[Clive]
Richard Clarke runs through a list of major national security tasks left undone because of the Iraq war. If that’s not gloomy enough, take a look at journalist Ahmed Rashid’s latest prognosis on Al-Qaeda. Not dead yet, he says. Far from it, in fact. Since he’s one of the most seasoned terror analysts around, his assessment makes particularly worrying reading:
Every dismissive assumption made about al-Qaeda before September 11 was wrong. So is the assumption that it is in any way receding today…Osama bin Laden has not been driven underground or lost touch with his followers. Al-Qaeda is using the internet extensively to communicate with its supporters and to further its aim of creating new bases from which to organise terrorist attacks.
Suggestions that it may have morphed into some kind of "ideological" or "inspirational" organisation that merely encourages copycat groups of young Muslims to emulate its greatest "achievements", are contradicted by its leadership’s steady stream of instructions to followers.
Thanks to the blunders in the Middle East and Afghanistan, argues Rashid, the danger of a war of civilisations looms larger. One more treat to look forward to in 2007….
The Dish 