"Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001" Annual Report

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Ambassador Francis X. Taylor, Coordinator for Counterterrorism
On-the-Record Briefing on release of "Patterns of Global
Terrorism 2001" Annual Report
Washington, DC
May 21, 2002

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Good afternoon. Before I take your questions, I do have a brief statement that I would like to read on Patterns. First I would like to thank the Secretary for the opportunity to be here this morning.

In our 2000 Report on International Terrorism, we have tried to place the global campaign against terrorism into perspective. There is widespread understanding that the current terrorist threat knows no boundaries and that virtually every nation realizes it must fight the threat using all available means.

For each country covered in the Report, we describe the steps it has taken to support the objectives of the campaign to rid itself of terrorists and prevent terrorist attacks. For some nations, this means new counterterrorism laws, tighter border security, and increased financial controls. For others, it means contributing military assets to operations in Afghanistan. For others still, it is an aggressive sanctioning of terrorist groups in order to curtail their criminal activity. All of these are solid steps forward in fighting the terrorist threat.

I draw your attention to some of the new features in this year's Terrorist Report. We have the full text of President Bush's historic address to a joint session of Congress on the 20th of September in which he outlined the dimensions of our campaign against terror; the text of important resolutions and declarations issued in the wake of 9/11, some that have real historical significance, such as the implication of the collective self-defense clauses by both NATO and the OAS; a complete listing of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, persons and groups included under the President's Executive Order that blocks financial assets, and groups whose supporters can be excluded from the United States under the US Patriots Act. The Report also contains case studies detailing successful counterterrorism efforts by the governments of Singapore and Italy to thwart planned attacks and eliminate terrorist cells.

The key message about the horror of 9/11 is that it represented a threat to our way of life and to humanity itself. President Bush called on all nations to unite in a coalition and to use every element of national power to fight this threat. Diplomacy helped build the coalition, and our diplomatic efforts must expand as the al-Qaida network seeks to relocate and regroup around the world.

Intelligence-sharing has prevented numerous attacks, but it must intensify in order to expose the criminal netherworld in which terrorists operate. As a result of cooperative law enforcement efforts, by the end of last year a thousand al-Qaida operatives had been arrested in more than 60 countries. Today, that figure stands at 1,600 operatives in 95 countries. But al-Qaida has not been defeated, and operatives from other terrorist groups still pose an equally deadly threat.

Economic efforts to dry up terrorist financing began before the start of Operation Enduring Freedom and has prevented more than $100 million from reaching terrorists. But only a sustained effort will shut off the terrorist-funding pipeline.

The war in Afghanistan has been phenomenally successful to date, but the coalition military forces have set no date for the end of hostilities. Indeed, they operate still today.

It is the U.S. policy to bolster the counterterrorism capabilities of countries that work with the United States and require assistance. The Department's anti-terrorism assistance program is active in more than 130 nations as I speak. Over 35,000 students from 152 countries have received such training. It is vitally important that this worldwide capacity-building continue to ensure that we close the seams that allow terrorists and their supporters to operate and commit the kind of evil that we witnessed on 9/11.

Attention fades over time, but the world cannot afford to retreat from the face of terrorism. Despite our early, and indeed encouraging, success, the fact is that we are just beginning this campaign and there is still much work to be done to complete it successfully. Additional terrorist attacks are very, very likely.

Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001 describes a complex web of nations, ethnicities, financial networks and arms shipments that constitutes today's terrorist threat. It is a cancer that must be removed, and we need to remain committed and vigilant to achieve that goal.

With that, I will take your questions. Yes, sir.

QUESTION: I have a couple of questions on different parts of the report. There's a flat statement there that Israel destroyed the Palestinian Authority's security apparatus. There's nothing to back it up. As you probably know, it is a matter of some conjecture. Israel said it did not, that they have an apparatus, and certainly nobody would argue that Israel destroyed what they had going in Gaza. Is there anything you can provide now or later to back up that flat statement?

