AI
Sunday, June 06, 2004 11:03:33 PM
Rumsfeld hopes to have US troops in Southeast Asia
Apparently the United States originally wanted to deploy US troops in the Strait of Malacca but have since bowed to foreign pressure to keep American troops out as the United States is perceived as part of the problem. Consequently the United States now hopes to have US troops fighting terrorism in Southeast Asia "pretty soon" somewhere but they have their heart set on the Strait of Malacca.
-Am
On Saturday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in the conference's keynote speech that terrorists could strike again in the Asia-Pacific area. He pressed Asian nations to become more engaged in the war on terror, but did not ask for specific troop commitments for the Iraq war, saying that every nation must find its own level of support.
He said "zealots and despots" bent on destroying nation-states were turning out newly trained terrorists faster than the United States could capture or kill them. "We do not have a coherent approach to this," he said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/523668.html
US forces in Southeast Asia will fuel Islamic fanaticism: Malaysia minister
Posted: 06 June 2004 1554 hrs
SINGAPORE : The use of US forces in Southeast Asia to fight terrorism would fuel Islamic fanaticism in the region and potentially generate great social and political instability, Malaysian Defence Minister Najib Razak said here Sunday.
Najib told the Asia Security Conference that Southeast Asia should expand anti-terrorism efforts with the United States in areas such as intelligence sharing and choking terrorists' financial and logistical networks.
"However, what we should avoid is the presence of foreign forces in Southeast Asia to help us deal with this threat, not because we distrust those outside the region, but because foreign military presence will set us back in our idealogical battle against extremism and militancy," Najib said.
"The lessons of Iraq should be clear to us: ill prepared liberators do make mistakes and the failure of good intentions can cause great damage to social and political stability."
Najib made his comments two days after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said during a visit to Singapore that he hoped to have US troops fighting terrorism in Southeast Asia "pretty soon".
His comments fuelled speculation that the United States wants to deploy US forces in the Strait of Malacca, the narrow and busy shipping lane straddled by Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore that is seen as a likely terrorist target.
The commander of US forces in the Pacific, Admiral Thomas Fargo, initially suggested in April one option being considered was putting marines and special operations forces aboard high speed vessels in the strait.
However senior US officials, including Rumsfeld and Admiral Walter Doran of the US Pacific Command, have said in Singapore over the past three days that Fargo had been misunderstood and there were no plans for bases or standing forces to patrol the strait.
"The primary event is to just raise the situational awareness of what is happening in the waters around us," Doran told reporters on Friday.
Najib also told reporters after his speech that he believed the United States did not intend to bring a military presence into the strait, and that he would meet Fargo in Malaysia this month to discuss US plans for regional maritime security.
He said Malaysia would support a plan in which it, Singapore and Indonesia shared military and other intelligence with the United States and others about the Strait of Malacca.
Malaysia would even hold joint anti-piracy and anti-terrorism exercises with its neighbours and other countries.
"But the actual interdiction would be done by the littoral states," he said.
"In the Malaysian context, we do not believe that it's useful or helpful in our fight against terrorism or terrorists if foreign troops are being seen or perceived as being involved in that."
Singapore's Co-ordinating Minister for Defence, Tony Tan, also told the conference on Sunday that multilateral co-operation must protect every nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Rumsfeld justifies war on terror after ally says US is part of problem
Posted: 05 June 2004 1800 hrs
SINGAPORE : US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld delivered a strong justification for the war on terrorism here a day after being told by his host and close ally that the United States was "part of the problem".
Rumsfeld, in Singapore to shore up Asian support for the campaign against terror, warned Saturday of the devastating consequences if the United States and its allies should fail in Iraq, or give ground elsewhere around the globe.
"Today, in this new era, our close cooperation with allies and friends in Asia is more essential than ever," Rumsfeld said in the keynote address to the Asia Security Conference, which attracted security officials from 21 nations.
"The phenomenon of ideological expansion -- of which terrorism is the weapon of choice -- stands in the way of global political progress and economic prosperity, threatens the stability of the international order, and clouds the future of civil society."
