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The latest State Department report on global terrorism might be the subject of congressional hearings, but it has almost no value for the U.S. counterterrorism community, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.
“No, I can’t say I bothered to read it,” said a leading congressional staffer who deals with terrorism. “The truth is, the document has no value anymore.”
This sentiment reflects what counterterrorism officials and analysts say is a disconnect between the policies of countries regarding terrorism and the response of the United States. Some nations that are clearly facilitators of terrorism don’t appear on the list.
Indeed, the State Department would prefer not to even issue a counterterrorism report, officials said. But it has been mandated by Congress to issue an annual review.
Cofer Black, the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator, has been a key author of the department’s terror report. He heads a staff that examines every country for support of terrorism and seeks to determine whether the government or regime supports the terrorism and whether that country cooperates with the United States in the war against Al Qaida.
Lebanon represented the greatest example of the disconnect between the department’s report and the country’s policies in support of terrorism. The report acknowledges that Lebanon remains host to numerous U.S.-designated terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Lebanese leaders encourage terrorist groups, provide them with training and assistance.
But the report focuses on what it termed Beirut’s legislative, legal and operational initiatives against terrorism. In the same breath, the report acknowledges that Beirut does not regard Hezbollah and other Islamic attackers as terrorists and appears to be harboring Imad Mughniyah, regarded as the most lethal terrorist in the world. Still, the report cites several examples of what the report termed Lebanese counterterrorism measures in 2003.
As a result, Lebanon was not placed on the terrorist list. U.S. officials said Powell made the decision in coordination with the White House. They said placing Lebanon on the list would end U.S. military and security assistance to that country, something that the CIA recommended.
“Well, I think the issue with Lebanon is that they don’t seem to be solely acting in their own prerogative,” Black said. “They’re heavily influenced by Syria, as an example, which is one of the leading state sponsors of terrorism, so I think their definition and their view of this issue is skewed, certainly against the position that we would encourage them to take.”
The disconnect continues in Yemen. The department’s report asserts that Yemen has legalized terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. But the report is quick to add that neither group has engaged in terrorist activities and that PIJ does not have any known actual or operational presence.
“The Department of State, at the request of the U.S. Congress, prepares this report so that all Americans will know just what we are doing to keep them safe,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said.
“In 2003, we saw less state sponsorship of terrorism,” Black said.
“Saddam Hussein no longer presides over a regime that served as a lifeline and sanctuary for the terrorists; Libya has renounced terrorism. Sudan has taken significant steps to be a cooperative partner in the global war on terrorism; and Afghanistan is no longer a breeding ground for terrorism as a result of Operation Enduring Freedom.”
The report, “Patterns of Global Terrorism,” contains new open-source information on how the State Department views Arab regimes and their cooperation with Washington in the war against terrorism. But the State Department refused to change the list of terrorist sponsors, which includes Iraq.
“What we have here essentially is that we need to assure ourselves that a new government in Baghdad renounces terrorism as well as proves, by fact and deed, that they have renounced and they are taking every action to renounce terrorism as well as be an effective partner in the international community to do this,” Black said. “So for us to be able to remove them from the list, we need a government in power.”
Black and the report asserted that Libya maintains contact with terrorist groups. But several days before the report was released, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was not aware that Libya maintained “residual contacts with terrorists.”
Black’s response was cryptic.
“I certainly would never be in the position to reflect negatively on anything the secretary of state would say, so what he says is absolutely true,” he said. “However, we need to assure ourselves, I have to be in a position that I can recommend to the secretary of state that, indeed, that they continue to have renounced terrorism, they’re no longer supporting international terrorism, and I have to be able to assure him that they have no residual contacts with terrorist groups, and I need to do that.”
Egypt was praised as a leader in the counterterrorism fight that has increased its dialogue with the United States. Algeria also remained at the forefront of regional counterterrorism cooperation, supporting coalition efforts against al-Qaida while acting decisively against indigenous terror groups.
The report said the Palestinian Authority continued to take insufficient steps to stop terrorist operations, with the PA security services remaining fragmented and ineffective. The services were also hobbled by corruption, infighting and poor leadership, the report stated. There are indications that some personnel in the security services, including several senior officers, have continued to assist terrorist operations.
Some members of the U.S. counterterrorism community say that the State Department and the rest of the administration must always temper their findings on terrorist sponsorship and financing with political decisions of which country to target. Lebanon and Yemen might fulfill many of the criteria of terrorist sponsors, but Washington cannot expand its targets without losing focus and harming cooperation in the war against terrorism.
“Again, it depends on where the United States government wants to pick its fights,” said Jonathan Winer, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for narcotics and international law enforcement. “There are only so many fights you’d want to have at any one particular time.”
Still, the department’s descriptions of Lebanon and Yemen were harsher than those of countries still on the U.S. terrorist list. For example, the report consistently praised Sudan, adding toward the end of the department’s evaluation the U.S. concern over the Hamas and PIJ presence in Khartoum. The section on Libya was virtually all praise except for a sentence that the Ghadhafi regime maintained contact with terrorists.
“We are constantly looking at all the countries of the world to see which ones have the potential to be put on the list, on this list,” Black said. “But we would not discuss that until we actually were to recommend that action.”
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