al-Qaida's Supposed Defeat

There is a good piece in response to the CIA's claims that al-Qaida is on the ropes by Jason Burke (His book on al-Qaida is a good read);

When CIA director Michael Hayden last week spoke of the imminent "strategic defeat" of al-Qaida, he surprised many. Some, such as Professor Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University, immediately pointed out that Hayden is a political nominee speaking in election year and that the new optimistic analysis flew in the face of everything the intelligence community had been saying for months....

Burke talks about a guy, al-Suri, who wrote lots on the strategy of global terror and has a different idea of how they should fight from Bin Laden. I checked out more about this and found an interesting quote by al-Suri in another article where he remarks that the actions of the US and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan has shown him that they are so evil that it justifies a nuclear/chemical/biological terror attack. The implication is that prior to the attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan he was not convinced of the need for such destruction, after he was. I don't have the original documents, but this suggests another example of how the War of Terror (TM) is making us less not more safe.

It is also costing some serious money and freedom in the process;

The total Pentagon budget represents more than our combined spending on education, environmental protection, justice administration, veteran's benefits, housing assistance, transportation, job training, agriculture, energy, and economic development. No wonder, then, that, as it collects ever more money, the Pentagon is taking on (or taking over) ever more functions and roles.

And it is set to grow. This is why the 42 days must be opposed, why the war of terror must be stopped.
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