Bush Adviser Defends Anti-Terror Strategy

Frances Townsend Says U.S. Has "Constrained" Al Qaeda; Pakistan Calls Report Unsubstantiated

(CBS/AP)  President Bush's White House counterterrorism adviser said Wednesday that U.S. officials believe al Qaeda wants to launch "a mass casualty, spectacular event" in the United States but don't think it can do so.

"Make no mistake, they're determined to figure out a way," said Frances Fragos Townsend. "So we work every day to make sure that doesn't happen."

Townsend, who went on the morning news shows to discuss the threat of terrorism a day after the administration released a new National Intelligence Estimate, said, "The question is: Do they have all the capabilities they need to do it? And we don't think they have it yet."

The report concluded among other things that al Qaeda is using its growing strength in Pakistan and Iraq to plot attacks on U.S. soil, heightening the terror threat facing the United States over the next few years.

Prepared for President Bush and other top policymakers, the document lays out a range of dangers — from al Qaeda to Lebanese Hezbollah to non-Muslim radical groups — that pose a "persistent and evolving threat" to the country over the next three years.

The findings focused most heavily on Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which was judged to remain the most serious threat to the United States. The group's affiliate in Iraq, which has not yet posed a direct threat to U.S. soil, could do just that, the report concluded. Al Qaeda in Iraq threatened to attack the United States in a Web statement last September.

In an interview Wednesday on The Early Show, Townsend told anchor Hannah Storm, "There's no question that there's a very determined enemy that wants to come back and do us harm. What this report tells us, the American people have to understand, is that al Qaeda is a determined enemy and we have to be equally determined to go after them."

But Townsend vehemently denied Storm's suggestion that the report indicates that nearly six years after the 9/11 attacks — after billions spent and thousands of American lives lost — Americans are not any safer than before the attacks.

"That's not what the report says. What the report tells us is that we have constrained al Qaeda's ability to act against us. That al Qaeda believes, based on billions of dollars that we've spent, that we are a more difficult and less vulnerable target for them."

Townsend also touted U.S. cooperation with Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and said the two countries continue to work closely together on the problem.

‘What were doing is working with our partner in Pakistan to either give them the capability or have them exert their own influence in the tribal areas,” Townsend said.

The Bush administration has promised $750 million in aid, but says fighting al Qaeda requires in Pakistan military action too, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth. But Pakistan insists it will never allow in foreign troops, as Musharraf made clear in a CBS News interview just three months ago.

“So let us handle our country ourselves. That is all. Nobody comes from outside. We are capable of doing it. We will handle it our way,” he said.

The White House now claims Musharraf is changing tactics — in response to a policy that hasn't worked.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the report is unsubstantiated and asked Washington to provide it with "actionable intelligence."

"We would firmly act to eliminate any al Qaeda hideout on the basis of specific intelligence or information," the Foreign Ministry's statement read.

"It does not help simply to make assertions about the presence or regeneration of al Qaeda in bordering areas of Pakistan. What is needed is concrete and actionable information and intelligence sharing," it said.

In the report, analysts argued that crumbling state control of Pakistan's border region allowed al Qaeda an increasingly comfortable hideout from which to plot attacks.

A briefing on the National Intelligence Estimate, prepared for President Bush and other top policymakers, said a peace deal in Pakistan's North Waziristan region lets al Qaeda set up terror training camps, improve international communications and bolster operations.

The Foreign Ministry said Pakistan was "determined not to allow al Qaeda or any other terrorist entity to establish a safe haven on its territory." It also reiterated that no foreign security forces would be allowed to pursue militants in Pakistan.

"We have deployed troops, established checkposts and done selective fencing. Any further action that needs to be taken against terrorist elements will be taken," the ministry said.

[j-whitman]

speakinup,,, Releasing information on Pentagon activities Emboldens the Enemy --- Forget you ever heard about the *** Smelling Contest. It's part of our Biological Offensive Weaponology Program For Spreading Liberty,, Mission BOWOP

[j-whitman]

speakinup,,, How did you find out about that Pentagon contest ??? It was top secret

[speakinup]

"MCINTYRE: From my close-up inspection, there's no evidence of a plane having crashed anywhere near the Pentagon"
"This result confirms and strengthens the previous findings of Scholars for 9/11 Truth that no Boeing 757 hit the buillding" red164

Sure. And it was a mass hallucination that the twin towers were ever there, right?