And secondly, on Cuba, they're on the list again. Does the State Department have any evidence or anything to tell us about terrorist plots, successful or not, that Cuba had any hand in at all? Or is this largely a political allegation?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: First, with regard to your question regarding the Israeli activities in the Palestinian territories, certainly the military activity there did do a great deal to damage the security capability or the security apparatus of the Palestinian Authority. Beyond that, I'll take that question and get you additional information, if that's available.

With regard to Cuba, Cuba's record on terrorism has been mixed, quite honestly. President Castro did condemn the events of 11 September, but has since not renounced at all terrorism as a legitimate political tool in the revolution. He also continues to allow members of the FARC, of ETA, and indeed eight Americans who were involved in terrorist activities in the '70s and '80s in our country to remain as guests of the Cuban Government.

For that reason, and the fact that it's not renounced its commitment to terrorism, it remains on the list. It's not just for political reasons, but for those reasons.

QUESTION: I take it, by your omission of any plots or even suspicions of plots, you -- the State Department has nothing to link Cuba to terrorist attacks?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: We have nothing at the unclassified level that I'm prepared to address in this forum that would answer your question.

QUESTION: There's interesting language in about five of the seven state sponsors on terrorism. Two of them you say are making significant headway; three others are sending -- while they have mixed signals, there are positive developments. Are you seeing a broader trend that there is movement by the traditional state sponsors away from the kind of activities for which they have become most noted?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Certainly the reason we designate state sponsors is to put them on notice that we want them to change their behavior. Indeed, Sudan, as an example, has been working with us in counterterrorism cooperation for some time. They remain on the state-sponsored list because they continue to have some elements of Hamas and PIJ that are in Sudan. But the fact is, they are working to try to change their past practices of the use of terrorism as a tool of state policy.

That's why we list them. That's why we want them to change their behavior. And it takes much more than just talk, though, to be removed from the list. In order to be removed from the list, a nation has not only to renounce terrorism, but to demonstrate conclusively that no longer will it use terrorism as a tool, and none of the state sponsors has sufficiently indicated that to give us a reason to want to take them off the list.

QUESTION: On Sudan, the Report also says that al-Qaida has -- remains in Sudan, and that it's using it as a base of logistics. On the record, the State Department Spokesman at one point said that Sudan had handed over some of these operatives, and there's been a lot of information also in the press regarding this. Could you sort of square the circle here? Do you really believe that al-Qaida is operating in Sudan right now?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I believe that the Sudanese are working very closely with us against the al-Qaida problem, and that the statement that's in our Patterns is not inconsistent with what the State Department Spokesman said about their past cooperation with us.

QUESTION: I wonder if you could be more specific about what you think IRA members were doing in Colombia when they were arrested. And I wonder if you can tell me what the status of the legal appeal by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement against listing as a Foreign Terrorist Organization; what's happened to that appeal?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Well, I won't get into the specifics of the Colombian case against the three IRA members that were arrested and are currently being detained for trial in Colombia, except to say that it's clear that they were assisting the FARC in training and that the FARC's ability to conduct bombing operations and other such operations has improved significantly in the last six to nine months.

We have found no direct connection between those individuals that were arrested in Cuba -- I'm sorry, in Colombia. One was from Cuba. Connelly was the IRA representative in Cuba before he went to Colombia, back to the broader IRA. That would certainly be of concern to us, but we found no link.

As far as the lawsuit to be removed from the terrorist list, I think you'd have to discuss with Justice where we are in that. I'm not quite sure where we are in that process.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) the context of the threat of new terrorist attacks in the U.S. Are you concerned, because the disappearance of almost seven tons of cyanide in Mexico in a truck that had been assaulted? Have you talked to the Mexican Government? Do you have any concern about it?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Well, we're always concerned when anything of -- with that kind of danger associated goes out of control, and certainly we are in contact with the Mexican Government on that in terms of their investigation into that particular incident.

