Posted on 05/26/2004 12:43:21 AM PDT by churchillbuff
LONDON : The US-led war on Iraq, far from countering terrorism, has helped revitalise the Al-Qaeda terror network, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think-tank warned.
The London-based body said in its annual Strategic Survey 2003/2004 that the deadly train bombings in Madrid in March, the worst terror strike in Europe for more than a decade, showed that Osama Bin Laden's terror network "had fully reconstituted".
It also predicted the Islamic group would step up its anti-Western attacks, possibly even resorting to weapons of mass destruction and targeting Americans, Europeans and Israelis while continuing to support insurgents opposing the US-led occupation of Iraq.
The IISS pointed to devastating blasts in Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in 2003 and 2004 as further evidence that anti-US sentiment had soared since the Iraq war.
"In counter-terrorism terms, the intervention has arguably focused the energies and resources of al-Qaeda and its followers while diluting those of the global counter-terrorism coalition that appeared so formidable following the Afghanistan intervention in late 2001," the report said.
However, since the war it said that arms proliferation and state-sponsored terrorism has dwindled, with Libya giving up its unconventional weapons programs and Syria becoming "less provocative."
Stalinist North Korea's secret nuclear programme was somehow contained thanks to a negotiating process while Iran agreed to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency over its nuclear activities, the IISS said.
But another legacy of the war was what the IISS termed a highly questionable recourse to pre-emptive strikes as a means of counter-proliferation, as well as "the uses and abuses of intelligence as a basis for military action."
The IISS said the United States, which has dominated world affairs since the end of the Cold War, had failed to understand that Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks were "a violent reaction to America's pre-eminence" and it urged the superpower to temper "the appearance of American unilateralism".
It warned that Washington would have a hard time restoring order in embattled Iraq and stressed that the conflict had brought a political split between the United States and its continental European allies, leaving Britain stuck in the middle.
The survey additionally forecast a possible attention shift away from terrorism, Middle Eastern problems and weapons proliferation should North Korea opt for a more aggressive stance, a humanitarian disaster hit Africa or undesirable regime-changes "produce abrupt and serious security challenges".
The United States will not manage to tackle all of the above single-handedly, warned the think-tank, raising a question mark over Europe's ability to break away from "strategic arthritis."
Great cartoon...
I agree.
"Defending against the madmen will only make the madmen mad."
Good. It's easier to spot and kill the raging mad ones.
...with the sentiment.
Well, that doesn't surprise me much. Remember, she couldn't even stand up to terrorism. That's a lot more black and white than criticism.
I certainly agree. How do you get more mad than to take out as many as 50,000 innocent people? Thankfully they didn't pull that off.
Are you referring to the thwarted Jordan plot?
Actually I was refering to the idea that if the towers had gone down quicker, we stood to lose 50,000 souls. As bad as it was, we were indeed fortunate that it wasn't far worse.
I believe that 80,000 was the figure pegged for Jordan losses, if that had been successfully implemented.
These are certainly some very sick people.
On the other hand, it's hard for good people to imagine such evil, as it's hard for them to imagine what compells a child-rapist.
Perhaps a mind immobilized by fear: no fight, no flight...only white noise between the ears.
Oh, that's a great strategy. Let them think they're winning, and then they'll leave us alone. That worked like a charm for Neville Chamberlain, didn't it?
"Oh, I will -- provided we haven't been blown up by a WMD by then"
WMD? What WMD? I was told there was no WMD after I was told there was.
I think that in many ways we are less secure now.
"The US-led war on Iraq, far from countering terrorism, has helped revitalise the Al-Qaeda terror network, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think-tank warned."
Wrongo. What J Efin war led up to 9/11? Take a seat.
How are attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Morocco signs of anti-US sentiment? Sounds more like anti-Saudi, anti-Turkey, and anti-Morocco sentiment.
9-11, embassy bombings, USS Cole, and '93 WTC bombing showed anti-American sentiment, and that was before the war on terror began.
I agree.
He's DEAD, Jim ...
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Who EVER told you there is no threat?
The only people who ever acted like there was no terrorist threat were and still are the Demodogs of the '90s who blithely ignored terrorist attacks worldwide.
Meanwhile, in 2003, there were fewer terrorist attacks than had occurred in the previous 12 years, at least. Sounds like this administration is doing mighty fine to me.
You and I both KNOW there will be further attacks against this country, though. At least now we have some cognizance that there is a threat to us here in the US - which we didn't have before President Bush.
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Very good post#15.
I would modify only your time frame for checking back from one year to five years or more...
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Since you are so hellbent on this administration failing to do anything to prevent a WMD attack, pray tell us, O Wise One, your proposed solution...
No pie in the sky, now.
It has to be able to get passed by both houses of Congress, too.
Good points, but next time please insert a few carriage returns. Reading on the internet is not the same as reading a book.
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