What - do you suppose a F A R T lighting contest got out of hand at the Pentagon ?

It amazes me how stupid some people are.

[red164]

9/11/2001
VIDEO: CNN's Jamie McIntyre reported no plane ...JAMIE MCINTYRE: From my close-up inspection, there's no evidence of a plane having crashed anywhere near the Pentagon


New study from Pilots for 9-11 Truth: No Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon
PRWeb
Yahoo! News
Thu, 21 Jun 2007 03:01 EDT


Pilots for 9/11 Truth obtained black box data from the government under the Freedom of Information Act for AA Flight 77, which The 9/11 Report claims hit the Pentagon. Analysis of the data contradicts the official account in direction, approach, and altitude. The plane was too high to hit lamp posts and would have flown over the Pentagon, not impacted with its ground floor. This result confirms and strengthens the previous findings of Scholars for 9/11 Truth that no Boeing 757 hit the buillding.

New study from Pilots for 9/11 Truth: No ...The study was signed by fifteen professional pilots with extensive military and commercial


McCain Loses It and Flees After 9/11 Truth Questions
Senator Refuses Demands for a New Investigation, Claims "Additional Information" About 9/11 and Leaves Event Irritated and Angry

Aaron *****
Jones Report
Thursday July 19, 2007


Republican presidential candidate John McCain was literally overwhelmed by reporters from WeAreChange.org and Infowars.com seeking 9/11 truth during a campaign stop.

[realpatriot1]

doctorwho4,

I have a news flash for you...the Iraqi oil fields have been offline since before the war began and oil is not $150 a barrel. Iran already has effective control of the Shiite government.

The mass killings of Christians, Sunnis, and Shiites
will continue to occur whether we stay or not.

A note to all you anti-immigration folks, get ready for the next wave coming from Iraq. The larger waves will be flooding into Iran, Syria, & Turkey but we'll have to take in these persecuted Christians and those who helped us.

Get used to the fact that the social safety net is going to be strained to the max by returning service personnel in need of various forms of assistance just as the baby boomers prepare to retire and we attempt to pay off the debt for this mismanaged war. Also, we're back to the status quo on immigration with nothing accomplished to change the dynamics there.

If any politician promises to lower your taxes they're full of it.

[clestes-2009]

"What the report tells us is that we have constrained al Qaeda's ability to act against us. That al Qaeda believes, based on billions of dollars that we%u2019ve spent, that we are a more difficult and less vulnerable target for them."

The report says nothing of the kind. Al-Quida is spread ALL OVER the middle east, including Iraq, where it NEVER WAS before.

Bush's bumbling, fumbling middle east foreign policies have MADE TERRORIST EVERYWHERE.

We are not winning the fight against Al-Quida. They are increasing in number, not decreasing.

How can anybody think this report shows progress against terror???????????? We are in more danger now than ever.

[red164]

http://www.rferl.org/specials/IraqCrisis/specials-armedgroups.asp

A SURVEY OF ARMED GROUPS IN IRAQ

Compiled by Kathleen Ridolfo

Ansar Al-Islam

Ansar Al-Sunnah Army

Faylaq Badr

Shahid Al-Sadr Force.

Islamic Movement of Kurdistan

Kurdistan Islamic Group.

Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas.

Al-Mujahidin Brigades

Hizballah

Imam Al-Mahdi Army

Usbat Al-Huda

Resistance Front

Iraqi Organization of Liberation

Kata'ib Al-Zilzal Al-Mujahidah

Kata'ib Salah Al-Din

Kata'ib Al-Mujahidin

Jama'at Al-Tawhid wa Al-Jihad

Jaysh Al-Mahdi

Jund Al-Sham.


Tha'r Allah

Mafariz Al-Intiqam

Sarkhi Hassani.

