Yay! We’re Back To Where We Were Before 9-11!
U.S. Intel Warns al-Qaeda Rebuilt
U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded al-Qaeda has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, The Associated Press has learned.
Oh. It’s just the AP. Jamil Hussein probably told them that. Anyway, we already knew al Qaeda was taking over Iraq. Baking children, actually. So yadda, yadda, yadda, Time. Tell us more of what we know about al Qaeda in Iraq.
The conclusion suggests that the network that launched the most devastating terror attack on the United States has been able to regroup along the Afghan-Pakistani border despite nearly six years of bombings, war and other tactics aimed at crippling it.
Oh. But, um. . .would that be the Afghan-Pakistani border in Anbar province? Yeah, that’s the ticket! I bet some villager told some Kurdish corporal who told Michael Yon’s interpreter that “Pakistan” is the local nickname for “Baqubah”. Send Michael cash so he can report this critical information! You can bet the MSM won’t!
[Gavin adds: Woop! News flash from Michelle Malkin. “Michael Yon reports that al Qaeda is on the run in Baqubah. But elsewhere, al Qaeda is reportedly at pre-9/11 strength.” By “elsewhere” she means, you know, other parts of Anbar province and also the rest of the world.]
Counterterrorism analysts produced the document, titled “Al-Qaeda better positioned to strike the West.” The document focuses on the terror group’s safe haven in Pakistan and makes a range of observations about the threat posed to the United States and its allies, officials said.
Al-Qaeda is “considerably operationally stronger than a year ago” and has “regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001,” the official said, paraphrasing the report’s conclusions. “They are showing greater and greater ability to plan attacks in Europe and the United States.”
Damn you, Time! This isn’t going according to the script! Stay on message! And what’s “al Qaeda”, anyway? Let’s ask Michael Yon:
Like many things in Iraq, the question of whether or not the murderers were al Qaeda is flawed from beginning. Al Qaeda is not a union, it doesn’t issue passports. What is al Qaeda but the collection of people who claim to be al Qaeda? Those responsible for murdering and burying those bodies in al Ahamir (or al Hamira) had the markers of al Qaeda, the same al Qaeda that had boastfully installed itself as the shadow government of Baqubah. The al Qaeda who committed atrocities in Afghanistan, New York . . . the list is long. As for al Ahamir, the massacre “walks like a duck.” It happened in duck headquarters. The people here say the duck did it. The duck laughs.
That’s good enough for me. Whoops, gotta run. It’s a travel day for me and the rest of the San Francisco Giants.
UPDATE: Gavin points to this post on Hot Air, in which Allahpundit wonders, re: Bush’s utter failure to reduce the threat of al Qaeda terrorism after 5+ years of “smokin’ them out” hijinks:
How does all this shake out for the left? Grim victory insofar as it proves Bush hasn’t done enough dismantle to AQ (irrespective of whether there’s anything else he could have done) or inadvertent defeat insofar as it reminds people of the threat from both branches of Al Qaeda just as the withdrawal debate is hitting the floor of the Senate? If you see more than the usual amount of questioning the timing among the paranoiac nutroots blogs, you’ll know it’s the latter.
In other news, the arrest of Florida State Rep. Bob Allen (R-Merritt Island) … how does it shake out for the left? Grim victory insofar as it proves that yet another conservative hypocrite is paying for teh gay sex … or inadvertent defeat insofar as it reminds people of blowjobs? If you see more than the usual amount of Clenis talk among the infantile wingnut blogs, you’ll know it’s the latter.
Oh, and the comments are already deeply disturbing. This guy wants another 9/11 … to save the country, of course:
If it takes them hitting us again for the People to unite and finally get rid of these psychopathic theocratic crapulous maniacs, so be it.
One wake up call didn’t work.
Maybe the snooze alarm needs a bomb.
profitsbeard on July 11, 2007 at 9:37 PM
And this guy’s all ready to declare 9/11 2.0 “all the liberals’ fault”:
The more interesting question is what happens after the event. Some possibilities:
… 2. We’ll have a wonderful opportunity to see if the American Left has any remaining sense of irony whatsoever. After doing all in their power to hamstring our ability to monitor and detect terrorist networks here and abroad in the name of “Civil Liberties,” watch what their reactions will be when after the next 9/11 we show them what it really means to profile people and deprive them of their precious freedoms. …
Spurius Ligustinus on July 12, 2007 at 1:13 AM
People, relax. They can attack us, but they won’t. Why? Because (all together, now), “We’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.”
Serenity now!
But Clinton got a blowjob.
Al-Qaeda is “considerably operationally stronger than a year ago” and has “regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001,” the official said, paraphrasing the report’s conclusions.
Isn’t the first part a way of dancing around the implications of the second part, namely that they’re stronger now than they have been during the entire war that was allegedly to destroy them? Aren’t further US operations then only going to continue to further embolden the enemy? Why do US troops hate the troops?
Does that mean we invade Pakistan next? How much oil do they have?
But the French are surrender monkeys! Stupid Frenchies!
Bushco has updated the famous Wee Willie Keeler quote: “Fight ’em where they ain’t!”