Rumsfeld was speaking after Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong opened the conference on Friday night with a wide-ranging speech that included a blunt warning that the US stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was helping to fuel global terrorism.
"This is too important an issue to dress in diplomatic niceties. The US is essential to the solution but it is also part of the problem," Goh said, with Rumsfeld listening in the audience.
"A more balanced and nuanced approach towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- an approach that recognises that there are equities and inequities on both sides -- must become a central pillar of the global war on terrorism.
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a rallying cause for terrorism. We know that a solution to it will not end terrorism... but the discomfort that mainstream Muslims feel around the world feel with America's Middle East policies limits their ability to fight the ideological battle."
With Singapore counting Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, as a neighbour, and having to contain its own terrorist threat in recent years, Goh's views on the factors fuelling Islamic militancy are widely respected in Asia.
Rumsfeld did not publicly address in Singapore the issue of whether the United States' strong support of Israel contributes to Islamic militancy.
Instead he focused on Iraq and other global security issues.
On Iraq, Rumsfeld said the United States and its allies were engaged in a test of wills with Islamic terrorists and warned of dire consequences for the war-torn country if the coalition fails.
Rumsfeld also impressed on his audience the need for quick progress in diplomatic efforts to rein in North Korea's nuclear program.
Rumsfeld, who flew to Bangladesh on Saturday afternoon after two days in Singapore, held bilateral discussions with Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill and South Korean Defense Minister Cho Young-kil while in the city-state.
During his trip he also publicly emphasised the need for stepped up efforts to tackle Islamic terrorism in Southeast Asia, particularly in the region's vital shipping lanes.
But his statement to US naval troops on Friday that he hoped US forces would be hunting terrorists in Southeast Asia "pretty soon" was greeted with immediate opposition from Malaysia.
"We don't agree to the entry of a third nation," Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Razak said in reference to US troops patrolling the Malacca Strait.
The Asia Security Conference continues on Sunday, with regional arms proliferation one of the issues on the agenda.
- AFP
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/88580/1/.html
Apparently the United States originally wanted to deploy US troops in the Strait of Malacca but have since bowed to foreign pressure to keep American troops out as the United States is perceived as part of the problem. Consequently the United States now hopes to have US troops fighting terrorism in Southeast Asia "pretty soon" somewhere but they have their heart set on the Strait of Malacca.
-Am
On Saturday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in the conference's keynote speech that terrorists could strike again in the Asia-Pacific area. He pressed Asian nations to become more engaged in the war on terror, but did not ask for specific troop commitments for the Iraq war, saying that every nation must find its own level of support.
He said "zealots and despots" bent on destroying nation-states were turning out newly trained terrorists faster than the United States could capture or kill them. "We do not have a coherent approach to this," he said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/523668.html
US forces in Southeast Asia will fuel Islamic fanaticism: Malaysia minister
Posted: 06 June 2004 1554 hrs
SINGAPORE : The use of US forces in Southeast Asia to fight terrorism would fuel Islamic fanaticism in the region and potentially generate great social and political instability, Malaysian Defence Minister Najib Razak said here Sunday.
Najib told the Asia Security Conference that Southeast Asia should expand anti-terrorism efforts with the United States in areas such as intelligence sharing and choking terrorists' financial and logistical networks.
"However, what we should avoid is the presence of foreign forces in Southeast Asia to help us deal with this threat, not because we distrust those outside the region, but because foreign military presence will set us back in our idealogical battle against extremism and militancy," Najib said.
"The lessons of Iraq should be clear to us: ill prepared liberators do make mistakes and the failure of good intentions can cause great damage to social and political stability."
Najib made his comments two days after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said during a visit to Singapore that he hoped to have US troops fighting terrorism in Southeast Asia "pretty soon".
His comments fuelled speculation that the United States wants to deploy US forces in the Strait of Malacca, the narrow and busy shipping lane straddled by Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore that is seen as a likely terrorist target.