Mujahedin Allahu Akbar

Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party


Fedayeen Saddam

Al-Qiyadah Al-Amah li Jaysh Al-Iraq

Islamic Jihad Brigades of Muhammad's Army

[red164]

08/08/2005
Salah Al Mukhtar : The Iraqi Resistance is Geared to Keep On Fighting For A decade To Come


The groups prepared for a guerrilla warfare have included, beside the Iraqi armed forces, the organization called %u201CFedayeen of Saddam%u201D, and Baath party fighters, as well as leaders of the Baath party. In the light of what I have said, you can reach the conclusion that the resistance was prepared mainly by the political leadership of Iraq. Of course, it has used the government apparatus to facilitate the preparation for a guerrilla warfare. After the occupation of Iraq thousands of people have joined the armed resistance: some of them joined Baath party organizations, some others formulated their own organizations. For the time being, we have many different groups fighting against the American colonial occupation, and these organizations have different ideological characters, including progressive forces, religious groups, nationalists, but the main organization is the Baathist one. As for the connection among these organizations, I can say that there is a strong coordination and cooperation.%u201D

"No mention of al Qaeda"

[red164]

08/08/2005
Salah Al Mukhtar : The Iraqi Resistance is Geared to Keep On Fighting For A decade To Come


%u201CThe current resistance in Iraq %u2014 to be accurate %u2014 was not made or prepared by the Iraqi government, but by the Baath party leadership. At the beginning in the year 2002, the Baath party completed the training of about 6 million Iraqi citizens to fight urban warfare by the so called Al Quds Army. President Saddam Hussein has managed all preparation, including storing about 50 million of guns, big, medium and small sizes with their necessary ammunition to fight against the occupation for ten years.

[tnichlsn]

Why even bother discussing these issues anymore? There are still sufficient GOP lemmings in congress to block any democratic move to check whitehouse power, and even if they could, this administration ignors the law and the people, so just sit back and bide your time for another 18 months and hope they don't decide to nuke anybody in the mean time.

[red164]

Osama Muhammed bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

We believe most of the foreign terrorists who are blowing themselves up in this country, killing Iraqi citizens, are coming from Saudi Arabia."
July 15, 2007
Mowaffak al-Rubaie,
Iraqi National Security Adviser

The Bush-Saudi ConnectionThat's fortunate for the Bush family and the Saudi royal household, whose links with the Bin Ladens could otherwise prove embarrassing. ...

: Cheney Visits Saudi Arabia to Discuss Iraq, IranVice President *** Cheney travels to Saudi Arabia to hold talks with King Abdullah about the deepening violence in Iraq. The two also discussed other key ...
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p
hp?storyId=6538462 - Similar pages

Sri Lanka POLITICS:: `Appeal` against beheadingNews article about: `Appeal` against beheading. ... Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankans despite protests from international human rights organisations. ...
www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2007/6
/16285.html - 26k - Cached - Similar pages

Saudi Arabia - beheading in the 21st century.
Saudi Arabia uses public beheading as the punishment for murder, rape, drug trafficking, sodomy, armed robbery, apostasy and certain other offences. Forty five men and 2 women were beheaded in 2002, a further 52 men and 1 woman in 2003 and 35 men and a woman in 2004. Executions rose in 2005 with 88 men and 2 women being beheaded and then reduced to 35 men and four women in 2006.

[red164]

Senator Gravel was one of the first current or former elected officials to publicly oppose the planned invasion of Iraq in 2002. He appeared on MSNBC prior to the invasion insisting that intelligence showed that there were indeed no weapons of mass destruction, that Iraq posed no threat to the United States and that invading Iraq was against America%u2019s national interests and would result in a disaster of epic proportions for both the United States and the Iraqi people.

[forthepeopl1]

Make no mistake, they're determined to figure out a way," said Frances Fragos Townsend. "So we work every day to make sure that doesn't happen."

Townsend, who went on the morning news shows to discuss the threat of terrorism a day after the administration released a new National Intelligence Estimate, said, "The question is: Do they have all the capabilities they need to do it? And we don't think they have it yet."

The report concluded among other things that al Qaeda is using its growing strength in Pakistan and Iraq to plot attacks on U.S. soil, heightening the terror threat facing the United States over the next few years.