I think the thrust of your question, though, that I'd like to respond to is the fact that many administration officials have indicated we are very much concerned about another attack against America from al-Qaida or al-Qaida-related elements. And that's what we're working our darndest on trying to preclude. And so such instances as this give us concern that we work with our partners on to resolve so that that doesn't present itself as a problem, not only in Mexico, but in our own country.

QUESTION: But do you have any fear that maybe this cyanide can end in the hands of terrorist groups or --

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Well, as I said, we're concerned that it get back under control of people who are responsible. And whether I'm concerned about it ending up in terrorist or criminal or people- that-don't-know-what-they-have hands, what I am concerned with is getting it back under control. And that's the focus of the Mexican authorities in their investigation of that incident, and I think that's the appropriate focus.

QUESTION: Ambassador, you say that al-Qaida is seeking to relocate and regroup around the world. I wanted to see if you could share some thoughts about where you think they're regrouping, how many people are involved in that effort, and where the hot spots are right now.

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Al-Qaida lost its stronghold in Afghanistan, and our military operations there were quite effective in destroying its infrastructure and its ability to train. And therefore, they had to find other places to try to regroup those that were able to get away, and they weren't that many.

But the other part of what you need to understand is that al-Qaida operates in about -- it was 60 countries when we first started talking about it; we've mentioned arrests in 95 countries. Al-Qaida has an infrastructure throughout the world, and now our challenge is to use our law enforcement and our intelligence capacity to root out that infrastructure that is buried in many countries around the world. We've been somewhat successful with 1,600 arrests to date. But now our challenge is to find out the others that we've not located so that we can bring those people to justice and not allow them to carry on with their terrorist activities against the US and our coalition partners.

QUESTION: Can I follow up?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: What's the fate of the 1,600? Where are they, how many have been tried, convicted?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: There are 1,600 under arrest and in various stages of judicial review by the countries that have them arrested, and I wouldn't go any further into their status at this point.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask about Libya. You have praised the Libyans; you note that they've taken important steps. You mentioned some of the things that they need to do. If Libya were to satisfy these requirements in terms of paying compensation, accepting responsibility, fully disclosing all it knows about the bombing, would you expect that Libya might move toward being removed from the list, and is that your hope?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I don't want to speculate on, you know, what-ifs for the future. Libya understands very clearly what our expectations are in terms of their responding to the UN Security Council resolutions and compensating the families for the Pan Am 103 bombing, to renounce terrorism, to take responsibility for the acts of members of the Libyan Government. And until that happens, we're not even going to talk about any future possibilities. And they very clearly understand that that's the way we're operating today.

QUESTION: If I could ask another on Tanzim and al-Aqsa. The
Report suggests that they are made up of low-level or street-
level Fatah people, but does not draw any sort of link between
any of these groups and Yasser Arafat. Is that currently your
position that there are no known links between Tanzim and the al-
Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Yasser Arafat?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: We've made it very clear that there are
members of Tanzim that are also members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigade. That's not a secret. What we have not been able to
determine or to make a final judgment on is how far up and who in
the PA may be or could be or had been directing this activity. We
have not found that linkage.

But clearly we have said that there are elements of Tanzim,
indeed Fatah, that have been involved in the terrorist activities
of al-Aqsa. That is why we've been very, very straightforward
with Chairman Arafat that within the Palestinian areas that he
has control and over the Palestinians that he has control, we
believe he can do much more to control the activity of those
groups that are involved in terrorism.

QUESTION: Ambassador Taylor, have you seen the documents that the
Israelis provided to the press, and according to them, this
government? And do you agree that the documents that they say
have Yasser Arafat's handwriting giving money to individual
members of these organizations are authentic, or are you trying
to determine their authenticity?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Well, we don't have any question about the
authenticity of the documents provided by the Israeli Government.
We are continuing to study those documents and to draw our own
conclusions about what they mean. We've not completed that.

