Terrorism Released

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It is the locating, identifying and capturing of terrorists that is supposed to be the hard part of the war on terror. As soon as a suspect is in custody, the tables are meant to turn as interrogators get tough on the terrorist. However, in the Philippines last week, as self-confessed Indonesian bombmaker Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi and two Abu Sayyaf kidnap-gang members strolled out of a supposedly high-security prison cell on July 14, we were reminded yet again that this war is only as effective as the most hapless institution drafted into the fight.

Indeed, Metro Manila's Camp Crame prison may well be the least secure high-security facility in the world. According to police director Eduardo Matillano, al-Ghozi's cell was so badly constructed that the door could be bent open by hand. A former Abu Sayyaf member working as a janitor gave al-Ghozi details of the best escape route. Before dawn, when al-Ghozi slipped out of the cell and walked out of the prison, one contingent of guards assigned to the nominally high-security block had fallen asleep while another detail had been dispatched outside the prison on a shopping mission. Even then, guards could have reacted quickly to a tip-off from another inmate, but they ignored the information about the break.

Manila's Today newspaper on July 17 responded in an editorial, declaring "the police forces of the Philippines are a joke." But no one in Asia is laughing about al-Ghozi being at large. The 32-year-old is the chief bombmaker for Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the regional grouping of Islamic radicals blamed for the devastating blasts in Bali last October as well as a slew of other explosions. According to academic Zachary Abuza, author of a new book about al-Qaeda in the region: "At a time when they've been lying low and licking their wounds because a number of top JI commanders have been arrested, an escape like this is a wonderful gift for their internal propaganda."

Perhaps even worse is the impact on regional cooperation, a critical component in the war on terror that had just begun to flower after years of institutional inertia and international distrust. "Who is going to trust intelligence or anything else with the Filipinos now?" asks Abuza. Evidence has mounted recently that JI is continuing to plan bomb attacks from Thailand to Indonesia. Now the organization's master bombmaker is back, rested and ready to roll. The region might pay in lives for the negligence of one Manila prison.