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Deep File
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From today's Asia Wall Street Journal.....there has been plenty of debate on this board as to how safe Thailand may be from the threat of terrorist action - here is an update.
Thailand Now Says Terrorists Have Cells in Muslim Provinces
By SHAWN W. CRISPIN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Since the U.S. extended its global war against terror into Southeast Asia, Thailand has consistently denied that any terrorist groups were operating from Thai soil. Now, ahead of a meeting Tuesday in Washington between Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and President Bush, Bangkok is changing its tune.
Last week, Thai Defense Minister Thammarak Isarangura told reporters and Thai lawmakers that foreign-linked terrorist groups, namely followers of the Islamic fundamentalist Wahabi sect, had recently set up terrorist cells and were fomenting unrest in the country's predominantly Muslim southern provinces. Officials from Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command, an army-run security unit, corroborate those claims.
Thailand's southern regions, notoriously volatile after decades of civil war during the 1970s and 1980s, have recently been hit by a new spate of unexplained violence, including the killing of five Thai marines and more than 30 police officers, often with military-assault-style weapons.
And last week, two Thai nationals from a Wahabi sect from the southern Thai province of Yala were arrested in neighboring Cambodia on terrorism charges, specifically that they were conspiring with Jemaah Islamiyah, the al Qaeda-linked group blamed for last year's bombings in Bali, Indonesia.
Until now, Thai officials have consistently attributed instability in the country's south to gangs or bandits, rather than to internationally linked terrorist groups. Mr. Thaksin has lashed out at Western governments which, citing the potential for a terrorist attack against Western targets, have issued heightened travel advisories for Thailand, most recently last month in response to an upgraded Australian government warning.
Some Western diplomats viewed the prime minister's blanket claims then as a government bid to maintain foreign confidence in the Thai economy and its lucrative tourism industry. The U.S., meanwhile, doesn't include any Wahabi-linked groups in southern Thailand on its list of international terrorist organizations, and U.S. Embassy officials in Bangkok have backed official Thai statements playing down any terrorist threats within the country. Now Thailand's official message about potential terrorist threats is changing.
"There is no such thing as a denial syndrome here," says Sihasak Phuangketkeow, spokesman for the Thai Foreign Ministry. "Under the present situation, no country is immune from the threat of terrorism. That's very important."
Significantly, Bangkok's disclosure that terrorist elements are operating in Thailand came on the eve of Mr. Thaksin's trip to Washington and an official meeting with Mr. Bush Tuesday. Topping the two leaders' agenda, along with preliminary discussions about a bilateral free-trade pact, will be Thailand's support for the U.S. war on terror.
Thai-U.S. bilateral relations recently have cooled, mainly because of Mr. Thaksin's refusal to publicly support the U.S.-led war in Iraq. That stance ruffled feathers in Washington, even though Bangkok had secretly given the U.S. Air Force landing rights at Thailand's Vietnam-era U-Tapao air base during both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, U.S. officials say.
There have also been tensions between Thai and U.S. intelligence agencies over how best to conduct covert operations in Thailand, according to Thai counterterrorism officials. Thai officials complain that their U.S. counterparts often push to apprehend terrorist suspects without what the Thais consider sufficient evidence, and in potential violation of the Thai constitution.
Bangkok now appears ready to fall more closely in step with U.S. plans in the region. For example, the Thai government recently vowed not to turn over U.S. citizens facing allegations before the International Criminal Court, agreeing to send them to the U.S. instead, a policy Washington has requested from many of its allies. Meanwhile, Thai lawmakers are rushing through tough new counterterrorism laws, also in line with a recent request from Washington.
"Thailand was considered a nonally during the war in Iraq," says Kraisak Choonhavan, head of the Thai Senate's foreign-relations committee. "There's a concern we could stand to lose something from the U.S. if the government doesn't change its position."
Bangkok-based Western diplomats and senior Thai politicians involved with foreign-affairs matters believe Mr. Thaksin's meeting with Mr. Bush could lay the groundwork for the possible future deployment of troops in Thailand, in line with the U.S. policy of extending its global war on terror into Southeast Asia.
Thailand is also widely seen among diplomats as a potential future base for storing U.S. military equipment, in line with the Pentagon's new "forward positioning" strategy for the region.
"The U.S. wants a greater military presence in the region," says Mr. Kraisak. "They are pushing for a presence here."
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Posted on: 10:23 pm on June 10, 2003
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