LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Al Qaeda: United States
built 630 days ago
There is good evidence that this shift in Al Qaeda's scheme was the product of deliberate choice. In December 2003, the Norwegian intelligence service found a lengthy Qaeda planning document on a radical Islamic Web site that described a coherent strategy for compelling the United States and its allies to leave Iraq. It made clear that more spectacular attacks against the United States like those of 9/11 would be insufficient, and that it would be more effective to attack America's European allies... coercing them to withdraw their forces from Iraq and Afghanistan and increasing the economic and military burdens that the United States would have to bear.
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Other Al-Quaeda members, as reported, got killed: Abu Hafs the Mauritanian (->), who gave an interview in late November 2001 on Al-Jazeera) "Provided some of the scholarly justification for Al Qaeda's terrorist attacks". Abu Salah al-Yemeni "Identified" as senior logistics coordinator. Tariq Anwar al-Sayyid Ahmad and Muhammad Salah Two Egyptians involved in executing terrorist attacks. Mohammad Omar Abdel-Rahman There have been unconfirmed reports that Abdel-Rahman, son of a blind Egyptian sheik convicted of leading a bombing conspiracy in New York in the mid-1990s, was killed, but U.S. authorities believe he remains at large. As reported, he once was captured by anti-Taliban forces. He is considered a midlevel Al Qaeda official and a liaison to his father's Egypt-based terrorist organization, al-Gamaa al-Islamiya. Rahmans status is therefore still unclear.
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Faced with the looming conflict with the Maulana, Al Qaeda is concentrating its forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The New York Times describes a new influx of foreign fighters into Pakistan and Afghanistan. As always, the Times spins the hollowest analysis to portray defeat for the United States. But there are some questions the Times didn't bother to ask or answer, beyond the usual "the U.S. made them do it" tripe anyway. Chiefly, "why are they coming to Afghanistan"?
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A critical first step toward decapitating al Qaeda is for Washington to enhance its commitment in Afghanistan. President Bush promised to do so last February, but more needs to be done. Defeating the resurgent Taliban will require a significant increase in nato forces, and that will require U.S. leadership. The United States should urgently divert more troops from Iraq to Afghanistan as a way to encourage U.S. allies in Afghanistan to help supply the additional troops and equipment needed. NATO should ... encourage its partners in the Mediterranean Dialogue—especially Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia—to contribute to the stabilization of Afghanistan. It should also create a contact group led by a senior nato diplomat to engage with all of Afghanistan's neighbors to secure the country's borders, especially the 1,500-mile one with Pakistan.
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Al Qaeda placed great emphasis on communicating its message effectively throughout 2006. Osama bin Laden and deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri issued more tapes in 2006 than in any year since the 9/11 attacks. In the past, al Qaeda tapes were generally released to Al Jazeera, but 2006 saw more Internet releases: the terrorist group's message was ... more quickly disseminated. Al-Zawraa TV, the 24-hour insurgent station, is an extension of this trend.
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No doubt al Qaeda will claim a victory when the United States leaves Iraq. (It already does so at the sheer mention of withdrawal.) But it is unlikely that the Islamic State of Iraq will fare well after the occupation ends. Anbar and adjacent Sunni provinces have little water, few other natural resources, and no access to the outside world except through hostile territory. The Shiites and the Kurdish militias will have no compunction about attacking the Islamic State of Iraq. (Al Qaeda's own propaganda indicates that it fears the Shiites' wrath after the United States' departure more than it fears what would happen if the Americans stayed.)
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