Experts Urge Heightened Measures to Prevent Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

As the campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan continues to make gains, political leaders in the global alliance against terrorism are pondering ancillary issues, including the containment of weapons of mass destruction and the unraveling of international terrorist networks.

Speakers at a November 30 conference in Washington, DC - entitled Winning the War Against Terrorism: Next Steps - urged the anti-terrorism alliance to expand efforts to prevent weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from falling in to the wrong hands. [For more information, see the EurasiaNet Recaps archive]. If Islamic radical terrorists acquire such weapons, they will not hesitate to use them, said Effi Eitam Fein, a retired Israeli brigadier-general.

"These people [Islamic radical terrorists] have as their strategic goal the destruction of the Western civilization, which they see as secular, lacking spiritual values, and immoral. They are trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction and will use them at the first opportunity," Fein said.

Numerous, albeit primitive, WMD labs in Afghanistan, and drafts of nuclear weapons and blueprints of an anthrax-helium balloon, found in al Qaeda safehouses in Afghanistan, indicate that terrorists already were planning mass attacks. A Pakistani nuclear scientist who cooperated with the Taliban regime, and who is currently in custody in Pakistan, reportedly was involved in the design of the anthrax-helium balloon.

The importance of Russia, Ukraine and other states of the former Soviet Union in the prevention of WMD proliferation, and the necessity of these countries' cooperation in tracking down leaks of deadly technology, is vital. Over the years, the former Soviet Union and its successor states have provided weapons and technology to known terrorist-sponsor states in the Middle East, as well as to North Korea. Speakers at the conference, sponsored by the New Atlantic Initiative of American Enterprise Institute, urged greater cooperation among the defense establishments of the United States, Western Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Middle Eastern countries.

Another important task in containing terrorism is identifying and breaking the links that bind terrorist organizations and their sources of financing. Richard Perle, Chairman of the US Department of Defense Policy Board, cautioned that it would take patience and considerable resources to unravel the terrorist networks, which he described as looking like "boiled spaghetti in a pot." A comprehensive international law enforcement effort needs to be mounted to crack down on narcotics and weapons trafficking, which are important sources of income for many terrorist organizations.

Iain Duncan Smith, the leader of the British Conservative (Tory) party, said anti-terrorism coalition members should now broaden their focus beyond Afghanistan, and look for opportunities to take action against other groups with "global reach." He included in this category the provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), which has waged an over 30-year bombing and terror campaign to force the British out of Northern Ireland.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the IRA received weapons and financing from the Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Qaddaffi, Duncan Smith said. He added that information has recently come to light linking the IRA to the Colombian leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym FARC. IRA operatives reportedly taught FARC insurgents how to handle explosives.

Thus, according to Duncan Smith, provisional IRA can be classified as a "terrorist organization with global reach" - a State Department definition for blacklisting and banning organizations suspected of terrorist activities.

In addition, the anti-terrorism alliance should exert pressure on states to follow Pakistan's example of closing religious schools, or madrassa, that provide military training, suggested Mansoor Ijaz - a New York-based Pakistani-American financier who negotiated a cease-fire with the Kashmiri Islamic radicals. Such schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan have supplied the Taliban and other terrorist organizations with a steady stream of recruits.

The irony, some terrorism experts told EurasiaNet, is that it may be easier to close religious schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan than in Western Europe, where such institutions enjoy legal protections. Panelists at the AEI conference said closing radical madrassa should be framed as a move to prevent incitement to violence. They argued that since radical madrassa often engage in political indoctrination, namely fomenting anti-Western sentiment, their closure should not be considered a religious freedom issue.