Informer plan set to undermine terrorists

Date: 25/03/04

THE bitter surprise for Europe in the wake of the Madrid attacks, which killed 190 and injured some 1,800, was that these atrocious strikes had been planned and carried out by people who actually live on the continent.

Not only has Europe become a target for terror, but it is also at risk from its own citizens, belonging mainly to its Muslim minorities.

According to preliminary findings, the Madrid attacks were not planned by a remote al-Qaeda cell in Afghanistan, but from the very heart of the city.

Reports indicate that they were masterminded by a local terrorist cell probably working on its own initiative - Osama bin Laden's network appears to serve merely as its spiritual model.

The discovery that Europe is under threat from citizens who acquired - or want to acquire - its member states' citizenship and who, behind the façade of living a normal, law-abiding life, plan such attacks, is shocking.

Not least, because this threat cannot be fought by a war against a terror network in a remote country, in the same way as the strikes against the Taliban after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States.

The European Union faces a more complex task, that of deterring people, including those living on its land, from launching such attacks.

For member states to be able to protect their people, they should aim to convince citizens close to terrorist networks that they should pass any information on to the authorities, in order to help unravel plots and prevent attacks.

One interesting proposal is that the Union should create a system of protection of witnesses (or repentants) which would guarantee terrorists-turned -informers that they run no risk of revenge attacks from former comrades by cooperating with the police.

This was an Italian plan presented at last week's meeting on terrorism of home affairs ministers in Brussels.

It is widely acknowledged that the system of protection of Mafia informers (pentiti) has been crucial in helping the Italian police to dismantle the organized crime network.

Such methods helped the police achieve the first breakthroughs in the previously impenetrable Mafia system protected by the omerta (the 'code of silence', that prevented Mafiosi from betraying secrets to the authorities).

Italian Internal Affairs Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said that this system of pentiti protection could help dismantle the terror networks.

“We believe that such a protection system would be crucial for cutting the diabolic umbilical cord between local cells in Europe and al-Qaeda,” one Italian diplomat told this paper.

“It helped Italy to break down the Mafia - it could also help Europe. An extension of the law protecting the pentiti at EU level could encourage confessions of the people involved in those networks.

“But such a law should offer them the prospect of having a decent and safe life elsewhere, after their confessions,” he said.

Pisanu's proposal has already found support in Brussels.

The draft conclusions of the EU summit which starts today (25 March) in the Belgian capital call upon the European Commission to present a proposal for witness protection in the ongoing fight against terrorism.

However, Italian diplomats point out this would fall short of Pisanu's much more far-reaching proposal of 'repentant protection'.

“While this [witness protection] would offer protection to those who have, voluntarily or not, been in contact with members of terror networks, it is not very clear if it covers explicitly those who have been actively involved in the planning of such attacks,” one said.

“I wonder if the incentive for them to defect is as strong.

“It would definitely be a first step, but would it catch those who are stricken with remorse for planning terrible things against the society where they live?”.

Such a witness protection programme was famously introduced in Ireland to protect Charles Bowden, the man who revealed information about the murder of Veronica Guerin, a journalist shot in 1996 in the wake of her reporting on drug dealers.

Bowden was the first man to give evidence under the country's witness protection programme - which has only been used a few times since its introduction in 1997.

Witnesses who decide to cooperate with the police - and are under threat for doing so - are normally given new identities and homes abroad, along with their families.

One German official points out that “such operations are very expensive and can only be used scarcely”.

“Setting up new identities, housing, jobs for witnesses and [their] families and making sure that no trace would ever lead to them is a sophisticated operation.”

The official explains that in all countries where it is used, the system is aimed mostly at obtaining accomplice evidence in organized crime cases.

“So it would fit very well as an instrument for fighting terrorism, which functions on the same principles.”

However, such a programme could only be effective if witnesses are willing to be relocated.

This means breaking links with their communities or friends and starting a new life in a strange place.

While this might be an acceptable option for an individual faced with the alternative of a jail sentence, it is unlikely to attract potential suicide bombers, who are ready to blow themselves up to kill others.

While a witness protection programme could be one way of clamping down on terrorism, other ways will have to be found to prevent people from joining such networks, or carrying out attacks.

The EU should be treating the roots of terrorism, as Dominique de Villepin, the French foreign minister, admitted on Monday (22 March) in Brussels.

Increasing security “doesn't produce more security” and is not going to stamp out terrorism, he said.

While this is necessary to protect people, it is by no means sufficient.

The European Union should endeavour, in the long term, to solve the conflicts which fuel the hatred and frustration.

Article considers the proposal that the European Union should create a system of protection of witnesses for terrorists who turn police informant, so that they do not risk revenge attacks from former accomplices.