The Iraqi Global Deployment : Manila arrest heightens need for anti-terrorism cooperation

Iraq is urging its friends around the world to attack the interests of the United States and other countries that it is now fighting, but Baghdad clearly isn’t depending on spontaneous deeds alone to further its aims.

In the Philippines this week intelligence officials uncovered significant evidence of a terrorist network armed and guided by Iraq’s embassy in Manila and believed to extend throughout Asia. The embassy’s second-ranking official has been kicked out, and several Iraqis have been arrested and deported. Meanwhile, a number of West European countries have ordered Iraqi diplomats to leave for engaging in activities incompatible with their status. One Western intelligence official warns that what has happened in the Philippines is only “part of a global deployment by the Iraqis.”

The palpable risk of Iraqi terrorism does seem to have prompted a high degree of alertness and cooperation among states at risk. That’s all to the good, but the real challenge will be to sustain this sense of purpose once the immediate crisis has passed. Barring a change of heart, or a radical change of government, Iraq will almost surely remain a sponsor of terrorism, one of a number of states that will need close watching.

The Manila episode is further dramatic proof of how diplomatic cover can be used to support terrorism. No one should be surprised. Certain regimes--prominent among them Libya, Syria and North Korea--have long been deeply involved in providing training, passports and money to terrorists, and arming them through their diplomatic missions once they are abroad. Officials in Manila believe that Iraq, under diplomatic cover, may have brought in crates of weapons to distribute to terrorists, including shoulder-fired missiles capable of shooting down commercial airliners.

Whatever the outcome of the battle over Kuwait, continuing efforts at terrorism must be anticipated. International cooperation to reduce that threat is more urgent now than ever.