WP: Al Qaeda Shows New Signs of Life

[kskiska]

Saturday, August 14, 2004; Page A01

In the more than two years since U.S. forces destroyed al Qaeda's haven and much of its leadership in Afghanistan, many U.S. intelligence officials and terrorism experts had come to believe that other Islamist extremist groups now posed the gravest threat.

From Istanbul to Madrid, local jihadists mounted daring and deadly attacks with little apparent support from Osama bin Laden's crippled network. President Bush and other U.S. officials boasted that two-thirds of al Qaeda's senior leadership had been captured or killed and that those who remained, including bin Laden, were desperate and on the run.

But the wave of arrests and intelligence discoveries in Pakistan in recent weeks that led to a new terrorism alert in the United States caught many U.S. officials and outside experts by surprise. It revealed a network of operatives connected to past al Qaeda operations and aligned with Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the imprisoned mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The new evidence suggests that al Qaeda is battered but not beaten, and that a motley collection of old hands and recent recruits has formed a nucleus in Pakistan that is pushing forward with plans for attacks in the United States, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.
more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63897-2004Aug13.html

[Cerridwen]

1. Wonder who did CPR?

We're about to be attacked.

No we're not.

Yes we are.

No we're not.



Did Hitler do this crap to the Germans?

[Fridays Child]

2. Just in time for the election.

Cooperative, aren't they?

[thebigidea]

3. so, in other words - the same crap they've been telling us for 3 years

[truthisfreedom]

4. did anyone ever ask them why they're so pissed?

did it ever occur to the fooking administration to ask? they love to propagandize that "you can't reason with these people." the bush administration is one of destruction... they don't reason with ANYONE. it's an ATTITUDE PROBLEM. it's time for them to GO.

[Rose Siding]

5. But...but, Saddam's gone

and we're safer. Al Quaeda who? :grr:



Image taken from video footage from the Al-Jazeera satellite channel in June shows alleged al Qaeda fighters reportedly taking part in a military exercise in either Afghanistan or in a tribal region of Pakistan.

[Mari333]

6. "Attacking Iraq undermined the war on terror"

In other words, attacking Iraq only created more angry people who want to kill us..and hate us now more then ever...
Bush policies created more and more terrorists with his little 'war'...he played right into Bin Laden's hands by attacking Iraq..
we are the bad guys to most of the world. Period. Everyone hates us, with Bush in the White House.
Its going to take a lot of years before the US represents something decent and moral. A long long time. In only 4 years that little asswipe literally destroyed the USA .
Worst (illegal) President EVER/

[tomfodw]

7. How can this possibly be good for Bush?

I mean, I know the unthinking chickenshit scared wusses will somehow interpret this as meaning they have to hide under Daddy Dubya's skirts, but - why? I mean, what the fuck have we been doing these past three years? Didn't we have them cornered in Afghanistan? Didn't we invade Iraq to supposedly cut off their sources of weapons or something? Hasn't Bush made us safer from them? So how come they are still at large and, if this article is accurate, perhaps even making a comeback?

You'd almost think that Dubya wanted them still at large in order to keep the public scared and behind him. But - nooooooooo...Bush would never be that cynical, would he?


Seriously, though, how can Bush get away with claiming he has made us safer when our #1 enemy is getting stronger? How can the stupid lazy press let him get away with it? How can the American public continue to buy his lies, evasions, distractions, distortions and bad grammar and limited vocabulary? What am I missing here?

[TahitiNut]

8. They'll never kill the goose that lays the golden eggs ...

... until they get another goose. That's basic. It's never been about the goose; it's about the eggs.

Throughout human history, those who benefit from a socio-political condition act to perpetuate that condition. You can see the same behavior inside organizations. Those who benefit in times of chaos and serial emergencies always act in a way that perpetuates such a state wherein they can be the local heroes and beneficiaries.