(I’ve really got baseball on the brain these days)
And I suppose that all the brilliant and wise pundits will immediately conclude that Al Qa’ida’s rebuilding success must also mean good things politically for Republicans, because there is no news which is not good news for Republicans and bad news for Democrats, in their view.
therefore never send to know for whom the duck laughs; it laughs for thee.
So if Michael Yon walked off a cliff in lib headquarters (Berkeley), the rightwing blogosphere blamed the libs, and the libs laughed…
Not that I would want that to happen to Michael Yon. We haven’t had such a bright-eyed, chubby, gullible embed “journalist” running around Iraq since the other Michael (Kelly) got blown up five years ago.
Jeez, do you suppose this might cause SOME FUCKING BODY to re-examine their approach to counter terrorism at long last? That maybe somebody in charge of fighting these fuckers might realize that bombing villiages, killing civilians, detaining thousands of innocent people and generally using hundreds of thousands of soldiers as if al Quaeda was the Wehrmacht is utterly counterproductive, producing new recruits while leaving the core infrastructure untouched?
Nah, I don’t guess so. When all you have is a hammer…
mikey
This is just more liberal media nonsense. We SAW the pictures of Saddam bin-Laden’s execution; and “we’ve” captured the #2 and #3 guys in al-Qaeda at least a dozen times (each). The U.S. is winning every day in every way on all fronts in the GWOT because losing would be unacceptable, so stop trying to embarrass our President Bush-Cheney.
Jeez, do you suppose this might cause SOME FUCKING BODY to re-examine their approach to counter terrorism at long last?
Absolutely not. We are at war with Iraq. We have always been at war with Iraq. The greater strength of al Qaeda is proof the surge is working. The failure of Pakistan to root out al Qaeda is proof the surge is working. A nuclear North Korea is proof the surge is working. A Democratic-controlled Congress is proof the surge is working. The fact that I’m wearing black shoes is proof the surge is working.
Interestingly, all of those things are also proof that we should go to war with Iran. In fact, we are at war with Iran. We have always been at war with Iran…
Hey, Aristophanes, you Baseball Annie you, what travel day are you talking about? Alyssa Milano & I are headed north w/ the Dodgers to whup you & the rest of the Giants further into the NL West cellar, Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Or are you & Barry headed elsewhere to avoid us?
But do tell us about your All-star activities, as you threatened to a few posts back.
P. S.: Spoken as a San Francisco native, but current traitor/Dodger fan.
On Topic:
“What is al Qaeda but the collection of people who claim to be al Qaeda?
Well, I declare myself to be Al Qaeda, so come & get me Chertoff, you bug-eyed, Skeletor looking fool. (Has he had his eyes done or is it just a thyroid condition, or both? You know we SoCal types are all about people’s plastic surgery, and looksism in general.)
Mikey: No, I just heard the preznit on the tube saying there’ll be no changes until 15 September when Gen. Petraeus makes his big deal report. And it’s doubtful there’ll be any changes after that. You know they won’t re-examine anything, they just work from their “gut feelings” & “instincts,” which are inevitably wrong, and usually those of a schoolyard bully.
I knew it, all those goth kids with capes and fake fangs really were vampires and not nerds this whole time. I mean that’s what they were calling themselves right?
Shorter Yon:
The idea of trying to figure out who is conducting massacres is flawed from the beginning. Brown people did it. What is al Qaeda but a collection of brown people? Further details are unknowable and should not be pursued. I claim to be a journalist, by the way.
Hey, Aristophanes, you Baseball Annie you, what travel day are you talking about? Alyssa Milano & I are headed north w/ the Dodgers to whup you & the rest of the Giants further into the NL West cellar …
Bingo: That’s where we’re traveling to …
Sorry to double-post, but I thought of a response for Yon’s question–hey, maybe “Al Qaeda” means “Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization.” Meaning that, if you referred to someone as being affiliated with Al Qaeda, that would mean they have real, operational links to that organization. I dunno, that seems pretty meaningful to me. But what do I know, maybe “Al Qaeda” just means “anyone who does bad shit.”
As for the All-Star game, this San Francisco native lost his voice screaming things like “Hey Putz, you’re a schlemiel!” …
Mikey, Mikey, Mikey… You assume that the wingnuts care about counter-terrorism. They don’t. They care about whether or not the US looks “strong.” And they think that to prove itself strong the US has to kill a lot of brown people. And piss off the rest of the word. That will get it back without the cialis fore sure.
It’s interesting.
In a sense, the ‘definition’ of Al Qaeda, according to Yon, is almost postmodernist. Language bears no set meaning, and so Al Qaeda only means whatever the term-user thinks it means, with no objective meaning.
Thanks a lot, postmodernists.
Yon finally admits that the “war on terror” is retarded and unwinnable with the current mindset of military power. yay.
But what do I know, maybe “Al Qaeda” just means “anyone who does bad shit.”
Just getting the al Qaeda email newsletter does not make you Al Qaeda, does it?
Duros: you also need the decoder ring to be “official.”
