For several years, all the talk from the White House about al Qaeda has been unwaveringly positive. We have the terrorists “on the run.” We’ve detained or killed<\/a> “more than three quarters of al Queda’s key members and associates.” We’re winning; they’re losing. We’re getting stronger; they’re getting weaker.<\/p>\n It all sounds very encouraging, except it’s false<\/a>.<\/p>\n Three top U.S. intelligence officials said Wednesday that a resurgent Al Qaeda had stepped up training and worldwide operations from safe havens in Pakistan, a development they worry could lead to ambitious new attacks. […]<\/p>\n Even without seeing indicators of a specific attack, officials said, they do believe that the overall risk from Al Qaeda is rising. The U.S. attacks on Al Qaeda’s former base in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001 severely disrupted Osama bin Laden’s network. But since then, Al Qaeda has rebuilt its headquarters in Pakistan and is more dangerous than at any time since the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a new classified threat assessment.<\/p>\n Kringen said that Bin Laden is being protected by powerful local tribal leaders along the Afghan-Pakistani border and that the safe haven has enabled his network to regroup and rebuild its ability to strike the United States.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Obviously, this is awful, horrifying news. Bush’s foreign policy and national security strategy has been focused for nearly six years on undermining the terrorist threat. At the heart of the president’s strategy is the notion that a war in Iraq will somehow weaken the same terrorist network that was responsible for 9\/11. We’re fighting them there so we won’t have to face them here.<\/p>\n Except the entire strategy has failed. Iraq is a debacle for the ages and al Qaeda is now viewed by U.S. officials as stronger than ever. The very goals the president set out to achieve have produced tragic results.<\/p>\n Naturally, therefore, the Associated Press characterizes these revelations as encouraging news for the White House. The findings could bolster the president’s hand at a moment when support on Capitol Hill for the war is eroding and the administration is struggling to defend its decision for a military buildup in Iraq.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Lee and Shrader don’t point to anything specific; they just assert that a stronger al Qaeda is necessarily the kind of thing that will improve the president’s position in the midst of a debate on Iraq.<\/p>\n Indeed, the same AP feed quotes Tony Snow saying, “The No. 1 enemy in Iraq is al-Qaida,” without pointing out that we already know how completely wrong this is<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\n
\nFrom today’s piece<\/a> by Matthew Lee and Katherine Shrader:<\/p>\n