NYT: Evolving Nature of Al Qaeda Is Misunderstood, Critic Says

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 - The Bush administration has failed to recognize that Al Qaeda is now a global Islamic insurgency, rather than a traditional terrorist organization, and so poses a much different threat than previously believed, says a senior counterterrorism official at the Central Intelligence Agency.

Michael Scheuer, the former chief of the C.I.A.'s Osama bin Laden unit and the author of a best-selling book critical of the administration's handling of the fight against terrorism, said in an interview with The New York Times this weekend that the government "doesn't respect the threat" because most officials still regard Al Qaeda as a terrorist organization that can be defeated by arresting or killing its operatives one at a time.

He noted that President Bush and other officials had repeatedly said two-thirds of the leadership of Al Qaeda has been killed or captured, but he said the figure was misleading because it is referring to the leaders who were in place as of Sept. 11, 2001.

Al Qaeda has replaced many of those dead or captured operatives and continues to thrive as a guiding force for Islamic extremists around the world.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/11/08/politics/08intel.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. bush only understands how to lie and get away with it

rove taught him. This isn't a skill that translates into success fighting off global Islamic insurgencies. It is a rocky road ahead.

[ramapo]

2. Guess they're misunderestimating

the terraists. People are so dumb believing Bush. Funny nobody thinks about how Bush ignored the whole problem until 9/11.

Nixon used Vietnam to win reelection just as Bush used terror to win a second term. The Vietnamese came out the real winners...scary to think what may happen now.

[eleny]

3. One of the reasons I could vote for Kerry

...was that I thought we'd be safer from an attack. Now I feel like I'm waiting for it.

[madrchsod]

7. interesting

that was the biggest problem i had with kerry..his continued backing of Israel over the Palestinians and the continued occupation of Iraq.

[Algomas]

11. Major dittos rchsod..

My car and house were plastered with anti-Bu$hco messages but not one Kerry/Edwards sticker.
His stance on Israel and Venezuela made me sick. His immediate concession confirmed my appraisal of his integrity and lack thereof.

I want my country back goddammit.....

[calimary]

17. How many times I wished that I'd hear Kerry and the Dems making this point

This snip says it all:


He noted that President Bush and other officials had repeatedly said two-thirds of the leadership of Al Qaeda has been killed or captured, but he said the figure was misleading because it is referring to the leaders who were in place as of Sept. 11, 2001.

Al Qaeda has replaced many of those dead or captured operatives and continues to thrive as a guiding force for Islamic extremists around the world.



In the debates, this came up, and like so many other rash statements by bush/cheney, this went unrefuted. There were SO many opportunities to set the record straight that our guys either ignored or couldn't recognize. SO frustrating! I ran into a guy who seemed very sophisticated and well-educated, who had bought the line "aren't a few American deaths over there, fighting the enemy there, better than having many American deaths over here?" Mind-boggling. This was one of many bush statements that was just left standing there, and allowed to sink into the public's consciousness unchallenged, unrebutted, without ANY attempt to clear up the misconceptions.

[amandabeech]

4. Whoever is in charge at the CIA somehow does not

understand human nature nor history.

It seems that at one time long ago, Al Quaeda was a very people around a charismatic leader, bin Laden, who was angry with Western intrusion into the Islamic world. He was particularly upset with the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, but he struck a chord among the radically devout, just as Dominionism and Christian Reconstructionism have here.

This is as much isolated terrorism as any revolutionary movement, from the Reformation to the Russian Revolution.

Who does the CIA hire anyway?

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. "Who does the CIA hire anyway"

College grads that can't find a job anyplace else.

[Vitruvius]

15. Like the NSA hires the bottom third of every graduating class of

mathematicians.

[megatherium]

20. The NSA is difficult to get a job at

if you're a mathematician at the bachelor's level. Actually, even at the doctoral level it's hard to get a job there because the primary reason they can't hire people is because they're so picky with their security screening. They commonly offer three different people the same position, with the understanding that the one who gets it is the one who get security clearance first.

At the national mathematics convention each January, the NSA is there recruiting. They always have an interesting booth in the exhibits. They hand out trinkets, such as NSA refrigerator magnets. Last year, they had a real, working WWII vintage German Enigma machine. The fellow pushed a Q on the keyboard, and a W lit up on the light-board. Cool, or what.

I've thought about working for the NSA. Partly because I have suffered the true fate of mediocre mathematicians: teaching at a mediocre university in fly-over land. Partly because I would like to live on the coast. Partly because I have actually been attracted to the idea of serving my country, and partly because from what I've read, the NSA would be an exciting place to work. But at said mediocre university, I have tenure, which I'd hate to give up.

[madrchsod]

5. george paine

of <http://www.warblogging.com> posted his essay on oct 27 about the idea that this "war" is a run by non state actors.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. Just like the "al-Zarqawi" myth,

they're making up this "al Qaeda" bullshit as they go along.

[rooboy]

9. They sure are. n/t

[ilovenicepeople]

10. Breaking News:Al Qaeda evolves after winning 2nd. term

I am still open to being proven wrong that Al Queda is a physc-op from the New World Order.It would be comforting to find out that I'm going crazy and the conspiracies are all wrong.

[Algomas]

14. Hello ilovenicepeople....O'Brien here....

Please report to room 101 for your next reeducation session.....

"Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face-forever."
Orwell

[WindRavenX]

12. lessons learned from Robert McNamara:

Emphathize with your enemy. Learn to see the world through their eyes.
We've failed BIG TIME on that.

[daleo]

13. "Evolving" and "Al-Queda" in the same headline

Evil, evil, evil.

[bklyncowgirl]

16. Al Queda won the election along wit Bush

We have an administration who refuses to see the nature of the threat and who continue to persue policies which help this international insurgency grow.

In the meantime Bush can continue to use Al Queda to increase his hold on power.

This is a frightening symbiotic relationship.

[AliceWonderland]

18. Oh, is that what Al Qa'eda is this month?

A global Islamic insurgency? Well, just hold on another month. I'm sure it will be something else entirely.

[psychopomp]

19. Oh SURE

Who is this Michael Scheuer anyway, he's just the former chief of the C.I.A.'s Osama bin Laden unit. WTF does he know? He is probably just a bush-hater with an axe to grind.