Subject: [big campaign] NSN Daily Update: A Bad Day for U.S. Counterterrorism Policy
From: Adam Blickstein <[email-masked]>
To: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:02:24 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

NSN Daily Update: A Bad Day for U.S. Counterterrorism Policy

After toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Bush administration shifted its focus to Iraq - a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 - instead of finishing the job.  Today, we are still paying for this terrible strategic mistake.  In Afghanistan, the situation continues to deteriorate as the American commander asks for 15,000 additional troops on top of the increases already planned for later this year.  In Pakistan's FATA region, al Qaeda has established a new safe haven.  Today, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen is in Pakistan trying to salvage an understanding on how we work with the Pakistani government to go after al Qaeda terrorists.  And in Yemen we had another reminder of the continued threat as the U.S. embassy came under attack.  Clearly, the Bush administration's focus on Iraq - a focus John McCain promises to continue - has not helped the U.S. deal with terrorism.

Six years after the Bush Administration turned from Afghanistan to Iraq, the mission there is under tremendous strain, and the American Commander is calling for 15,000 additional troops.  Starting in 2002, the Bush Administration let its fixation with Iraq draw resources and attention away from this front where the 9-11 attacks originated.  As a result, matters are more dire.  In Afghanistan, "about 194 foreign soldiers have been killed this year, the highest number since the U.S.-led invasion in October 2001...On his fourth visit to Afghanistan as defense secretary, Mr. Gates endorsed calls by the senior American commander, Gen. David McKiernan, for three more combat brigades (15,000 troops), in addition to the extra battalion and extra brigade that President Bush has ordered deployed by early next year."   Moreover, Afghan security forces remain incapable of standing on their own, sometimes even imperiling U.S. efforts to hunt Al Qaeda and the Taliban.  [NY Times, 9/17/08<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/world/asia/18gates.html?ref=world>. Washington Independent, 9/16/08<http://www.washingtonindependent.com/6110/hedtk-dektk>.]

Lacking a plan to combat the extremist safe-havens in northwest Pakistan, the U.S. struggles to contain instability and deal with increasing frustration from Pakistan's government.  Tensions in Pakistan have jeopardized the U.S.' most important counter-terrorism effort.  "The United States' top military officer flew unexpectedly into Pakistan on Tuesday night to meet with senior officials amid a tense confrontation between the two allies over recent U.S. military incursions into Pakistan in pursuit of al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists."  Events have brought into relief the consequences of the Bush Administration's failure to meet "its national security goals to destroy the terrorist threat and close the safe haven in Pakistan's FATA region."  [Washington Post, 9/16/08<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091601956_pf.html>. NSN, 4/24/08<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091601956_pf.html>. GAO, 4/17/08<http://www.hcfa.house.gov/110/GAO041708.pdf>]

Attacks on the U.S. embassy in Yemen serve as chilling reminder of how our counter-terrorism strategy has fallen short.  "Heavily armed militants opened fire on the United States Embassy in Sana, Yemen, on Wednesday and detonated a car bomb at its gates, in an attack that left at least 16 people dead including six of the attackers, Yemeni officials said."  "Yemen has long been viewed as a haven for jihadists. It became a special concern for the United States in 2000, after Al Qaeda operatives rammed the U.S.S. Cole in Aden harbor, on Yemen's southern coast, killing 17 American sailors."  President Bush has expressed his firm belief that Iraq is the "central front" on the war on terror, since al Qaeda will fight "wherever we are."  "But, over the past two years, jihadists claiming allegiance to Al Qaeda appear to have reorganized, releasing more propaganda material on the Internet and carrying out attacks."  [NY Times, 9/17/08<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/world/middleeast/18yemen.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin>. President Bush, 6/28/05<http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050628-7.html>. President Bush, 5/24/07<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june07/terrorism_05-24.html>]

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