The White House-fed article went on to quote Richard Barrett, head of the United Nations' al-Qaida and Taliban monitoring group and former chief of Britain's overseas counterterrorism operations, to the effect that al-Qaida "is 'losing credibility' among potential supporters and recruits because its recent efforts 'have not awed people' and are 'not up to the standard of 9/11.' As the years have passed since the 2001 attacks, he said, al-Qaeda 'hasn't really made a connection to a new generation' of young Muslims who have little recollection of the events and are less interested in religion. In terms of Western efforts, he said, the threat has diminished."
In other words, according to senior White House officials (through the Post article), with al-Qaida now compromised and manageable from the air -- and with the Taliban having been a concern only if they empowered al-Qaida -- President Obama's former strategy of denying the Taliban influence and control in Afghanistan is no longer needed, nor do we need the general's anticipated request of 40,000 more troops. Mission accomplished; let's go home.
The next day, the Pentagon responded through Jake Tapper's blog on ABC News' Web site, arguing that those successes were "largely because of better intelligence, stemming from greater cooperation by the Pakistani government and a stronger U.S. counter-insurgency program on the other side of the border in Afghanistan. That added pressure creates the conditions for better intelligence on the ground as to where Taliban and al Qaeda forces are, sources say. 'They're squeezed,' a Pentagon source says of individuals on the border region. 'And when people are squeezed, they talk.' But military officials who support Gen. Stanley McChrystal's proposal for a larger counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan are concerned that some in the White House interpret this success as a reason to focus entirely on counterterrorism using drones."
Not only are the quoted White House senior leakers misconstruing the reasons for the successes we have had but also the Post article cherry-picked even the analysis of its major on-the-record source, Richard Barrett, whom it quoted to the comforting effect that al-Qaida's threat has "diminished." But Barrett recently had told the U.K.'s Sunday Telegraph of al-Qaida's new method of hiding bombs (in the anuses of the bombers). "While not wanting to be alarmist," he had said, "I admit this is alarming. ... Even though its capability is reduced, it is clear that al-Qaeda remains determined enough and inventive enough to cause another terrorist spectacular." Barrett had said the organization's "power to sow terror was far from eliminated."
Nor, regarding al-Qaida's alleged inability to reach young Muslims nowadays, was the Post reporter directed by the White House leakers to FBI Director Robert Mueller's testimony last week that al-Qaida in Somalia is having great success with al-Shabab, which translates as "mujahedeen youth." "They could strike the United States," the FBI director testified.
We must trust that the president will not permit himself to be misled by some of his most senior aides, who clearly are trying to cherry-pick the intelligence to gain their political objectives rather than honestly assess the intelligence on behalf of our national security needs.
Tony Blankley
Tony Blankley, a conservative author and commentator who served as press secretary to Newt Gingrich during the 1990s, when Republicans took control of Congress, died Sunday January 8, 2012. He was 63.
Blankley, who had been suffering from stomach cancer, died Saturday night at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, his wife, Lynda Davis, said Sunday.
In his long career as a political operative and pundit, his most visible role was as a spokesman for and adviser to Gingrich from 1990 to 1997. Gingrich became House Speaker when Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives following the 1994 midterm elections.
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