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| Terror Networks & Islam |
| Terrorists outdoing one another in savagery |
| 2004-10-13 |
| By Lee Kuan Yew / The Straits Times / 10-13-04 This article, by Singapore's Minister Mentor, appears in the current issue of Forbes magazine. THIS year's presidential election in the United States has special significance for East Asia. A Pacific Ocean diminished in size by technology has linked East Asia's economic future with America's. Any slowdown in the US spells problems for Asia. Although intra-East Asian trade has grown by double digits yearly since the 1990s, the end destination for about 25 per cent of the region's manufactured products is still the US. Asia needs a US administration that supports free trade and is able to restrain domestic pressures to protect American jobs by restricting outsourcing. AMERICA'S FRIENDS TARGETED OF EVEN greater concern to Asia, however, is the Islamist terror threat. Because globalisation has brought about a planet-wide focus, suicide bombers now target Americans and America's friends in Asia. In Iraq, besides Americans and Britons, terrorists have taken Italians, Egyptians, Turks, Nepalese, Indians, Pakistanis and many others hostage. When the Italian government refused to withdraw its troops from Iraq, terrorists killed the Italian journalist they were holding. They had expected the Italian government to yield in the same way that the Philippines had in order to save its countryman. Terrorists in Iraq have also beheaded one Nepali, two Bulgarians, one South Korean and three Americans, besides killing many others. The 'Islamic Army in Iraq' went beyond demanding the withdrawal of foreign forces; it threatened to kill two French journalists if France didn't rescind its ban on the wearing of headscarves by Muslim girls attending French state schools. Some believe that if the US had not attacked Iraq, the terrorists would not have become so numerous and so barbaric. Escalating terrorist outrages both inside and outside Iraq show a dynamic independent of what's going on there. Every new horror is quickly copied, including coordinated suicide bombings, hostage-takings and intimidation through the posting of videos of beheadings on the Internet. Disparate terrorist groups outdo one another in extremes of savagery. They are eager to die and take with them as many victims as possible. Islamists consider an attack on Muslims anywhere as a crime against all Muslims. Their websites tabulate massacres of Muslims in Chechnya, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir, Mindanao, Ambon, Poso and Palestine, citing all as atrocities against the Muslim ummah (community). To influence Indonesia's presidential elections on Sept 20 and Australia's elections on Oct 9, Islamic jihadists exploded a huge car bomb on Sept 9 at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, killing nine and injuring 182. To their credit, Indonesians and Australians have not allowed this attack to influence their elections. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |