Ambassador Francis X. Taylor's Press Conference at the International Conference on Terrorism and Tourism Recovery

Q: Have you established links to the Al-Qaeda, Sir?

A: There are links to Al-Qaeda and JI. But I’m not speaking specifically about recent events that JI may or may not have been involved in. We want the investigation in Bali to continue under the very able leadership of the Indonesian police, and we want the evidence to speak for itself. So, we won’t jump to conclusions about who is involved or the extent of that involvement until the evidence speaks for itself.

Q: Sir, what do you think about the police generals of Indonesia who said that the targets of the Bali bombings were Americans? Are you concerned about the safety of Americans anywhere in Southeast Asia?

A: I’m not familiar with those comments. Certainly we are concerned about the safety of Americans anywhere in the world where terrorist groups would target them. And clearly we have put out a warning to Americans in Southeast Asia about the potential for terrorist attack from many elements that may operate in this region.

Q: Do you have information that Al-Qaeda is funding Jemaah Islamiya and to what extent?

A: I’m not in a position, at this point, to go into specifics of the relationship between JI and Al-Qaeda, except to say that there are well known linkages between the two organizations and its leaders. And that’s the extent of my comments on that.

Q: Regarding MILF, what are your definite plans? Do you intend to include them in the foreign terrorist organization list or other terrorist organizations?

A: We don’t discuss publicly our intentions on any organization around the world. Our support is for President Arroyo and her efforts to work out an agreement, a peace agreement, with the MILF. We believe that putting terrorists or people involved in terrorist activities or insurgent activities out of that business and into the legitimate political process would always be good business. And we want to support that.

Q: In what countries has Jemaah Islamiya established cells, Mr. Ambassador?

A: JI has been in existence in Southeast Asia for sometime since about the mid-l990s and we know having had arrests in Malaysia, Singapore, and more recently in Indonesia, that they are active in those areas as well as the Philippines.

Q: The State Department has mentioned possible threats in its advisories for anytime from now till the end of the year. Is there something you know about this?

A: There is a general threat from terrorism. I mean, we’ve gone through 9-11. We’ve seen terrorist groups attack innocent people throughout the world and so it should be no surprise that we would have warnings for our people and to our partners around the world about the potential for terrorist activities against Americans or American interests around the world. If we had specific information, we would provide specific information. We don’t have specific information about specific acts of terrorism that we’re protecting against, but there is a generalized threat across the world from Al-Qaeda terrorist organizations against Americans and indeed all the members of the global war against terrorism coalition.

Q: But what’s with the timetable from now until the end of the year?

A: Well, we periodically update all of our warnings. We’ve done for years, so I wouldn’t put any special significance on the time frame that’s put in there. We’ll continue to assess it and, when appropriate, we will change it to reflect our knowledge of what the threat is and where it emanates from.

Q: Sir, the US Embassy has cancelled the Memorial service on Veteran’s Day next week. What’s the basis for the cancellation?

A: I have to turn to…

(Ambassador Ricciardone responding):

You can read it all in our website. We just issued a Department of State Worldwide Warning and the message we sent out to the American community here just a week or so ago. We had warned Americans to stay away from large crowds, public places where there wasn’t any ability to protect them. In the case of the cemetery ceremony that was scheduled, that was going to be another public thing that we felt that we were unable to secure properly. There was nothing more about that. It’s consistent with our previous waning. That’s all.

Q: Only in Manila or other…?

A: (Ambassador Ricciardone again)

Just that one ceremony in the cemetery. That one event. It was a warning to the American community planning on gathering for that event, but we’re not going to hold the event. That’s all.

Q: Would the US consider giving more specific warnings to its nationals and their other interests? Because earlier that’s what travelers were complaining about that the warnings are so general and that they would want more specific warnings?

A: Of course if we had specific information about a specific terrorist event, we would not undermine that event. So, I’m not sure that a more specific warning is going to really be available except that the general threat that we all have from terrorist organizations. By the way, you know, there is general warning within the Philippines about terrorist attacks, but I’m here. There has been a steady stream of senior Americans coming here. We’ve not discouraged Americans from visiting the Philippines. The last check I had there more than a hundred thousand Americans citizens living and working in the Philippines. So, don’t take the threat warning to mean that the American Government is discouraging Americans. We want our people to come and enjoy the Philippines as much as any other part of the world. But we recognize there are parts of the Philippines that are dangerous to Americans so we want them to be aware of that and we want them to be able to make decisions with the full knowledge of the threat and that may be, not only here but in other parts of the world.

(Ambassador Ricciardone responding):

The word warning has popped up a couple of times and I say there is no American threat warning about the Philippines. There is a list of American threat warnings posted in the Department of State website, consular page information for travelers, including twelve or fifteen countries where there are warnings strongly urging people to stay away – defer travel, not go. The Philippines is not on that list. There is no warning to Americans to stay away from the Philippines.

Q: Sir, regarding this conference, is there a new objective that you want to accomplish in this conference?

A: As I mentioned to the conferees the opportunity for nations of like minds to get together and discuss the threat and to develop best practices or methods to attack the threat are always good. In that sense, it’s wonderful to have the opportunity for me to come here and join our partners in Southeast Asia to talk about the threat of terrorism in this region, and most especially to leave this conference with a shared sense of direction for action against terrorist groups that threaten the countries of the region, the economic livelihood, and indeed the people in governments in this region.

Q: With Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya and other groups scattered in different parts of the countries, do you feel that the threat of terrorism is more serious now than before and that the Americans are more vulnerable than before?

A: Well, the threat of terrorism is not just to Americans. Al-Qaeda and those who are adherents to the Al-Qaeda philosophy are also targeting all groups of people that stand in the way of their vision of government that they would want to impose on the world. So, I think we’ve done an excellent job to date of beginning the process of taking on Al-Qaeda and its adherents around the world. Are we at the point where we can declare victory? Absolutely not. Many of the conversations at this conference are about governments’ building capability, institutions, passing laws, enabling law enforcement to be more effective against this worldwide threat. That is demonstrated by Al-Qaeda. So, while we’re quite pleased with the progress of the campaign against terrorism, we have much more work to do before we could all say we’re safe from terrorism and terrorists.

Q: Any reactions Sir to JI’s plans of forming a pan-Islamic state?

A: Any reaction. How would you want me to react? JI is a terrorist organization that uses terrorist tactics to try to impose its political vision on innocent people. That’s why we designated them as a terrorist organization. There is no legitimate reason for anyone who has political aspirations to have concerns about the ways in which they are treated by government to use indiscriminate violence on innocent human beings for that purpose. That’s what JI does. That’s why they have been designated. And that’s why we want to work with the countries in the region, and indeed any place JI is operating, to arrest its members and bring them to justice.

Thank you very much.