, Madrid, Paris, and many other cities. Hundreds of millions of dollars in terrorist assets have been frozen. Terrorist front groups have been shut down. Thousands of al-Qaida associates have been detained in over one-hundred countries, including Iraq, Pakistan, and the Philippines. The U.S. and its allies, says President George W. Bush, are engaged in a difficult test of will against a determined enemy:
“To win the war on terror, we must hunt a scattered and resourceful enemy in dark corners around the world. We must break up their cells, shut off their sources of money. We must oppose the propaganda of hatred that feeds their cause.”
The international coalition against terrorism, says Mr. Bush, “will meet this danger and will overcome this evil.”
