When it comes to combating global terrorism, going after al Qaeda with as much aggression and tenacity as possible is an obvious no-brainer. The terrorist network was directly responsible for the attacks of 9/11, among others, and has reportedly been a top administration target for the last five years.
Except, like the rest of the Bush gang’s goals, the administration is coming up short here, too. Iraq is a failure; Afghanistan is failing; and al Qaeda is getting stronger, not weaker.
Senior leaders of Al Qaeda operating from Pakistan have re-established significant control over their once-battered worldwide terror network and over the past year have set up a band of training camps in the tribal regions near the Afghan border, according to American intelligence and counterterrorism officials.
Officials said the training camps had yet to reach the size and level of sophistication of the Qaeda camps established in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. But groups of 10 to 20 men are being trained at the camps, the officials said, and the Qaeda infrastructure in the region is gradually becoming more mature….
“The chain of command has been re-established,” said one American government official, who said that the Qaeda “leadership command and control is robust.”…
Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, told the House Armed Services Committee last week that Al Qaeda “is on the march.” He said, “Al Qaeda in fact is now functioning exactly as its founder and leader, Osama bin Laden, envisioned it,” because, he said, Qaeda leaders are planning major attacks and inspiring militants to carry out attacks around the globe.
During a news conference days before last November’s elections, Bush said of the campaign against Al Qaeda, “Absolutely, we’re winning. Al Qaeda is on the run.”
Apparently not. Five years after 9/11, bin Laden and al Qaeda are right where they want to be, and getting stronger. Can we say the same?
It appears we know where the al Qaeda camps are, but not what to do about it.
The analysts said that North Waziristan became a hub of militant activity last year, after President Musharraf negotiated a treaty with tribal leaders in the area. He pledged to pull troops back to barracks in the area in exchange for tribal leaders’ ending support for cross-border attacks into Afghanistan, but officials in Washington and Islamabad conceded that the agreement had been a failure. […]
[D]ebates within the administration about how best to deal with the threat have yet to yield any good solutions, officials in Washington said. One counterterrorism official said that some within the Pentagon were advocating American strikes against the camps, but that others argued that any raids could result in civilian casualties. And State Department officials say increased American pressure could undermine President Musharraf’s military-led government.
It’s quite an effective war on terror, isn’t it? The terrorist network responsible for 9/11 is getting stronger and better organized, we’re bogged down in a disaster of our own making, and we don’t have any idea what to do about getting at al Qaeda, in part because the terrorists are training in an area run by a purported ally.
Anyone who has any confidence in Bush’s ability to execute an effective counter-terrorism strategy just isn’t paying attention.