This admission from Defence Secretary Robert Gates highlights the changed intentions of the US in regards to fighting terrorism, but also to the inadequacies and failures of US intelligence and military operations. It is believed that bin Laden was able to escape from the remote mountain caves of Afghanistan into boarding onto Pakistan during the 2001 invasion, because of a lack of US military concentration in that area. It makes us question the true amount of effort the US military and intelligence services put into finding bin Laden, and how serious their efforts are now. At the time of the invasion, Fox News (not the most accurate to be quoting as a common example) was reporting during the invasion of the possibility of large, underground lairs being used by al-Qaeda operatives as training facilities. Hypothetical diagrams were made to demonstrate the vastness of these caves, which included stairs, multiple levels and a hydro power generator. The very reality of the situation with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, or even all over the world, was and still is far from this fearfully fanciful prediction.
The huge al-Qaeda network the US was estimating to find was never really found. Only what was found was a very loose connection between financiers who hated the west, and people who also hated the west and were willing to kill themselves for it. Osama bin Laden only managed to blur these lines even further, by being a very supportive financier, in monetary and ideological perspectives. The widely spread opinion (mostly among conservative circles in the US and other western nations), that bin Laden and other radical terrorists are out to kill westerners, and that they are trying to get into the country now has amazingly crumbled to bits, and is now lying scattered around their ankles. The loose 'networks' that existed all shared one common trait. A hatred towards the US from invasive action and believed persecution and marginalisation from it. These "terrorists" have been shown to not exist in vast numbers, but quickly appear when poor, unemployed and disenfranchised young males believe they are being marginalised by the US. This has been proven again throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Young men fight against the US, on the belief that the US is the 'evil' invading force (often brought upon by the accidental killing of family and friends, livestock and destruction of homes due to US military activities). This has been proven again with the US drone program in Pakistan, killing 50 civilians to 1 terrorist. This has created more anti US sentiment and reason for young Pakistani men to conduct terrorist affiliated activities within the region against the US and westerners.
Hence most terrorists are not made in training camps in Afghanistan or are willing to fly planes into buildings. They are 'grown' (in the case of the UK, home grown) from actions conducted by the west against the Islamic community or particular Middle Eastern groups. The US has admitted that there is only around 100 al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan at the moment. So with the new troop surge, it isn't going to be 1,300 US troops per al-Qaeda member. It is nation building and prevention of radical groups establishing themselves with their anti western ideology in Afghanistan. The outcome of the Afghanistan war will depend on rebuilding the government, communities and the country, not finding or killing Osama Bin Laden.
So where is he now? Most likely dead. If not hiding somewhere in the remote mountains in Pakistan or anywhere in Africa. Though the real threat of terrorism doesn't come from him any more. It comes from those within the Middle East that we don't help or assist, or hurt, oppress and marginalise even more.
Links:
No news on bin Laden for years, US admits - ABC online
President Obama's Secret: Only 100 al Qaeda Now in Afghanistan
No comments:
Post a Comment
Just to ensure we don't get spam, if you're making a comment on an old post it will need to be manually verified. Apologies if this takes 24 hours.