QUESTION: I have two questions. One, staying in the Middle East,
you mention here that Jewish extremists attacked Palestinian
civilians and their properties in the West Bank. Why don't you
refer to them as terrorists, as the definition says originally?

And you talk about unspecified number of Palestinian civilians
were also killed in the strike. Does this go under the category
of state terrorism, and why does it go under that definition?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Well, actually, the Jewish extremists -- we
have designated Kach and Kahane Chai as a terrorist organization
for their activities against Palestinians in Israel and in the
Palestinian territories. Because we don't say they're terrorists
-- you know, I call a terrorist by people who use indiscriminate
violence, individuals that use indiscriminate violence to kill
innocent civilians. And in that regard, these people are every
bit as much terrorists as people who strap on dynamite and walk
into crowded restaurants and blow themselves up. There's no
distinction.

QUESTION: It's coming out in the news that there was a meeting,
possibly April or early March, in Beirut with various groups,
including al-Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah and so forth. Why, if these
groups are independent of any particular government, are we
starting to put some sanctions on Syria and the Lebanese
Government for even holding that meeting in Beirut?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I saw the press accounts, and I'm not prepared
to go any further in terms of those accounts and their truth or
the veracity of those accounts. We have told Syria how we feel
about their behavior and the use of state -- we've designated
them as state sponsors of terrorism. I don't know how else we can
demonstrate how we feel about their behavior in that region.

With regard to Lebanon, we have been very straightforward with
the Lebanese Government. Indeed, they have been helpful to our
global campaign on working against al-Qaida. We do have a
difference with Lebanon on the issue of Hezbollah. The Lebanese
Government sees Hezbollah as freedom fighters. We see them as
terrorists. And indeed, we believe that we can't distinguish from
the political arm of Hezbollah from the terrorist arm of
Hezbollah.

But we are continuing to press that issue with the Lebanese
Government with a view towards continuing that dialogue, towards
hopefully some conclusion that will end Hezbollah's terrorist
activities in the Middle East.

QUESTION: What's your best estimate of the number of Qaida
suspects who are still out there who have not been arrested? What
is your best estimate of the number of people who went through
the training camps in Afghanistan or somewhere else? And is there
some overlap?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I don't even want to begin to speculate on
that number because I've heard numbers ranging from 10,000 to
30,000, and everything in between. The fact is, when we've
arrested them all and there's no more al-Qaida terrorism, we'll
know what that number is. And just the fact that we so far have
1,600 that have been arrested outside of Afghanistan, and we've
had very significant success on the battlefield in Afghanistan
against Taliban and al-Qaida soldiers, is an indicator of kind of
how widespread their reach may be.

I don't think we understood probably as well as we do today with
what we've gathered from intelligence and the arrests how
widespread this network was that bin Laden was building prior to
9/11.

QUESTION: Can you just give us your best estimate of how many
went through the training camps at the --

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I don't have a hard number for you on that.
I'd be speculating if I were to give you that.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) any specific meeting that a lot of
terrorist groups (inaudible). Could you talk about your concerns
over collusion between al-Qaida and other typically Middle East,
Israel-based groups, and whether you think that there's an
increase of vulnerability of the US to be subject to attacks by
Hamas or Hezbollah?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Well, so far both Hamas and Hezbollah have
said that they wouldn't attack US targets. I don't believe what
any terrorist says about what they will or will not do, because
indeed violence is their business, and when violence fits their
objectives, they will use it against any target that meets their
objective.

Bin Laden attempted to hijack the Palestinian issue after 9/11,
and it's clear that that has not had great resonance. It still
does not have great resonance within the Middle East. Indeed,
most responsible Islamic clerics have distanced themselves in
Islam from any sort of sanctioning of what bin Laden and al-Qaida
have been involved in.

Indeed, our partners in the Middle East are still very much a
part of our global campaign against terrorism. We've got
challenges with regard to their views in the Middle East peace
process, but that has not dissuaded them from working with us on
the al-Qaida problem.

