Terror cop: Qaeda 'heavily damaged'

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/272491p-233148c.html

Al Qaeda is "heavily damaged," constantly on the run and so financially strapped that it is having trouble making payments to the families of its dead fighters, the Daily News has learned.

The terror group remains determined, however, to attack the U.S.

"What we see, and I'm including information we've seen as recently as this month, is that the remnants of the organization are not diverted from their goals of attacking us," a senior counterterrorism official told The News.

"Al Qaeda Central is heavily damaged," said the official, who requested anonymity. "But they're still plotting. These guys don't do anything else."

[leftofcool]

1. That's funny..............

They don't seem to be having problems opening up all those training camps in Iran and purchasing all those WMD's. I hear their recruitment is up.

Left of Cool

[Demit]

2. yup, that about covers it, in having it both ways.

"We've been effective, chasing down all those boogeymen"..."oh, but, they're still there, so we still have that to hold over your head and to keep you in fear".

Sort of like the scary movie where the cast is safe, but the bad guy gets away at the end so that there can be...A SEQUEL!

[sunnystarr]

3. It's sooooo nice of al Qaeda to keep us informed....

Since we have such an open discourse with them I'm sure they'll also let us know when they'll attack and where. Who else has a problem with this reporting??

[Ganja Ninja]

15. It's just so much ass talk.

They come out with these statements. There is no information to base it on. There is no way to verify or dispute it. It's all talk and no one in the media ever calls them on it.

[ET Awful]

4. LOL . . . Leave it to the Daily News to publish the biggest bullshit

story of the day :)

[UL_Approved]

7. I wonder if the Pentagon jack-booted them into running the story

Don't forget, Hersh was the one claiming that U.S. commandos are operating inside of Iran. He may have had a serious talking-to by defense people. And in the past, Hersh did run the articles on Abu Ghraib...

[UL_Approved]

5. 1984 in its best light

This is straight out of the book 1984 by George Orwell. The "enemy on the run, but still a threat" scenario is how dictators held power in the novel. This is a sorry and sad time for us. It really is. We take fear like a drug, and pay the black market with our freedom.

[gratuitous]

6. As opposed to the mighty American wehrmacht

Which increasingly is confined to the Green Zone in Baghdad, unable to outfit or armor its own troops, and is having trouble replenishing its numbers due to a dearth of recruits.

"We're winning! We're winning!" said the official who requested anonymity.

[tngledwebb]

8. How could the Pentagon CIA black budget be so strapped?

Its shocking and scandalous that they would let Shrub's best friends down in their time of need.

[robbedvoter]

9. As fearless leader answered WaPo in interview:

The Post: Why do you think bin Laden has not been caught?
THE PRESIDENT: Because he's hiding.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12570-2005Jan15.html

[JaneDoughnut]

18. LMAO

I just choked on my Dr. Pepper.

[EFerrari]

10. They have to retire al Qaeda if the War on Social Security is to go well.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Is this one of these "known unknowns"?

Or is it one of these thing that we don't know that we know? I get confused.

[Briar]

12. For a more credible assessment

check out

The SWISH Report (2)
Paul Rogers
http://www.opendemocracy.net/themes/article-2-2306.jsp

[Redstone]

13. "Al Qaeda Central is heavily damaged,"

"Al Queda Central?"

What, they have a suite of offices in an industrial park somewhere?

Redstone

[Shiraz]

14. I read this like

"We are doing are best to defeat them but they are still determined to attack us" Getting us ready for another 9/11

[Inland]

17. I go to a restaurant that gets its deliveries from "Central Gyros".

Is it like that?

[Redstone]

19. It could be like "Central Gyros," or...

it could be like "(insert name of Evil Organization here) Central" in the James Bond and similar movies...you know, a hollowed-out volcano with its own subterranean airport, hotel, swimming pools, and transcontinental laser blasters...

Not to make light of terrorists, who are a genuine threat to us, but Christ on his cross, how are we ever going to put a dent in the terrorist organizations with clowns like this guy leading the way?

Redstone

[dansolo]

16. Since when did al Qaeda give money to the families?

This statement sounds like a complete mish-mash of propaganda. I know that Saddam was making payments to the surviving families of suicide bombers in Israel, but I never heard of al Qaeda doing this.

[Ezlivin]

20. How much of al Qaeda is damaged? 60%? 70%? 80%?

Bush et al have been claiming that they have killed "75% of known leadership" of al Qaeda.

Wolf Blitzer (!) pressed Ms. Rice to explain how the percentage was derived; Condi stammered "I would suspect that that's in the tens to hundreds -- tens to 100."

And to think my math teacher said that no one would use imaginary numbers in real life!

[jamesinca]

21. Condi says-----"I would suspect..."

She has to suspect because there has never been any work done to evaluate/estimate/ figure/ guess/ surmise/ or anything else about the size of al Qaeda. There have not been any after action reports, and they did not stop them from fleeing across the border into Pakistan. It is nothing but moral cowardice on behalf of this administration to claim that any amount of al Qaeda has been cought or killed and not figure into the equation any recruiting that may have gone on. They base these numbers on a supposed fixed amount of people and that is not reality. She can suspect 75% of the leadership that was known on April 17 of 2001 or something, but once again nobody knows how big al Qaeda was prior to the war on terror.

[TahitiNut]

22. Well, it's nice of them to publish an Annual Report.

I guess Rummy and Sneer are stockholders. :eyes: