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Annan Calls for Broad Measures to Reduce WMD Threat By Jim Wurst UNITED NATIONS — Deterring terrorists from nuclear or other forms of WMD attack requires a comprehensive strategy that both dissuades people from turning to terrorism and improves states’ abilities to prevent acts of terror, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said today. Speaking in Madrid on the first anniversary of the train bombings there that killed 192 people, Annan said, “We live in a world of excess hazardous materials and abundant technological know-how, in which terrorists clearly state their intention to inflict catastrophic casualties.” That such an attack has not happened “is no excuse for complacency,” he said, but rather “it gives us a last chance to take effective preventive action.” Such action “means consolidating, securing, and when possible eliminating potentially hazardous materials, and implementing effective export controls.” He cited work by the Group of Eight, the Security Council, and the U.S.-initiated Proliferation Security Initiative as working “to plug the gaps in the nonproliferation regime.” Another measure states could take would be to “complete and adopt without delay” the draft convention on nuclear terrorism. A nuclear attack would not only kill the people immediately affected by the blast, he said, “but would stagger the world economy and thrust tens of millions of people into dire poverty.” Therefore “any nuclear terrorist attack would have a second death toll throughout the developing world,” he added. Annan and other world leaders are attending the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security. A declaration on cooperation in combating terrorism is expected at the end of the two-day meeting. Combating the threat of bioterrorism requires greater local and national early warning and analytical capacities, Annan said. Because there will soon be “tens of thousands” of laboratories “capable of producing designer bugs with awesome lethal potential,” the best defense is not regulation but “strengthening public health” to ensure that infectious outbreaks — natural or artificial — are discovered and treated early in the outbreak, he said. Returning to a major theme in his analysis of the terror threat, Annan said the world “cannot compromise on the core values” of human rights and the rule of law. “Terrorism is in itself a direct attack on human rights and the rule of law,” he said, “If we sacrifice them in our response, we are handing a victory to the terrorists.” Emphasizing deterrence and cooperation over military action, Annan said a “principled, comprehensive strategy” for combating terrorism must involve “dissuading disaffected groups from choosing terrorism as a tactic” and deterring states from supporting terrorism. Echoing the recommendation of the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, Annan said, “Terrorism is unacceptable under any circumstances and in any culture.” “Groups use terrorist tactics because they think those tactics are effective, and that people, or at least those in whose name they claim to act, will approve,” he added, “Such beliefs are the true ‘root causes’ of terrorism. Our job is to show unequivocally that they are wrong.”
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