CNN is one of many news agencies reporting that Al Qaeda is the strongest that it has been since 9-11-01.
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Al Qaeda is the strongest it has been since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a new U.S. government analysis concludes, according to a senior government official who has seen it.
Despite a campaign of military action and counterterrorism operations, al Qaeda has regained its strength and found safe haven in the tribal areas of Pakistan, the report says, according to counterterrorism officials familiar with the report.
The five-page intelligence analysis remains classified and was prepared for senior U.S. policymakers. It was not issued in response to a specific threat.
Two intelligence officials said the report’s finding are similar to what is expected to be in the National Intelligence Estimate anticipated to be released later this summer. The NIE is the intelligence community’s collective analysis of pressing national security issues.
The White House’s view is that “over the past six years, we have prevented attacks from al Qaeda by taking the fight to them,” a senior administration official said. “But they are an enemy that adapts.”
Am I the only one who is furious about this. I don’t want to hear that they are growing in strength. I want to read about how we have placed a stranglehold upon their neck and a boot in their ass.
It reminds me a of a scene from The Untouchables:
Capone: I want you to get this fuck where he breathes! I want you to find this nancy-boy Eliot Ness, I want him DEAD! I want his family DEAD! I want his house burned to the GROUND! I wanna go there in the middle of the night and I wanna PISS ON HIS ASHES!
I have written about Al Qaeda on numerous occasions including this post from earlier in the week. I haven’t any compunction about calling them evil because they are. But they are also smart, resourceful, patient and very dangerous. You don’t play games with people like this.
It is like cancerous tumor. You go in and remove it and then use aggressive treatment to see that it doesn’t return. We have to do better than this.
Michael,
Quite true.
PT,
It does make me shake my head.
Debbie,
I hear you. I don’t have much faith in Musharraf. He is walking a tightrope and I am not convinced that he really is on our side.
They are not as strong as prior to September 11, 2001. But they have grown since the coalition went into Afghanistan. The reason is that Musharraf made a deal with the Taliban. He agreed to keep his military out of the no-man’s land between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the Taliban could take care of al-Qaeda.
We see how well that went. The Taliban have been helping al-Qaeda, and thus they have grown and had free reign in the region.
They can move about freely, get to Islamabad, where they can get flights out to the UK, Germany, and other places that have Visa-Waivers. From there they can get to the US, which also has Visa Waivers for those Eupopean countries.
A straight track to the US. Not very good for us.
Not to mention the fact that plastering their alleged resurgence all over the tops of national syndicates plays right into their hands.
It would take an Administration with an actual moral compass to start pulling a Capone like that on the Islamists.