Obama Unprepared for Emerging Homegrown Jihadist Threat
While the Obama administration ties up resources investigating CIA interrogators and pushing civilian trials for terrorists, a new threat has emerged in the form of homegrown jihadists who are very hard to spot and stop. Yet President Obama still doesn’t understand that individuals like the suspected Times Square car bomber are the frontline troops in a global terrorist war threatening America, writes Newsmax Chief Washington Correspondent Ronald Kessler.
By: Ronald Kessler at Newsmax.com
As originally conceived by Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida would conduct occasional massive attacks on the United States to terrify its citizens and devastate the economy.
That worked well on 9/11, but the United States has since waged a successful war to penetrate, isolate, and dismantle al-Qaida.
Like the United States, al-Qaida and its affiliates have learned to adapt, so what we are seeing now are more-frequent, less-ambitious attacks by people who have minimal training. That apparently was the case with Faisal Shahzad, who allegedly has admitted his role in the botched bombing attempt in Times Square and is talking to investigators, according to Attorney General Eric Holder.
Although no definite link has been announced, the area of Pakistan where Shahzad recently traveled is a stronghold of the Taliban, which works closely with al-Qaida.
Similarly, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who has been charged with attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day, received training from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula but apparently not enough to blow up the plane.
A third category of terrorist, Nidal Malik Hasan, was inspired by an al-Qaida imam but did not receive training.
The evolution of terrorism is both good news and bad news. The good news is that spectacular attacks are being prevented, thanks to the hard work of the CIA, FBI, local police, and the military.
Bin Laden is isolated, unable to plan plots. Predator drone strikes are taking out more al-Qaida leaders and operatives. Although President Obama deserves credit for continuing the strikes, the reason for the increase in successful attacks is a geometric increase in the number of drones funded by the Bush administration, improved intelligence, and good weather so far this year in target areas.
The bad news is that the terror attacks, while less ambitious, are coming more frequently and eventually will be successful.
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