Six years after the September 11 attacks in the United States, the “war on terror” is failing and instead fueling an increase in support for extremist Islamist movements, a British think-tank said on Monday.
A report by the Oxford Research Group (ORG) said a “fundamental re-think is required” if the global terrorist network is to be rendered ineffective. […]
The report — Alternatives to the War on Terror — recommended the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq coupled with intensive diplomatic engagement in the region, including with Iran and Syria. […]
“Failure to make the necessary changes could result in the war on terror lasting decades,” the report added.
[Paul] Rogers [ed. note: Lead author of the report] also warned of a drift toward conflict with Iran.
“Going to war with Iran,” he said, “will make matters far worse, playing directly into the hands of extreme elements and adding greatly to the violence across the region. Whatever the problems with Iran, war should be avoided at all costs.”
Get in line behind the CIA, Mr Rogers, …
White House Brushes Off CIA Report on Iran
Reuters
Monday 20 November 2006Washington – The White House dismissed a classified CIA draft assessment that found no conclusive evidence of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program, the New Yorker reported.
The article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said the CIA’s analysis was based on technical intelligence collected by overhead satellites and on other evidence like measurements of the radioactivity of water samples.
“The CIA found no conclusive evidence, as yet, of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program running parallel to the civilian operations that Iran has declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency,” according to the article.
“A current senior intelligence official confirmed the existence of the CIA analysis, and told me that the White House had been hostile to it,” it said.
.. the federal government’s intelligence community, in general, …
Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Hurting U.S. Terror Fight
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 24, 2006The war in Iraq has become a primary recruitment vehicle for violent Islamic extremists, motivating a new generation of potential terrorists around the world whose numbers may be increasing faster than the United States and its allies can reduce the threat, U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded.
A 30-page National Intelligence Estimate completed in April cites the “centrality” of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the insurgency that has followed, as the leading inspiration for new Islamic extremist networks and cells that are united by little more than an anti-Western agenda. It concludes that, rather than contributing to eventual victory in the global counterterrorism struggle, the situation in Iraq has worsened the U.S. position, according to officials familiar with the classified document.
and a whole host of other foreign policy experts:
U.S. Losing War on Terror, Experts Say in Survey
by Mary Louise KellyMorning Edition, August 21, 2007 · Foreign-policy experts deem U.S. national-security strategy in disrepair, the war in Iraq alarmingly off course, and the world increasingly more dangerous for Americans. […]
The survey, known as the Terrorism Index, is an attempt to discern the American foreign-policy establishment’s assessment of how the United States is fighting the war on terror.
Some 53 percent say that the surge is having a negative impact, an increase of 22 percentage points in the past six months. And nearly all of the experts (92 percent) believe that the war in Iraq is having a negative impact on U.S. national security. […]
A bipartisan majority (68 percent) now say that the United States should redeploy troops from Iraq in the next 18 months, though most oppose an immediate withdrawal. Surprisingly, more conservatives (25 percent) called for an immediate pullout than liberals or moderates.
Overall, nearly all of the experts (91 percent) say that the world is becoming more dangerous for Americans and report that the country is not winning the war on terror (84 percent).
Tsk, tsk. Silly experts. Realism, diplomatic engagement and pragmatism aren’t important anymore. Only “faith based” wars and finding evidence of ponies where other people see horse manure matters to President Bush. besides, who else but our dear leader will ever have the guts to take out the Iranian Islamofascist Menance?
After all, who knows what’s best for the world: a bunch of Ph.D’s in Middle Eastern affairs, National Security Policy, etc., or a C student in history?
I remind people that, like when I’m with, Condi, I say she’s the Ph.D. and I’m the C student and just look at who’s the president and who’s the adviser.
See, what I mean?
