18,000 terrorists who can barely manage one or two attacks total per year. Those idiots make union municipal street repairmen look efficient in contrast...and yet whoever wrote this screed above thinks that they aren't crippled.
Whatever.
Posted on 05/25/2004 5:47:41 PM PDT by NCjim
Far from being crippled by the U.S.-led war on terror, al-Qaida has more than 18,000 potential terrorists scattered around the world and the war in Iraq is swelling its ranks, a report said Tuesday.
Al-Qaida is probably working on plans for major attacks on the United States and Europe, and it may be seeking weapons of mass destruction in its desire to inflict as many casualties as possible, the International Institute of Strategic Studies said in its annual survey of world affairs.
Osama bin Laden's network appears to be operating in more than 60 nations, often in concert with local allies, the study by the independent think tank said.
Although about half of al-Qaida's top 30 leaders have been killed or captured, it has an effective leadership, with bin Laden apparently still playing a key role, it said.
"Al-Qaida must be expected to keep trying to develop more promising plans for terrorist operations in North America and Europe, potentially involving weapons of mass destruction," IISS director Dr. John Chipman told a press conference releasing "Strategic Survey 2003/4."
(Excerpt) Read more at dailynews.att.net ...
Is this suppose to be news? How many WERE there?
My point exactly. Think we should sacrifice Janet for the cause?
I agree. I've known about these guys for twenty years. They can't be trusted.
Rosanne Barr and Madeline Albright have volunteered to fill in.
Truman was the last President that had any balls during a WAR. "The Buck Stops Here", has been replaced by "I will make everyone feel good".
Yes and there are thousands of young Americans enlisting in the US Military who will send the 18,000 to their 72 virgins.
Fascinating. I wonder what was the methodology of this "report". Indeed I wonder what possible methodology there could be, which could produce or even estimate a number like "change in Al Qaeda ranks" that wouldn't be total BS.
Al-Qaida is probably working on plans for major attacks on the United States and Europe
They are?? What a brilliant finding! Increase these geniuses' research funding. This is valuable stuff.
it may be seeking weapons of mass destruction in its desire to inflict as many casualties as possible, the International Institute of Strategic Studies said in its annual survey of world affairs.
It may be seeking weapons of mass destruction??? WHO KNEW?? Cutting-edge research, this.
Osama bin Laden's network appears to be operating in more than 60 nations, often in concert with local allies, the study by the independent think tank said.
Or you could just read the writings of college undergraduate and soon-to-be AEI intern Dan Darling....
it has an effective leadership, with bin Laden apparently still playing a key role, it said.
"said" = "guessed"
The report suggested that the two military centerpieces of the U.S.-led war on terror _ the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq _ may have boosted al-Qaida.
Wow, Afghanistan too? I guess we just can't ever fight these people. They only become more numerous. Like Tribbles!
Driving the terror network out of Afghanistan in late 2001 appears to have benefited the group, which dispersed to many countries, making it almost invisible and hard to combat, the story said.
Yup, it really benefitted them to lose many of their secure bases. /lefty_logic
And the Iraq conflict "has arguably focused the energies and resources of al-Qaida and its followers
Hopefully. Hopefully it's focused their energies on attacking our armed forces in Iraq rather than unarmed civilians in America!
while diluting those of the global counterterrorism coalition that appeared so formidable" after the Afghan intervention, the survey said.
What the hell are they smoking? What "global counterterrorism coalition that appeared so formidable"??
The U.S. occupation of Iraq brought al-Qaida recruits from across Islamic nations, the study said. Up to 1,000 foreign Islamic fighters have infiltrated Iraqi territory...
"Up to 1,000", eh? Another highly accurate research datum, that. Probably the same methodology by which they got "18000".
Anyway, tell this to all the lefties who keep insisting that Iraq has "nothing to do with" the war against Al Qaeda and is "distracting" us from the war against Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda doesn't seem to have gotten the memo!
No fair, Al Qaeda recruits! You're not supposed to be in Iraq at all! All the lefties have said so.
Efforts to defeat al-Qaida will take time and might accelerate only if there are political developments that now seem elusive, such as the democratization of Iraq and the resolution of conflict in Israel, it said.
Israel? What's funny is that if you look at bin Laden's early stuff there's practically nothing about the Palestinian situation.
No, there's no agenda in this study. Nope, none at all.
It could take up to 500,000 U.S. and allied troops to effectively police Iraq and restore political stability, IISS researcher Christopher Langton told the news conference.
Of course it could. It could also take fewer. Or more. Who's to say in this topsy-turvy world of ours?
The United States is al-Qaida's prime target in a war it sees as a death struggle between civilizations, the report said.