So I don't know that there is -- I'm always concerned about
fellow travelers deciding that there's a need to get together,
but I haven't seen an indication of that. But I'm also concerned
that terrorist groups, by their very nature, use terror to meet
their objectives, and that they can shift on a moment's notice,
if that meets their need.

QUESTION: Ambassador, what about Cuba and biological weapons,
given the prominence that John Bolton gave to his allegations a
few weeks ago, that Cuba was in fact proliferating some of this
technology? Why is it not in the report?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: We were not -- we did not focus, let's say, at
that point as we wrote that on Cuba's involvement with biological
weapons. It doesn't mean that it's something that we're not
concerned with. Indeed, Cuba has been involved in some -- the
beginnings of some biological research and has shipped some dual-
use technology to other countries. The fact that it's not in our
Report today does not in any way diminish our concern over what
we're beginning to see in terms of their involvement in that
area.

QUESTION: Back to Latin America, specifically to Venezuela.
President Chavez was accused to have contact with the Colombian
guerillas. To Cuba, to Iraq and some terrorists (inaudible) are
living in Venezuela. What is the position -- do you know the
position? Is Venezuela ready to collaborate to the USA in the
fight against terrorism?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Certainly Venezuela has from the beginning
been forthcoming in its support for our campaign against
terrorism. We've made it very clear, though, that we are
concerned about FARC that may be in Colombia. But there is no
indication, and I'll have to check my expert, on direct
governmental support for FARC elements that may be in --
operating in Venezuela.

So from our perspective, Venezuela is committed and we want to
ensure that all countries within Central and South America are
equally committed, or remain committed, against the kind of
terrorist groups like the FARC, like the ELN, and their
operatives that may be operating within those countries.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) on which groups North Korea is said in the
Report to help with arms transfers? Or have you?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I will not go into specifics on that, except
to say while the JRA continues to be there, there are no longer
members of the JRA continue to be in North Korea. But I won't go
specifically into other groups that North Korea may be
supporting.

QUESTION: Can I just follow up (inaudible)? It seems like
(inaudible) North Korea has made some statements after September
11th and (inaudible) been a recent opening maybe, that the
outlook still looks pretty grim. Is that fair to say, and the
State Department doesn't have a very optimistic outlook on
whether North Korea's relations are improving with the US?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Well, we've certainly offered to conduct
dialogues with North Korea, and we're waiting for them to
respond. I don't think we've written off any country in the world
in that regard, and certainly we want to talk to them on
terrorism and other issues of bilateral or multilateral concern
with the South Koreans.

QUESTION: Could you update us on two fronts with Saudi Arabia,
one being our joint investigation into the charities that are
linked to al-Qaida? And the other -- they recently made a pledge
that their money for the families of suicide bomb victims, or
families of suicide bombers would not be distributed through
Hamas and would not be used as an incentive in some way to
continue those kinds of attacks; can you update us on that?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Certainly. As you mentioned, when Secretary
O'Neill was in Saudi Arabia he concluded an agreement for joint
designation of a couple of charities that we were going to work
together with the Saudis, which was a major breakthrough in our
ongoing law enforcement and financial terrorism cooperation with
the Saudis. And that's continuing to go very well.

The Saudis have also made it very clear that -- and certainly the
humanitarian situation in the Palestinian areas is such that
charitable use or charities need to be responsive to the
humanitarian needs in those areas. They've also -- they are also
very concerned, as are we, that that money not be diverted, and
are working very diligently, both with us and through their own
channels, to ensure that that money, that it does go for
charitable operations, indeed ends up where it's supposed to go
and not in the hands of people that will divert it.

Indeed, if I could take that question and expand it to the global
fight on terrorism and the work that our Treasury Department has
been so brilliantly leading, one of the challenges of going after
terrorist financing is that terrorists, like criminals, attempt
to co-opt legitimate charities, legitimate organizations and
create a cancer within those organizations to fund their
activities. And our challenge is to not destroy the tremendous
work that charities and NGOs do around the world on humanitarian
issues, while focusing like a laser on the cancer perhaps within
those organizations that may or may not be known to the
leadership of that charity, that money that is being diverted for
nefarious uses by terrorist organizations.