The commander of US forces in the Pacific, Admiral Thomas Fargo, initially suggested in April one option being considered was putting marines and special operations forces aboard high speed vessels in the strait.
However senior US officials, including Rumsfeld and Admiral Walter Doran of the US Pacific Command, have said in Singapore over the past three days that Fargo had been misunderstood and there were no plans for bases or standing forces to patrol the strait.
"The primary event is to just raise the situational awareness of what is happening in the waters around us," Doran told reporters on Friday.
Najib also told reporters after his speech that he believed the United States did not intend to bring a military presence into the strait, and that he would meet Fargo in Malaysia this month to discuss US plans for regional maritime security.
He said Malaysia would support a plan in which it, Singapore and Indonesia shared military and other intelligence with the United States and others about the Strait of Malacca.
Malaysia would even hold joint anti-piracy and anti-terrorism exercises with its neighbours and other countries.
"But the actual interdiction would be done by the littoral states," he said.
"In the Malaysian context, we do not believe that it's useful or helpful in our fight against terrorism or terrorists if foreign troops are being seen or perceived as being involved in that."
Singapore's Co-ordinating Minister for Defence, Tony Tan, also told the conference on Sunday that multilateral co-operation must protect every nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Rumsfeld justifies war on terror after ally says US is part of problem
Posted: 05 June 2004 1800 hrs
SINGAPORE : US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld delivered a strong justification for the war on terrorism here a day after being told by his host and close ally that the United States was "part of the problem".
Rumsfeld, in Singapore to shore up Asian support for the campaign against terror, warned Saturday of the devastating consequences if the United States and its allies should fail in Iraq, or give ground elsewhere around the globe.
"Today, in this new era, our close cooperation with allies and friends in Asia is more essential than ever," Rumsfeld said in the keynote address to the Asia Security Conference, which attracted security officials from 21 nations.
"The phenomenon of ideological expansion -- of which terrorism is the weapon of choice -- stands in the way of global political progress and economic prosperity, threatens the stability of the international order, and clouds the future of civil society."
Rumsfeld was speaking after Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong opened the conference on Friday night with a wide-ranging speech that included a blunt warning that the US stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was helping to fuel global terrorism.
"This is too important an issue to dress in diplomatic niceties. The US is essential to the solution but it is also part of the problem," Goh said, with Rumsfeld listening in the audience.
"A more balanced and nuanced approach towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- an approach that recognises that there are equities and inequities on both sides -- must become a central pillar of the global war on terrorism.
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a rallying cause for terrorism. We know that a solution to it will not end terrorism... but the discomfort that mainstream Muslims feel around the world feel with America's Middle East policies limits their ability to fight the ideological battle."
With Singapore counting Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, as a neighbour, and having to contain its own terrorist threat in recent years, Goh's views on the factors fuelling Islamic militancy are widely respected in Asia.
Rumsfeld did not publicly address in Singapore the issue of whether the United States' strong support of Israel contributes to Islamic militancy.
Instead he focused on Iraq and other global security issues.
On Iraq, Rumsfeld said the United States and its allies were engaged in a test of wills with Islamic terrorists and warned of dire consequences for the war-torn country if the coalition fails.
Rumsfeld also impressed on his audience the need for quick progress in diplomatic efforts to rein in North Korea's nuclear program.
Rumsfeld, who flew to Bangladesh on Saturday afternoon after two days in Singapore, held bilateral discussions with Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill and South Korean Defense Minister Cho Young-kil while in the city-state.
During his trip he also publicly emphasised the need for stepped up efforts to tackle Islamic terrorism in Southeast Asia, particularly in the region's vital shipping lanes.
But his statement to US naval troops on Friday that he hoped US forces would be hunting terrorists in Southeast Asia "pretty soon" was greeted with immediate opposition from Malaysia.
"We don't agree to the entry of a third nation," Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Razak said in reference to US troops patrolling the Malacca Strait.
The Asia Security Conference continues on Sunday, with regional arms proliferation one of the issues on the agenda.
- AFP
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/88580/1/.html
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