Embassy Row

’A devastating blow’

The deputy prime minister of Singapore is worried about further erosion of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq after the withdrawal of Spain and two other nations.

Tony Tan, who met congressional leaders and top administration officials in Washington last week, told The Washington Times that terrorists will see a further weakening of the coalition as a victory.

“If it is perceived that the coalition can be driven out of Iraq, it will be a devastating blow to the war on terrorism,” he said.

Singapore is a tiny city-state of 250 square miles on the tip of the Malay Peninsula, but a major economic powerhouse in Southeast Asia. The nation of 4 million is also a strong ally of the United States in the hunt for terrorists, chiefly for its tough money-laundering laws to stop terrorist financing.

Singapore and Malaysia have arrested more than 50 suspected terrorists since 2002 and discovered terrorist cells in Singapore that were planning attacks on U.S. targets.

“In December 2000, we disrupted major terrorist attacks in Singapore that would have resulted in the loss of many American lives,” he said.

Mr. Tan said his government also supplied a small contingent of instructors last year to help train Iraqi police.

“The coalition must see the issue through [and] provide stability [in Iraq],” he said. “There is no reconstruction, there is no investment without stability.”

Mr. Tan met with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and officials at the FBI, CIA, Justice Department and Coast Guard. Mr. Tan, who also serves as Singapore’s defense and security minister, discussed what his nation is doing to protect itself against terrorism.

One of his biggest fears is that pirates who raid shipping in the Strait of Malacca could form partnerships with terrorists.

“Half of the world’s oil and one-third of the world’s trade pass through the strait,” he said.

Pirates are already adopting more sophisticated methods to board freighters and ocean liners by using several speedboats at a time to surround the targeted ships.

“We have been very worried about the increase in piracy,” Mr. Tan said. “Pirates are using more lethal weapons. Their attacks are almost like military attacks.”

If terrorists sank a ship in the strait, global commerce would be crippled, he said.

“It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” he said.

In his talks with U.S. officials, Mr. Tan also discussed efforts to inspect cargo ships to prevent terrorists from planting biological or chemical weapons inside shipping containers.

Through an expanded use of X-ray machines, containers can be inspected before they are loaded aboard the ships, he said. Singapore has one of the world’s largest shipping industries.

“It is not possible to inspect every container after arrival in the United States,” he said, referring to the vast number of containers stacked high at any U.S. port on any given day. “It is possible to inspect every container at the port of departure.”

’No one is immune’

Morocco is normally a peaceful country, but terrorist attacks last year in Casablanca proved that not even the North African Muslim nation is safe from Islamic terror, according to the Moroccan ambassador.

“Morocco is a very safe and quiet country. Unfortunately, this shows no one is immune from terrorism,” Ambassador Aziz Mekouar said on a recent visit to Atlanta.

He said his government is committed to destroying any terrorist cell in Morocco. The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group was linked to the suicide bombings in Casablanca that killed 45 persons, including the 12 terrorists.

Spanish authorities suspect the group, which has ties to al Qaeda, is responsible for the March 11 bombings at train stations in Madrid that killed 191 persons and injured 1,800.

• Call Embassy Row at 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail jmorrison @washingtontimes.com.