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| Terror Networks |
| Al-Qaida Comeback - War on terror hasnÂ’t withered the growing group |
| 2007-04-27 |
| For the record... Bruce Reidel, counterterrorism expert INTERVIEW. More than five years into the “war on terror,” al-Qaida has emerged not only relatively unscathed, but larger. Despite failing to launch another attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, it is spreading violence, creating new cells and expanding its sphere of influence around the globe. Counterterrorism expert Bruce Reidel, a former CIA al-Qaida expert who details this assertion in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, spoke to Metro about what the terror group has been up to. You say al-Qaida is more dangerous today than it has ever been. Why? I think if you look at the last five years after the invasion of Afghanistan, what you have to be struck by is the breadth and audacity of al-Qaida and al-Qaida-related operations. Al-Qaida and its sympathizers have struck in Algiers, Casablanca, Madrid, London, in the west as far as Bali and in the east repeatedly at targets in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — not to mention the civil wars that they have helped promote in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most of all, we’ve seen al-Qaida and its Taliban allies rebuild their base of operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. These operations were disrupted by the invasion of Afghanistan, but instead of finishing the job, we turned our attention to Iraq, and they have successfully recovered. Now in Iraq, a place where al-Qaida was really nonexistent six years ago, we have the most successful al-Qaida franchise we’ve ever seen. Are we are more prepared for another attack? There is no question we have devoted more resources in the intell-igence field and homeland security. Our defenses, in that sense, are unquestionably different than they were on Sept. 10, 2001. But the threat comes at you in a lot of different ways. This enemy is innovative and creative. Osama bin Laden has said on many occasions that his objective on 9/11 was to draw the U.S. into the Muslim world and then bog it down in quagmires. His analogy has always been to what the mujahedeen did to the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He sees where we are now in Iraq and Afghanistan as where he wants the American enemy to be: where he can gradually bleed us and wear down our resolve. So what is the solution? We need to develop a grand strategy to attack al-Qaida in many different ways. First and foremost, we need to go after Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and their lieutenants. Second, we need to do more in the battle of ideas. Al-Qaida has been able to exploit the American and British invasion of Iraq. We need a better narrative. We spoiled our narrative with Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Will outlying cells still pose a threat? Al-Qaida is quite happy to allow local groups a fair degree of independence as long as they adhere to the overall ideology of jihadism and striking the far enemy and the near enemy. The most successful [franchise], of course, is the one in Iraq. Now we see a new franchise in North Africa, which just carried out very significant operations in Algiers. That franchise is particularly worrisome because it opens a new avenue for attacking both the United States and Western Europe. How does al-Qaida fund its branches? As best as outsiders can tell, al-Qaida still acquires a considerable amount of money from donors in the Arabian peninsula. There have been estimates that there is as much as $1 trillion in private hands in the various gulf states and Saudi Arabia and some of that money is still continuing to flow to various jihadist causes. Does al-Qaida have a role in Iran? Al-Qaida is a very strict Sunni Islamic organization, and for a strict Sunni Islamist like bin Laden, Iran’s Shia faith is an apostasy. What al-Qaida in Iraq now most fears is not the continuing deployment of U.S. forces but what comes afterward — a Shia-dominated Iraq that is closely aligned with Iran. Al-Qaida in Iraq openly welcomes [a war between Iran and the U.S.] because it sees an opportunity for two of its greatest enemies to take each other out. Bruce Reidel Reidel has followed al-Qaida since American intelligence first became aware of the group in the mid-1990s. His experience in counterrorism began with his first assignment at the Central Intelligence Agency in 1977, when he worked against Fatah founder Abu Nidal. In the 1990s, he was named national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia before moving to the Pentagon to become assistant secretary of defense for the same region. He eventually was brought to the White House during President Clinton’s second term as a special assistant to the president on that region, and held that job through the first 12 months of the Bush administration. |
| Posted by:Cring Chomoper8465 |
| #2 The reason this cockroach infestation is growing is because, after expelling the Soviet Union from Afghanistan, they have now put the United States Democratic Party into a cut and run mentallity. Success leads to growth. |
| Posted by: Uninens Big Foot5550 2007-04-27 23:33 |
| #1 Does al-Qaida have a role in Iran? Al-Qaida is a very strict Sunni Islamic organization, and for a strict Sunni Islamist like bin Laden, Iran’s Shia faith is an apostasy. What al-Qaida in Iraq now most fears is not the continuing deployment of U.S. forces but what comes afterward — a Shia-dominated Iraq that is closely aligned with Iran. Al-Qaida in Iraq openly welcomes [a war between Iran and the U.S.] because it sees an opportunity for two of its greatest enemies to take each other out. This guy is an obvious putz. It is clear that AlQ and the Iranians have reached a relationship of convenience with the common goal of taking down the Great Satan. He either knows this and is not saying it to support the Mighty Al Qaida meme or he is ignorant and in need of several semesters instruction at RB University. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2007-04-27 15:53 |