Word: qaeda
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Thank Heaven for Gates Gates is a pragmatic professional. Al-Qaeda had already committed four separate acts of war against the U.S. before George W. Bush was sworn in [Gates Unbound, June 8]. The ideology-based policy of that incoming Administration downgraded the project to "get bin Laden," so FBI information about suspicious flying lessons stayed in the field until after 9/11. If counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke had had such intel when it was fresh, there might have been time to figure out the plot and forestall the attacks. Novelist Tom Clancy, after all, published the idea in 1994. Unlike...
...loathing of Mehsud, Zainuddin was scarcely the model of a local hero rising up against a tyrant. In recent interviews, he pledged fealty to Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, declared his fondness for al-Qaeda, and waged 'jihad' against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. A key element of his quarrel with Mehsud was a difference in militant priorities: While Mehsud and his allies in the Swat Valley were principally fighting against the Pakistani military and attacking Pakistani territory, Zainuddin believed that it was wrong to attack fellow Muslims and wanted to focus their fire on Western...
...similar arrangement in 2007 with two different and more powerful militant leaders proved disastrous. When Maulvi Nazir of the rival Ahmedzai Wazir tribe in South Waziristan took on Mehsud and Uzbek groups aligned to al-Qaeda, the Pakistan army backed him. After his men killed 250 Uzbek fighters, the army entered a nonaggression pact with Nazir and his associate Hafiz Gul Bahadur. But Nazir continued to attack U.S. forces across the border, and was targeted in air strikes. Enraged, Nazir and Bahadur shed their differences and formed a new alliance with Mehsud earlier this year. Now, all three groups could...
Gates is a pragmatic professional. Al-Qaeda had already committed four separate acts of war against the U.S. before George W. Bush was sworn in. The ideology-based policy of that incoming Administration downgraded the project to "get bin Laden," so FBI information about suspicious flying lessons stayed in the field until after 9/11. If counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke had had such intel when it was fresh, there might have been time to figure out the plot and forestall the attacks. Novelist Tom Clancy, after all, published the idea in 1994. Unlike the rest of the Bush Administration, Gates...
...Washington believes al-Shabaab still harbors two al-Qaeda bombers responsible for the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and has launched air and missile strikes on suspected militants several times since early 2007, killing at least two Islamist leaders. Osama bin Laden makes frequent broadcasts urging Somalis to defeat Americans, Ethiopians and anyone with any connection to either. The stakes could hardly be higher, says analyst Hassan. "If these guys [the Islamists] succeed in taking over Somalia, they will create havoc in the entire continent. The world needs to act quickly...