Again, who knew??
An al-Qaida leader has said 4 million Americans will have to be killed "as a prerequisite to any Islamic victory," the survey said.
The "survey" said that? Didn't we all hear this quote long before? We needed a "survey" to tell us about what some Al Qaeda leader said in a quote you could have read almost two years ago?
The IISS said its estimate of 18,000 al-Qaida fighters was based on intelligence estimates that the group trained at least 20,000 fighters in its camps in Afghanistan before the United States and its allies ousted the Taliban regime. In the ensuing war on terror, some 2,000 al-Qaida fighters have been killed or captured, the survey said.
LOL
So in other words we've reduced Al Qaeda ranks by 10% (according to their own silly methodology) and yet this is being reported as "al-Qaida Ranks Swelling Worldwide"????
and they are announcing their report with "conclusions" (i.e. wild-a** guesses) like "the war in Iraq is swelling its ranks", "may have boosted al-Qaida", "Driving the terror network out of Afghanistan in late 2001 appears to have benefited the group", etc.?????
I think the only question at this point is whether we have here a case of (a) the report's authors/sponsors being overzealous in their press release or (b) gullible and/or propagandistic news writers eager to spin the report as much as possible.
Please, read this sentence again. The report's "methodology" took the number of people (20000) estimated to have been trained for Al Qaeda before the Afghanistan war, and then subtracted from that the known dead, to get 18000. That number "18000" is best described as: Number of Al Qaeda-trained folk who escaped being killed by us.
We've killed 2000 and left 18000 - LITERALLY DECIMATED AL QAEDA - that's what the report actually "found".
Where the hell do they (the authors, and/or the news-writer) get this "al-Qaida Ranks Swelling Worldwide" stuff from, then? Out of thin air, that's where.
Al-Qaida appears to have successfully reconstituted its operations by dispersing its forces into small groups and through working with local allies, such as the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front in Turkey, the report said.
Yup, they've "successfully" dispersed into small, local groups without secure bases and a complicit state sponsor. LOL.
This is almost like saying, "sailors who survived the destruction of their aircraft carrier have successfully reconstituted into small groups of 2-5 guys hanging onto floating debris".
Well played, Qaeda! Well played. Check and mate!
18,000 terrorists who can barely manage one or two attacks total per year. Those idiots make union municipal street repairmen look efficient in contrast...and yet whoever wrote this screed above thinks that they aren't crippled.
Whatever.
There were more... now there are at the very least 2,000 less. The editor either is dyslexic and has trouble reading 'less than' and 'greater than' symbols... or he is using Louis Farrakhan fiver percenter math.
Not that I would have any way to know, since I haven't had the dubious honor of deflowering 72 moronic virgins, and don't want any parts of them; but I doubt the pleasure of that would equal or exceed 72 nice occasions freely out on the town with intellegent American women, enjoying a good dinner, alcohol if we choose it, pleasant conversation about anything we want to talk about, a night of dancing, and a nightcap, so to speak, at my place or hers--while still remaining alive and ready for the rest on my life, which in America is well worth living, whereas in the Islamic world life obviously sucks, always has and always will, and it is their culture and religion that keeps them perpetually in the early middle ages. Why do they need virgins to do it too; they do it to themselves continuously.
Two items:
1) Any time they start to get that large, they will become vulnerable to communications interceptions and tracking.
2) With Iraq boiling over and al-Qaida trying to find a new home, they are all concentrating on our troups, like a honey-pot to attract the flies. I can't think of anything better than having them drawn to our military, rather than to be free to roam our cities creating trouble.
*smile
Do you think thay would settle for rasins?
You can add Garafolo, Reno, Hillary, Pelosi to that list. Streisand may not qualify tho.
"Rosanne Barr and Madeline Albright have volunteered to fill in."
...and Hillary Clinton. ...and Michael Moore. ...all wearing thongs in anticipation. And if the dead enemy will bother to reach toward their stomachs and pull the folds of fat apart, they will find a cheese-like substance. ...and their new pets--lots of little mice, eating the cheese.
So...Madeline Albright in fishnet stockings...think cottage cheese in a hairnet.
What I notice is that there are 18,000 POTENTIAL Terrorists. Gee, I thought the number was closer to 1 Billion (Muslims). If after the butt kicking these guys get on a regular basis, you'd think the number would be higher.
LOL!
We need more Republican cartoonists.
It was. The Bush administration outsourced them.
...Hmmmm.... some of them might be terrorists? Grouped because of similarities? All democrats???
... You, sir, are delirious, find a soul, or a list of 18,000 democrat terrorists...
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