Re: 9/11 2.0
I’ve never particularly understood this particular wingnut pathology. Leaving aside the fact that there would be no guarantee that they could lay such horror as
BillHitlery Clinton’s fault and not Bush’s, what honestly do they expect will happen?They have five straight years of Republican control of everything and they COULDN’T win in Iraq or catch Osama. Do they honestly expect, even if Bush’s approval were to shoot to 92% again due to some regrettable but oh so fortunate for wingnuttia incident, that Iraq would turn to magical pony land once America regained its “resolve?” That there would be something to call victory from the debacle?
Duros: you also need the decoder ring to be “official.”
Dammit, I forgot to save the boxtops.
If we do have another attack, and G*d forbid we do, how would it possibly help the GOP at this stage of the game? They haven’t done anything about the last one except fuck up a sovereign nation where, as Nathan Arizona said, we know they ain’t at. Leadership is a hell of a lot more than Decider t-shirts.
Is anybody else particularly bothered by that last commenter?
watch what their reactions will be when after the next 9/11 we show them what it really means to profile people and deprive them of their precious freedoms. …
That’s kind of unnerving. I mean, I can’t be absolutely certain of the subtext on that one, but I suspect it involves Mrs. Malkin finally seeing those boncentration bamps opened like she would just love, and anybody suspected of being insufficiently Republican being filed in.
I do. It’s the ability to dance around in an ‘I TOLD YOU SO’ T-shirt, feeling vindicated. It doesn’t have to make logical sense. In spite of all evidence to the contrary these guys earnestly believe that the liberals have sapped the country of it’s vital bodily fluids and have thereby invited another attack. There’s a dash of biblical judgementalism and punishment somewhere in that heady mix of paranoia, chauvinism and jingo.
They want this war, this clash of civilizations, this existential crisis, SO BADLY. I suspect they believe it will be the wake up call that vindicates them and presents them with a mandate to eradicate liberalism once and for all. That is if only that liberal President George W. Bush doesn’t go and prevent them.
“It’s the ability to dance around in an ‘I TOLD YOU SO’ T-shirt, feeling vindicated.”
Ha! But when all else fails, the last-ditch wingnut argument is that the lawlessness of Bush-Cheney at least has prevented any further attacks on Der Vaterland. So . . . if there is another attack, then surely the corporate media, despite its many failures, will finally call bullshit on this literally good-for-nothing Gop Ship of Fools; right? Surely they’ll finally at long last drop the narrative that everything helps the Gop: terror attacks, no terror attacks, violence in Iraq, more violence in Iraq, etc., etc. Right?
“…the paranoiac nutroots blogs..”
Wait just one sweet minute there. The Party of Perpetual Pants-Pissers calling us (I guess we’re the “nutroots”) “paranoiac?” Ooh, that’s rich.
And of course there wasn’t anything else Bush could have done. Um, except for actually catching Bin Laden, which could have been done if they weren’t scared to go into Pakistan. It’s perfectly acceptable to invade & occupy Iraq, out of the sheerest paranoia, but not to go into Pakistan — Whoa!! — Auto-Preview —where’d that come from? — into Pakistan to get Public Enemy Numero Uno.
And Aristo: Good answer to where the Giants are traveling. They’re still my second favorite team. But I’m not wishing them any luck this wknd.
Whoa, wait, I’m getting dizzy!!
We are winning the war because we totally have Al Queda on the run and we’re painting the schools, despite what that liberal jihadi Jamail Hussein says.
The streets of Iraq are more peaceful than South Philly except for
The evil baby-baking terrislamistofascist with their hateful ideology funded by Iran who are creeping about with sabres between their teeth, ready to cut the throats of every God-fearing White American….
Because they hate us for our freedoms.
The freedoms we are bringing to the happy smiling people of Iraq
Who should all be killed, women and children as well as men, as we fight them over there so we don’t have to fight over here.
George Bush is the Bestest President ever, except for the fact that the Librual Defeatocrats and the media have tied his hands so he is completely ineffective
But there probably isn’t anything he could have done anyway, but he is still the only thing standing between us and a horrendous terror attack
Which we really hope will happen ASAP so that those who doubted President Bush’s goal of spreading freedom and democracy will be immediately rounded up, dragged from their homes in the dark of night, and thrown into prison.
OK. I think I need to go lie down now.
“We’ll have a wonderful opportunity to see if the American Left has any remaining sense of irony whatsoever.”
Geez, Spurius (if that is your real name) – irony’s all I got.
In a sense, the ‘definition’ of Al Qaeda, according to Yon, is almost postmodernist. Language bears no set meaning, and so Al Qaeda only means whatever the term-user thinks it means, with no objective meaning.
Careful… Legend has it that if you say that three times, Jeff Goldstein appears.
Patkin, I’m with you on the sodding postmodernists. Possibly also with you on the channeling Mr SmokeTooMuch (Monty Python reference there: alas, it’s from the TV version with the best line edited out. Bugger).
Nothing must ever change.
Qetesh:
No, though close!
I was channeling the man on the street’s opinion of these National Bocialists. (Mr. Hilter in England)
Rats.
I love that bit in the last Hot Air comment with the scare quotes around “Civil Liberties”. I’m glad that we still get to play around with our so-called “Right To Free Speech” for a bit longer…