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Threat Assessment I: Terrorist Activity Significantly Reduced Last Year, U.S. State Department Says By Mike Nartker The report, Patterns of Global Terrorism, found that terrorists last year conducted 199 attacks, a 44 percent decrease from the 335 attacks reported in 2001. The report also found that terrorist attacks claimed significantly fewer lives last year than in the previous year. In 2002, 725 people were killed by terrorist attacks, compared with 3,295 fatalities suffered in 2001 — the majority of those caused by the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, according to the report. The last time the number of terrorist attacks decreased below 200 was in 1969, Cofer Black, State counterterrorism coordinator, said yesterday at a press conference to release the report. “This is a remarkable achievement,” he said. Black credited the reduced number of terrorist attacks to several factors, including increased security measures throughout the world and the arrest of a large number of terrorist suspects, including more than 3,000 suspected al-Qaeda operatives in more than 100 countries. “Lastly, I would credit the overall post-9/11 worldwide security environment,” Black said. “Nations are on guard against terrorism. They are sharing intelligence and law enforcement information, they are arresting suspects, they are thwarting attacks,” he said. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday also praised international efforts to reduce acts of terrorism. “I am pleased to report that unprecedented progress has been made across the international community,” Powell said. “Nations everywhere now recognize that we are all in this together; none of us can combat terrorism alone. The global threat demands a global response. Concerted action is essential, and together we are taking that concerted action,” he said. The report also maintains the current U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism — Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria and Sudan. “Despite significant pressure from the U.S. government,” the report says, these countries “did not take all the necessary actions to disassociate themselves fully from their ties to terrorism in 2002.” Out of the seven countries, Iran was considered to be the most active state sponsor of terrorism last year, according to the report. It notes the efforts of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security to plan and support terrorist attacks, as well as Iran’s encouragement of anti-Israeli activities. The report also says Iran had a “mixed” record of combating al-Qaeda last year, noting Tehran’s detention of some al-Qaeda operatives while providing a safe haven for others. While Iran, Iraq and North Korea did little last year to support antiterrorism efforts, the State report noted the efforts of Libya, Syria and Sudan to combat terrorism, adding that more still needed to be done. “Syria and Libya have continually indicated that they wish to aid the United States in the conflict against terrorism and have curtailed their sponsorship activities,” the report says. “Their cooperation remained deficient in other areas, however,” it added. Even before the Sept. 11 attacks, Sudan had begun to increase its antiterrorism cooperation with the United States, according to the report. It highlights Sudan’s continued efforts, including its subscription to 11 of the 12 international protocols against terrorism and its efforts to end a 20-year civil war that helps make the country a safe haven for terrorist groups. “They have made very good progress. We’re very pleased,” Black said yesterday, referring to Sudan. “There is a ways to go yet,” he said. Black also said that Powell has recommended to U.S. President George W. Bush that Iraq be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism now that ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is no longer in control of the country. The State Department plans to also propose to Congress that Iraq be removed from the list, he said. Powell yesterday held up Iraq as “an example of a state transformed” from a supporter of terrorism to a possible force for security and stability in the Middle East. “To the region and the world, Iraq can become an example of a state transformed,” Powell said. “Instead of a threat to international peace and security, it can now become a contributor to regional and international peace and security,” he said. Powell warned, however, that even with the successes won over the last year in the war on terrorism, both in reducing the number of attacks and in reducing state sponsorship of such attacks, terrorist organizations still posed a threat to the United States. “Even as I speak, terrorist are planning appalling crimes and trying to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction,” Powell said. “We cannot and will not relax our resolve, our efforts and our vigilance,” he said.
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