Sunday, September 9, 2007
The New Al-Qaeda Central, September 9, 2007, washingtonpost.com
The author, Craig Whitlock, starts by describing Al-Qaeda and their incline of strength since September 11, 2001. No one has heard or seen Bin Laden on tape since October 2004, however the terrorist released a 26 minute video tape this past Friday stating what no American wants to hear: "We have survided." Over the past six years, America has spent trillions of dollars trying to diminish terrorism in the Middle East and capture key players in terrorist organizations like The Taliban. However, America's effort has backlashed and Al-Qaeda has once again reconstructed its arms and leadership (shura). Half the reason Al-Qaeda has become so strong in the past few years, is its ability to recruit new leaders and members. Because Al-Qaeda has reconstructed, it has continued to carry out acts of terrorism, such as the London transit bombings in 2005. The U.S. has since tried to get rid of main Al Qaeda leaders, but many have failed because of poor communication or skewed information. Al-Qaeda does not use (high-)technology as a form of communication which makes it even more difficult to intercept conversations between prominent leaders.
This article once again makes me question the motives of this war. I know this is a debate we all have heard over and over. When will the debate end? I realize this question may be daunting in certain ways, but its a question that needs to be answered by someone who is an authority figure. The artcle gives the public another reason to disagree with the Bush administration and its supporters. With the election in sight, news headlines will have everything to do with the politicians. They will be questioned mostly about their motives and ideas concerning the war. I guess only time will tell who our next "successor" will be.
3 comments:
Erin is right on with her thoughts about the war. If we continue at this rate, we will not only drive ourselves into worse debt, we will keep giving away innocent lives. Hearing that Bin Laden is able to hide from our army really is a scary thought. Bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda have showed the world thier ability to make the United States look like fools and I beleive Bush is just trying to prove that the Al-Queda are not so omnipotent. Something needs to happen and I believe the elections will spark that. Hopefully that will result in a change in heart about the war for the government. This war is doing nothing but bringing us down and it is time that we call it quits and focus on other problems the U.S. is facing.
I couldn't agree more with Erin about the state of the Iraq War. What are we doing in Iraq and what has it gotten us? Since the beginning of the war I have questioned the motives and questioned the real point of us being in Iraq. Personally I think it has a lot to do with the oil in the Middle East and personal interest. I also do not feel safe knowing that Al-Qaeda leaders are once again on the rise and continue to gain power. I do think this is mainly because of poor choices made by administration and think the government hides more from the public then we realize. I think every American should be questioning the security of our country along with the administration. I feel this will be the largest issue facing the candidates for 2008. I feel that there are some fresh faces that understand our country is not protecting ourselves from terrorists and would lead the country to fight a war that will actually reach goals that have been set years ago.
I agree with Erin in many ways. The article shows that our efforts in Iraq have not really done anything. The terroists that we were trying to get rid of have become stonger; the US being in Iraq has not really affected them. The fact that a whole terrorist organization can hide form our army and even get stronger while our army is in their country is a scary thought. Oviously the efforts in Iraq are not working and we are increasing our debt. I think that the war in Iraq is going to be one of the main focuses in the upcoming election because something has to change. I hope our new leader can put their ideas about the changes they want to make into action to help our country and other countries in danger becuase of terrorism.
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