QUESTION: Do you believe at any point that the Saudi money that
was going to the Palestinian families for humanitarian purposes
was diverted?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I believe that any money can be diverted if
you don't pay attention to it. And I believe that terrorist
organizations, just like criminal enterprises, can bore into any
legitimate enterprise to try to divert money for illegitimate
purposes. I'm not going to speak specifically to Saudi Arabia or
to our own charities in this country. We are very much concerned
and want to work with NGOs to make sure that that doesn't happen.

QUESTION: Can I follow up?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: On the issue of Saudi Arabia, the Report in general is
rather positive about cooperation. And yet, as I recall, I think
there are some outstanding cases, such as Khobar, which still
have not been resolved. So that's one question.

And the second is, are you satisfied that Saudi Arabia is now
doing everything it possibly can to facilitate US investigations
into terrorism, in which Saudi Arabia played a role in some --

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I'm very satisfied that the Saudi Government
is doing everything that we have asked them to do in regard to
the campaign against terrorism. I think it's -- the President,
when he started this campaign, he said, you know, it's going to -
- every country is going to give according to their ability;
every country can participate in a way that meets its needs that
is consistent with its ability to participate. And really, the
beauty of this campaign has been -- and it's also about capacity-
building -- some countries would if they could, but they can't
because they don't have the capacity. And our challenge is
identifying those areas where capacity may be lacking -- not
will, but capacity -- and investing in capacity to improve it so
that the country can respond.

Indeed, one of the most important parts of this campaign that
people tend not to think about is UN Security Council Resolution
1373, and the fact that the UN has now called on the world as a
whole to improve its financing of terrorism monitoring
capability. Well, most nations outside the 40 members of the FATF
struggle to get there. But what the UN Security Council
Resolution 1373 will do will create an opportunity for the world
to invest in that capability in other places around the world to
close the seams.

I talk a lot about seams. I'm a football fan. I went to Notre
Dame, so we think about football, and I use football analogies.
But terrorists operate in the seams that are created like when
you play zone defense, and the way quarterbacks exploit a zone
defense as you have your receiver run a route down the seam and
you hope the two defensive backs don't communicate. Well, that's
what terrorists do. And this campaign is about closing those
seams, about improving capacity that don't allow that to happen,
be it in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else in the world.

QUESTION: Well, on that -- along those lines, what do you make of
the fact that the European Union hasn't been able to convince all
its members to put some groups on their terrorism list that we
have on ours? France continues to block Hezbollah -- I mean,
that's --

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: We're working on it.

QUESTION: That's a pretty big gap between us and our closest
allies, wouldn't you say?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Well, we don't agree on -- I mean, even within
our own country, we don't agree every day on everything, in terms
of where we're going to go. The EU is committed, and we are
convinced that they are committed, to working with us to get the
designations done.

Now, that's 15 countries; we're one. That's a little bit a bigger
challenge than just us trying to do it ourselves. But I'm not
worried that in the long term we're going to get there. And it
doesn't happen overnight, but it happens through sustained,
committed diplomacy and other actions that continue to sustain
the political will to make these things happen. And we're going
to get there.

QUESTION: What can you say to countries who are victims of
terrorism who argue that the US has a double standard in terms of
it's doing all it can to root out terrorism in Afghanistan, with
al-Qaida and the Taliban, but that the US has a different
standard for countries such as Israel, or recently India, who
just suffered a terrorist attack, that the US urges more
restraint in terms of their abilities to combat terrorism?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Well, I don't think that there is a one-size-
fits-all kind of approach to terrorism. Each circumstance demands
a thorough review of what the tools are that you have to apply.
And clearly, that's why the President announced that this
campaign would be about the use of our military, law enforcement,
diplomacy, financial and intelligence powers in a coordinated
way, because every time you turn around, it isn't the military
that's going to solve the problem. Perhaps the problem is going
to be solved through law enforcement; perhaps the problem is
going to be solved through a political dialogue, using diplomacy.

