The Terror Threat Continues

As he prepares for his second term in office, President George W. Bush has to face the fact that the war on terror is not yet won. Despite limited success against terrorist personalities and the terrorist infrastructure linked to al-Qaeda, extremist groups have survived. In Southeast Asia, such groups continue to pose a significant threat to regional and Western targets alike.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, there have been three significant developments among Southeast Asian terrorist groups. First, local jihadists are behaving like al-Qaeda, from which they take their inspiration. Between 2002 and 2004, Jemaah Islamiah (J.I.), the regional...