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."
Actually, about a month ago, Church was talking as a Canuk citizen, if I recall cerreckly....wasn't important to me at the time. Might be wrong...don't think so.
Attack of the Dorks!
LOL
Was there ever a king of Tasmania?Wasn't/isn't it a part of the English Empire?
A lot of people say we should tolerate them; looks bad for FR, all this dissention among the ranks.
Watch out......somebody will call you a BushBot.
All I know is,he/she/it ONLY posts anti-Bush/anti-war threads and replies and when faced with factas,runs away.But,he/she/it will come back later and post junk,when one is not on FR.
Well, friend, the morning paper was just delivered, so I guess I should call it a night!
Night everybody.
"I think that the intelligence people obviously have information about activities, and I think you're going to see proof of those activities that show that in fact Saddam Hussein still has nuclear weapons or chemical weapons or biological weapons in his possession and has in fact hidden them someplace...I think that there's going to be conclusive evidence to show that he has not destroyed all the weapons that they say he's destroyed."-- -- General Norman Schwarzkopf , Jan 2003"But I just think the time has come. We've kicked this football up and down the field over again. Saddam is a legitimate monster, and he's got to go - there's no question about that."-- General Norman Schwarzkopf , Jan 2003
"the situation is so desperate at this point, and the linkage between the terrorists and Iraq is frightening. It really is frightening," -- General Norman Schwarzkopf , Jan 2003
"Saddam Hussein, when you look at what he has done in the past, I don't think he would hesitate for one minute to give the terrorists what they need to go ahead and attack the United States of America. We can't allow that to happen."-- General Norman Schwarzkopf , Jan 2003
Actually, I lied about telling that lie, just to make a point about the LiboCyberDorks that prowl about here to the endless consternation of the real conservatives of the FR.
And I was never king of Tasmania... REALLY!
Night,my freind...I'd best be off myself.
So:
A MOOSE BIT MY SISTER ONCE (always wanted to do that)
So,churh...YOU agree with Stormin Norman,do you? SINCE WHEN?
Can we all now assume that since you agree with this great man,you'll stop spamming FR with your anti-war garbage?
Will that be Edam or Brie?
Headlines..."War on terror causes barracks to be blown up in Saudi Arabia"
..another"War on terror causes 2 American Embassies to be blown up"
Here's one..."War on Terror is cause of attack on USS Cole"
"War on Terror results in 3000 deaths from attacks on September 11"
Here's an odd one...."Terror attacks decrease"...Hmmm
#95
So I see.
Are you just getting up? I'm just going to bed.......LOL.
I asked her to post some quotes where Bush said Iraq had anything to do with 9-11.......about an hour ago.......still waiting.
You can watch for those!
:-)
> Come back in a year and let's see where things are!
Great point. It is so common for the media to get confused, and pretend that as their newsfeed is instantaneous, so cause and effect are instant as well.
For example, 9/11 is Clinton's legacy, yet it is consistently blamed on Bush by the short-sighted media.
God help this country.
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