So all those tools are available to every country to try to work
through the "terrorism problem" that they're experiencing. One
size doesn't fit all. And what we try to do is work with those
countries to see what is the best tool to use. It's not a double
standard; it just means that you don't have to sometimes, in my
military days, swat a fly with a howitzer in order to solve the
problem.

QUESTION: Do you know how many countries have not complied with
UN Resolution 1373?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I can't tell you specifically, but I can get
that information for you. How many countries -- when you say not
complied, you mean -- a lot of countries haven't complied because
they don't have the capacity; but the specific number of
countries that have not responded, I don't have that on my
fingertip, but I can get that information for you.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) of 50?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I don't know the answer to that, but I can
find that information for you.

QUESTION: Ambassador, going back to Mexico, I would like to ask
you, some time ago, Mexico used to be a kind of safe haven for
some terrorists coming out from Spain, Chile or Argentina. Have
you seen any signs that maybe show the operation of some
international terrorists in Mexico?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: No.

QUESTION: And I also would like to ask you, how critical do you
think is the cooperation of Mexico in this struggle against
terrorism?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Absolutely critical, not only as our neighbor
but as a key part of the international community. One of the real
points of our Report this year is to focus on the global
community and how everyone needs to be a part of the campaign in
order to be successful. Afghanistan is a problem because they
failed to meet international norms for policing itself and
allowing these sorts of activities to occur. And so every country
is important. Every country's capacity is important for the
eventual success that we will have in concluding this campaign.

QUESTION: Reported by a Korean news agency today, US army base in
South Korea threatened by terrorists during the Korean soccer
games. Do you have any information on that?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: I don't have any specific information, but
certainly any major event like the World Cup in Korea and Japan
would be a perfect venue for a terrorist group or organization to
attempt to make a political statement, and we are working very
closely with Korean authorities and Japanese authorities to
ensure that those games remain as safe as all the other
international sporting events have been in the past. But no
specific information in that regard.

QUESTION: As you know, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has
changed a lot since the year ended when this period for the
Report ended. And I'm wondering if you could assess the conflict
now as it is different from the end of the reporting period and
how you rate the West Bank and Gaza in terms of its terrorism
actions.

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: Well, we've made it quite clear to Chairman
Arafat that we want him to exercise the control -- exercise
leadership and control terrorists that are operating from within
the West Bank and from elements of Tanzim or Fatah that he has
some control over. Has he done enough yet? No. We're not
satisfied that it's complete. We recognize he probably can't stop
it all. Hamas and Hezbollah have rejected any sort of peace with
Israel. But to the extent that he can do that within the
Palestinian territories, we think he needs to continue to work
hard. And there have been encouraging signs that he has made in
the recent past few days, but no, we're not there yet.

QUESTION: A couple questions on Iraq. Do you know of any
significant tie between Iraq and al-Qaida? And secondly, do you
see a trend of growing Iraqi support for Palestinian groups that
are fighting Israel?

AMBASSADOR TAYLOR: We are continuing to investigate -- there was
a report that Mohammed Atta had met an Iraqi in Prague, and we
are continuing to investigate that. As of now, that has not been
confirmed, and so the immediate answer to your question is I
don't know of any direct connection.

We are concerned obviously with any government that would reward
or attempt to use the conflict in the Middle East to reward
people for conducting suicide attacks, which the Iraqis have
announced that they would pay families $10,000 to $25,000 to do
that. That is not helpful in the Middle East peace process. Iraq
also supports the MEK, the Mujahedin-e Khalq that operate into
Iran, actively continues to support that. So they are still
involved in supporting terrorist activities as we speak, and of
course that's why they remain on the state-sponsored terrorism
list.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your time.