WP/Pincus: Ex-Counterterrorism Chief (Clarke) Cites Rise in Attacks

[kskiska]

Richard A. Clarke, the former head of counterterrorism in the White House under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said yesterday that there were twice as many attacks outside Iraq in the three years after the 2001 attacks as in the three preceding years.

Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda group "are no longer the traditional leaders as they were in the 1990s," Clarke said, adding that the terrorist leader had been building ideological groups from Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001, and that they had grown in the past few years into 14 to 16 separate networks.

Clarke said that bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, exercise "symbolic control and provide broad-brush themes" and that most of the networks operate independently, but "there are some signs of cooperation among some."

(snip)

Yesterday, Clarke said that Iraq is drawing a relatively small number of foreign fighters who train there and return home, but "it is unclear to what extent they are drawn by the U.S. presence or how much the U.S. is a magnet." Overall, he said that "there are more people participating outside Iraq because of the U.S. presence" in that country.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/30/AR2005083001669.html

[shockingelk]

1. flkpaper

The flypaper theory only makes sense to troglodytes.

[saigon68]

2. "THE TERROR WAR" like NAILING JELLO TO A TREE WITH SPIKES

OR as in JUMP UP AND DOWN ON A HUGE ANT HILL, to kill the ants

LOL


"BRING EM ON" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE.

[sabra]

Ex-U.S. terror chief: Al-Qaida has morphed (Richard Clarke)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050831-09584100-bc-us-terrorattacks.xml

Ex-U.S. terror chief: Al-Qaida has morphed

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- The former White House head of counter-terrorism, Richard Clarke, says al-Qaida has "morphed" into a global movement and is still a significant threat.

Clarke, who served under presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush until 2003, said Osama bin Laden's militant Islamist groups now number between 14 and 16 internationally.

"Al-Qaida has morphed from a hierarchical structure to a (global) movement," he told The Washington Post. The goal of some is to create regional theocracies, he said, while others just want to overthrow their own governments.

He said one factor that may have prevented an al-Qaida attack in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is that bin Laden's group has traditionally relied on support from the indigenous population, and, unlike Europe, the United States "has no internal, large, alienated Arab population."

[alkaline9]

3. so our tolerant "melting pot" society has saved us?

He said one factor that may have prevented an al-Qaida attack in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is that bin Laden's group has traditionally relied on support from the indigenous population, and, unlike Europe, the United States "has no internal, large, alienated Arab population."


Is it because we accept the Arabs in our country? or because they spread out? or because there isn't many Arabs in this country? I really wouldn't think that the US treated its Arab citizens much differently than most countries. hmmm

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. Think of how Mexican immigrants, both legal and illegal, are

treated in this country.

That is how much of Europe treats 'Arabs', meaning Muslims from Morocco to Turkey, Albania to Afghanistan -- rather like hispanics from south of the border are all Mexican, like Salvadoran Mexicans, Panamanian Mexicans, Colombian Mexicans, etc.

We are not nearly as tolerant as we like to think.

[StrafingMoose]

5. No wonder why 9/11 happened...

Clarke seems so out of the loop, or spreading disinfo sometimes...

"Another factor that so far may have prevented an al Qaeda attack here, Clarke said, is that bin Laden's group has traditionally relied on support from the indigenous population"

Oh yea, indigenous population can provide millions of dollars and fake papers for all of the Western countries, and can also permit your hijackers to flight train even _inside_ the country they will attack. :eyes:

"There have been lots of starts," Clarke said, citing establishment of the Department of Homeland Security for one, but he said the government should do a better job of determining where money needs to be spent."

Jees, how about doing a better job of following al-Qaeda's money?? The 9/11 Commission clearly said it was 'irrelevant'... :eyes: