Mirandizing Omar Farouk Abdulmutullab could really come back to haunt this administration, if al Qaeda even comes close to succeeding again.
The Obama administration’s top intelligence officials on Tuesday described it as “certain” that al-Qaeda or its allies will try to attack the United States in the next six months, and they called for new flexibility in how U.S. officials detain and question terrorist suspects.
The officials, testifying before the Senate intelligence committee, also warned of increased risk of cyber-attacks in the coming months, saying that the recent China-based hacking of Google’s computers was both a “wake-up call” and a forerunner to future strikes aimed at businesses or intended to cause economic disruption.
“Al-Qaeda maintains its intent to attack the homeland — preferably with a large-scale operation that would cause mass casualties, harm the U.S. economy or both,” Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair told the committee in a hearing convened to assess threats against the country.
Blair and CIA Director Leon Panetta warned of new threats from al-Qaeda’s regional allies, such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Several groups appear increasingly intent on attacking U.S. and other Western targets, even as al-Qaeda’s core leadership struggles to regain its footing after repeated setbacks and eroding popular support in the Muslim world, the officials said.
“They are moving to other safe havens and regional nodes such as Yemen, Somalia, the Maghreb and others,” Panetta said. He said al-Qaeda-inspired groups had successfully “deployed individuals to this country,” citing recently disrupted terrorist plots in Colorado and Chicago.
ThomasS
Well I hate to play into stereotypes, especially when it’s my own (being Italian and all), but if someone was killing my friends and family and dying while doing it, I might kill a few of their friends and family members as a warning to the next would be martyr. The next suicide bomber might think twice if mom and pop might get it after they blew themselves up along with some else’s mom and pop. I suspect that a few unjust killings on our part would stop hundreds of unjust killings on both sides. Two can play the game of “let’s poke the unprotected underbelly of our enemy†and it’s only asymmetric warfare if we let them break the rules while we don’t.
The rumor I heard back in the bad old Cold War days was that the Russians whacked the brothers of a few martyrs/assassins/hijackers and the killing – of Russians – stopped immediately. Sounds like a plan to me.
And to the “We’re better than that†crowd, I would point out that we kill many innocent victims with our drones and penchant for long range bombing. All we would be adding is a name and face and a frank acceptance of the responsibility for the killings we authorize. That seems more honest and forthright than living in denial about the rules of engagement, the actually tradeoffs involved and our supposed current moral purity.
ThomasS
There I said it! But leave Fredo alone while our mother is alive. :)
Ross Wolf
Obama’s dithering and ineptness in Afghanistan and in dealing with Iran showed such weakness, it might have invited terrorists and foreign Governments to challenge U.S. global interests, perhaps even attack America. Weakening American security, the current Administration appears to have for political purposes placated its left-wing roots by attacking the CIA’s interrogation of terrorists, undermining the agency’s ability to stop terrorist attacks. Until now, Americans have never been faced with both the prospect of attacks from terrorists, foreign and domestic while concurrently having to rely on a U.S. Government that appears at the top inherently weak.
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