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July 8, 2010
If you recall the central reason why the US has invaded Afghanistan is to knock out Al Qaeda. Recall that the then Taliban regime provided a safe haven for Al Qaeda, and were Afghanistan to allow Al Qaeda to come back into Afghanistan, that clearly gives Al Qaeda a freedom of movement. Remember Bali?, says a government minister. So we have the justification for the never ending War on Terror against Islam.
In this interview Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), Leiter says that:
in Afghanistan, you have a certain number, a relatively small number, 50 to 100. I think we have in Pakistan a larger number. [In Pakistan there are] Upwards—more than 300, I would say. And I think the key has been not going after every foot soldier—although that can be very important. … but more critically … trying to decimate Al Qaeda’s leadership ranks. I think we’ve had a lot of success there.
Let's stop there and think about what is being said. 9 years of war, all those deaths, the bombing of the Afghan countryside and billions of dollars to fight under 500 people?
500 people folks and that's from the horses mouth. No wonder John Faulkner tossed it in as Minister of Defence and returned to the back bench. The gap between the problem and the military response is so great that not even a man as loyal to the Labor Party as Faulkner could stomach the spin required to cover the yawning gap.
Leiter concedes the bleeding obvious that is denied by the Australian Governments from Howard onwards: that the military actions in Afghanistan have the opposite effect of what is supposedly intended: namely, these actions are what motivate so much of the recent Terrorism) that is cited to justify those policies:
Well I certainly will not try to argue that some of our actions have not led to some people being radicalized. I think that’s a given … That doesn’t mean you don’t do it. That means you craft a fuller strategy to explain why you’re doing that and try to minimize the likelihood that individuals are going to be radicalized.
How do you minimize that likelihood? Have a hit list of people to assassinate--the U.S. government through the Department of Defense goes out and attempts to target and kill people, a lot of people, who haven’t been indicted. Or a counter-insurgency strategy that is failing.
My guess is that a summer of discontent and uncertainty over the Afghanistan war will unfold in America because the war in Afghanistan not going so well and the rationale behind the war today become increasingly unclear. Why is the USA fighting in Afghanistan? Or Australia for that matter?
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So it's a FINITE number, is it?
Just a few hundred evil-doers. And of those, we will have a victory (of sorts) if we "decimate Al Qaeda’s leadership ranks"... Let's be generous and say they amount to 300 bosses. Of course that assumes that al Q doesn't have any applicants or candidates to quickly fill those management roles.
Well... we should have it sorted out in next to no time!
VICTOOORYYYY!!!