By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The terrorist attacks on the United States September 11th that killed more than 3,000 people illustrate in a very vivid and stark way the evil that global terrorism represents, says Ambassador Francis X. Taylor, the U.S. coordinator for counterterrorism.

"9/11, in my view, was the first internationally broadcast, live terrorist attack," Taylor said during an interview with the Washington File on the eve of the first anniversary of the attacks. "I think the fact that we continue to have more than 180 countries in our coalition is an indicator of how the world has responded. And that [terrorist attack] has brought us together more than anything else," he said, as has "our commitment to not allow that kind of evil to happen again."

Taylor's Office of Counterterrorism at the State Department -- the lead federal agency dealing with international terrorism -- has primary responsibility for developing, coordinating, and implementing U.S. counterterrorism policy.

Since President Bush announced the war on terrorism and began forming a global coalition in response, 36 nations have participated in military operations with the United States in Afghanistan, Taylor said.

"We've frozen in excess of $125 million in assets around the world -- funds that have been associated with terrorism and terrorist groups, or organizations that support terrorist groups," Taylor said. The freeze pertains primarily to al-Qaida, he said, but funding for other terrorist groups has also been affected.

Likewise, he said international law enforcement agencies have done a remarkable job of arresting more than 2,400 people in more than 90 countries that have helped al-Qaida or are affiliated with the terrorist network.

"Part of what the president announced when we started this was that we have to use all of our resources -- diplomatic, military, law enforcement, intelligence, and financial -- to undermine this global phenomenon called al-Qaida and to neutralize it, and I think we are well on our way," he said.

Taylor said the United States is building toward a world that has a better capacity to cooperate in taking on terrorist groups. "The foundation for our success will be what we've begun to do and what we're continuing to do with our partners around the world in improving the capacity of nations to do effective law enforcement, to gather intelligence, to share that intelligence, and to build the financial intelligence infrastructures that are required in order to identify and interdict finances," he said.

And he said improving capacity will enhance the world's ability to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1373 "which calls on all nations of the world to improve their capacity to work together and to go after terrorists and terrorist groups that would use indiscriminate violence for political purposes."

"Terrorism doesn't spring up overnight, nor does the campaign to end it," he said. "I think the president said it best when he said that this campaign will go on as long as it takes us to rid the world of terrorist groups of global reach that use indiscriminate violence for political purposes."

The U.S. counterterrorism response does not take aim at legitimate political dissent, any religion, or geographic area, Taylor emphasized. Instead, he said, it seeks out individuals who would kill and maim innocent people purely for political purposes.

One of the key challenges in battling terrorism in the international arena has been the problematic nature of defining the term with any precision. The world can work toward an international definition, although whether or not any consensus can ever be achieved, "we know terrorism when we see it," Taylor said.

"When we see people walk into cafeterias with bombs strapped to their bodies, that's terrorism. When we see people fly airplanes into fully occupied buildings, that's terrorism. When people, in the name of revolution, go and cut off the hands and arms of little children in a village to terrorize them, that's terrorism. That's what we need to stop. That's what this campaign is about," he said.

The war on terrorism will be won, Taylor said, when the world delegitimizes terrorist tactics used for political purposes.

"That doesn't mean that there aren't reasons for people to dissent from their government, that is what our country is based on. But dissent doesn't have to result in the murder of innocent people," he said.

Al-Qaida, the international terrorist network responsible for the September 11th attacks, continues to represent a serious security threat to the United States and the global coalition of nations battling terrorism, he said. "We've been successful initially at destroying their infrastructure, their training infrastructure, and their home base in Afghanistan, but in doing that now we have to go find them individually, which is inherently more difficult than having them all in one place," he said.

Al-Qaida has indicated it wants to attack the United States again, and in a much more ferocious way than on September 11th, he said, adding, "We're working very diligently, both within our country and with our partners around the world, to try to undermine al-Qaida and their effort to do that.

"That al-Qaida hasn't done an operation doesn't indicate to me that they aren't trying to do one. Of course they have the advantage of picking the time and place that they will try. It's also clear to me that one reason they want to sustain the propaganda level that they're still viable is to keep recruits coming in."

Taylor said he doesn't know if al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is dead or alive.

"If he's dead, then he's gotten his justice. If he's alive, then we'll find him and bring him to justice. But it isn't about one guy, although he is an important person. It's about an organization of many people who have sworn loyalty to al-Qaida and its objectives," he said.

Taylor expressed no doubt that Iraq-- a designated state sponsor of global terrorism -- has been actively involved in supporting the Intifada and providing money to families of the suicide bombers in attacks on Israel, as well as backing other terrorist groups.

"Indeed, Abu Nidal, one of the most well known terrorists, was a guest of [Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein," he said. "We don't think there's much to refute that Iraq has continued to support terrorist groups and the use of terrorism for political purposes."