Al Qaeda/Bin Laden growing stronger, preparing for strikes against the west in Pakist

#1
OrangeEmpire

OrangeEmpire

The White Debonair
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#1
Terror Officials See Al Qaeda Chiefs Regaining Power

Senior leaders of Al Qaeda operating from Pakistan have re-established significant control over their once-battered worldwide terror network and over the past year have set up a band of training camps in the tribal regions near the Afghan border, according to American intelligence and counterterrorism officials.

American officials said there was mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan. Until recently, the Bush administration had described Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahri as detached from their followers and cut off from operational control of Al Qaeda.

The United States has also identified several new Qaeda compounds in North Waziristan, including one that officials said might be training operatives for strikes against targets beyond Afghanistan.
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Seems to me the problem isn't awareness. It sounds more like a concern of having too many resources occupied in Iraq, thus preventing swift/effective action against Al Qaeda.

Thoughts?

Reading assignments
Is Pakistan Doing All It Should to Secure Its Afghan Border? - Council on Foreign Relations
Of course nobody knows anything in the Bush Administration which is why things like this never happen
DECADE
- click
 
#2
#2
OrangeEmpire said:
Seems to me the problem isn't awareness. It sounds more like a concern of having too many resources occupied in Iraq, thus preventing swift/effective action against Al Qaeda.

Thoughts?
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I would say that is a huge part of it. The other problem is the U.S. not being able to conduct military operations in Pakistan.
 
#3
#3
I wonder if the public would have a different mindset if we were not in Iraq and prosecuting the war on terror only in the Afghanistan area.
 
#4
#4
OrangeEmpire said:
I wonder if the public would have a different mindset if we were not in Iraq and prosecuting the war on terror only in the Afghanistan area.
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I certainly wouldn't be as critical of this administration if they were actually fighting the people who attacked us..
 
#8
#8
I think that America would be behind the administration hunting down Bin Laden and Al Quaeda more so than creating terrorists in Iraq and shooting them.

I know there are terrorists of different organizations traveling to Iraq to fight us, but most of them are home grown as a result of the U.S. presence.

The real brains and the real "soldiers" of these organizations are most likely not going over to Iraq.
 
#9
#9
I agree with OWB, Operation Anaconda was pretty much a failure. We eliminated some targets, but we let the biggest fish get away.. :disappointed:
 
#10
#10
StunnA N' Orange said:
I agree with OWB, Operation Anaconda was pretty much a failure. We eliminated some targets, but we let the biggest fish get away.. :disappointed:
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More like outsourced the job of catching them to the Northern Alliance. Brilliant!!
 
#11
#11
OWB said:
It's hard to tell really. I do know that Bush had the whole country behind him after 9/11, but I can't speak for the rest of the people.
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If Bush had the whole country behind him, who are "the rest of the people" you couldn't speak for?

But actually, I agree with you on some of the things you said.
 
#12
#12
OWB said:
More like outsourced the job of catching them to the Northern Alliance. Brilliant!!
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It's amazing the number of times Bin Laden has gotten away based on politics/diplomacy.
 
#13
#13
GAVol said:
It's amazing the number of times Bin Laden has gotten away based on politics/diplomacy.
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In this instance, Al-Quaeda infiltrated the Northern Alliance and just let people cross over into Pakistan...
 
#14
#14
allvol123 said:
If Bush had the whole country behind him, who are "the rest of the people" you couldn't speak for?

But actually, I agree with you on some of the things you said.
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When I say I can't speak for the rest of the people, I mean just that. I can only truly answer for myself.. I guess I should've said it seemed like the whole country was behind him.
 
#15
#15
Does crippling the al Qaeda network and limiting al Qaeda attacks to Afghanistan and Iraq, yet failing to catch OBL, result in an operational or strategic failure?
 
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#16
therealUT said:
Does crippling the al Qaeda network and limiting al Qaeda attacks to Afghanistan and Iraq, yet failing to catch OBL, result in an operational or strategic failure?
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Do you really think that the U.S. has crippled AQ? The U.S. put a small dent in them after the attacks on us, but I wouldn't say they're crippled. As for limiting attacks to Afghanistan and Iraq, look up all the AQ bombings all over the world since 9/11, they're not limited to those two countries.
 
#17
#17
I would definitely say that the US crippled AQ from 2002-2005. In the past two years, AQ and the Taliban have been given room to operate in Pakistan. The only way we can put an end to that is to actually send troops in.
 
#18
#18
therealUT said:
I would definitely say that the US crippled AQ from 2002-2005. In the past two years, AQ and the Taliban have been given room to operate in Pakistan. The only way we can put an end to that is to actually send troops in.
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I would guess that at some point in time, it's going to come down to the U.S. going into Pakistan. How do you think that's going to go over with an already agitated Muslim community?

What do you think the chances are of the U.S. already running covert ops in Pakistan?
 
#19
#19
I guarantee that the US is running covert ops in Pakistan. However, there is a difference between sending in teams of 12, who cannot overtly operate in the area, and sending in battalions and brigades.

I believe that the SOC forces we have in Pakistan will keep the Taliban and al Qaeda from pulling off any major actions, however, they will never capture OBL.
 
#20
#20
Crippling a group that has been crippled many times over the past 30 years only to see them rebuild because of tactical and strategic blunders.....hmmmm. Learning our lessons well.

Fact is al Qaeda has rebuilt and has spread all over the globe. Cells exist in areas we thought were either friendly or under control and influence.

The fact that the Taliban knew enough about the security of Cheney to pull off the attempt they did shows that they have infiltrated the groups we've helped train and prop up.

Had we focused all attention on sealing off this area and muscling Pakistan with seeing that many US forces in the region, we could have accomplished quite a bit more. Frankly camps in Pakistan is no big deal since we've created the largest terrorist training camp with live fire exercises and live targets in Iraq.
 
#21
#21
If we would have focused on Afganistan and Pakistan, we could have crippled or destroyed Al Qaeda by this point.

The Iraq war has allowed them to regroup and rebuild, while we were/are busy policing regional violence.
 
#22
#22
First&Tenn said:
If we would have focused on Afganistan and Pakistan, we could have crippled or destroyed Al Qaeda by this point.

The Iraq war has allowed them to regroup and rebuild, while we were/are busy policing regional violence.
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So you complain about us going into Iraq but also say we should have gone into Pakistan? I fail to see the logic.
 
#23
#23
utvolpj said:
So you complain about us going into Iraq but also say we should have gone into Pakistan? I fail to see the logic.
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I think that if we could have kept our already standing force in Afganistan strong, we could have made strides in Pakistan without invasion.

By splitting our military up and sending the bulk into Iraq, I think we took away any credible threat we had for Pakistan.

Sorry, I didn't mean for my comment to be interpreted as an endorsement of Pakistani invasion.
 
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