Al Qaeda has not gone away
Matthew d'Ancona 8:28amTake a look at the Guardian's report this morning on a new study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies on the current strength of al Qaeda. So much energy has been expended on denying the very existence of a war on terror and, in recent days, on attacking Petraeus - all you need to know on that subject, by the way, is in James's piece in the new Spectator - that the global status of bin Laden's terror network has tended to be neglected. So it is both important and chilling to read the finding of the IISS, "that 'core' al-Qaida is proving adaptable and resilient, and has retained an ability to plan and coordinate large-scale attacks in the western world despite the attrition it has suffered...The threat from Islamist terrorism remains as high as ever, and looks set to get worse." The study also shows that the local character of Islamism is entirely compatible with a loose-knit global franchise to which regional terror groups swear allegiance. Indeed that is what makes al Qaeda so dangerous: it combines the nimbleness of disaggregated, local movements with the unswerving doctrinal simplicity of a global campaign to destroy the West. When bin Laden says we should embrace Islam, he means it. It is high time that we took him at his word.
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hogarth zombie
September 13th, 2007 9:13am Report this commentyes, but maybe if we hadn't got bogged down in Iraq we could have concentrated on beating OBL!
Tiberius
September 13th, 2007 11:00am Report this commentIt is hard to think of warfare any more asymmetric than outstripping your enemy in birth rate, and then sacrificing a number of the children to suicide bombings. I don't think enough people in the West have grasped the fundamental threat from Islamism.
David Williamson
September 13th, 2007 5:42pm Report this commentImplicit in the Guardian's report is the usual criticism of the West in general, the US in particular, and especially Bush - it is all our (his) fault! Well, it is, in the sense that we are Infidels. Petraeus teaches us that only a sustained anti-insurgency will work - worldwide, it is hard to imagine. But it's our only hope. Tiberius has it exactly right - showing more insight than the Guardian, or indeed IISS.
Perry
September 14th, 2007 7:18pm Report this commentI guess I won’t be around when (if) it happens, but I should so like to read a few of the whining reports by the Grouniad and others – before they are silenced – about the PollyTs of the world obliged to wear apparel they condescend to now, and the strict enforcement of Law that is currently – and conveniently - rarely mentioned. I hope the young wake up in time to do something, - or is it kinder they sleep walk into it?
Cogito Ergosum
September 15th, 2007 12:10am Report this commentIt would help if we could persuade screaming foreigners to take a rational view of a universe which is vast, pitiless, and godless.
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