Prepared for President Bush and other top policymakers, the document lays out a range of dangers %u2014

SO LETS NOT TELL AMERICANS BUSH SAID WE NEED TO GET RID OF A FEW MILLION SO WE CAN PAY SSN AND THE INTERST TO CHINA AT 10 MILLION A MONTH.

AND YES SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE WORKS REAL HARD, MAYBY ON HER KNEES.

[j-whitman]

doctorwho4,,, Every time Bush says things like that is a win for Ossama Bin Laden

[infidel_us]

As to Iraq? If we leave, it becomes Iran's problem -- where's the problem there?
Posted by Nancy_Naive at 09:05 AM : Jul 19, 2007

Are you joking? Yesterday, you said some pretty funny stuff, so I can't tell if you're joking here. Please tell me you're joking.

[bluestardad]

America Does not buy the sound bite that Iraq is the war on Terror or that if we do not fight in Iraq we will fight the Terrorist over in America. Unless you have been on your knees with your eyes shut in front of some Stalwart Republican like Mark Foley or Tedd Haggert you would have seen that Iraq did not attack America on 9/11 and that Iraq is in a Religious Civil War. The American People have Rejected the premise that if you disagree with the Iraq war an the President you are helping the Terrorist. Bushit Can not even care for our wounded who live with Rats and Cockroaches at Walter Reed Hospital. So while Bush Flew the family of Bin Laden, his family friend, out of America after 9/11 and did not hold Saudi Arabia Accountable for the 15 of the 19 Hijackers that Attacked America or the hundreds they have killed in Iraq. Meanwhile President Bush disbands the Secret Unit Hunting Bin Laden and put in Afghanistan Jails all the Bounty Hunters who have been hunting Bin Laden, but he feels free to pull out the threat of the Boogie Man Bin Laden when ever it serves his purpose in an attempt to scare the American People into giving up Civil Liberties. Also the No Actionable Intelligence, National Security Director gets promoted to Secretary of State and Insults the Countries of Iraq and Syria so much that she cannot negotiate with them to stop the War in Iraq that the Bush Administration started upon False pretenses.

[j-whitman]

doctorwho4 -- Iraq won't fall into the hands of Al Queda ------ That's another Bush Fatass Lie

[SIDNEYWILLIAMSMD]

There is more on the table in Iraq than meets the eye: #1 Al Qaeda is pitching battle here-losing would be equivalent to failing at Iwo Jima
#2 Genocide would follow a precipitous withdrawal including children-we would never forgive ourselves. #3 Total annihilation of the christians in Iraq would follow...and on this latter topic read the following

2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Part I
Christians in Iraq, including converts from Islam and people involved in mixed-faith marriages, are being crucified by Muslim terrorists, according to a Dutch member of Parliament studying the war-torn country.
Several Iraqi Christians "are nailed to a cross and their arms are tied up with ropes. The ropes are put on fire," Joel Voordewind told BosNewsLife, an online news agency focusing on Christians and Jews in difficult circumstances.
According to the site, Voordewind described how a person, who "survived" a crucifixion, "even showed holes in his hands," apparently from nails. Voordewind said victims of the crucifixions are "in most cases Christian converts who abandoned Islam or people who, religiously speaking, are involved in mixed marriages."

#4: The Iraqi Oil fields could go offline if they fall into the hands of Al Qaeda pushing oil to 150 dollars/barrel and gasoline to $6 a gallon crippling the US economy with loss of jobs to exceed 10%, wrecking the stockmarket, your 401K, your Pension, your IRAs, Social Security, and all social programs, increasing poverty levels in the US.

[prinzowhales]

Bush learned of the attack as he left the motel for the elementary school. He did nothing. In the school room, he was told of the second attack. He did nothing. Later, in a speech, he said he initially thought, 'Gee, that guy must have been a really bad pilot.'

Even with a cursory knowledge of modern avionics, which presumably, our 'fighter jock' president is at least vaguely familiar, this thought would not cross the mind of a pilot...

The Secret Service, instead of rousting the Chimp from his intellectual travails...dealing with the intricacies and amazing plot twists of 'My Pet Goat'...and whisking him away to safety, they let him sit...and sit...and sit...

The SS was tied to the FAA from the beginning...so his detail in Florida knew about the hijacked planes...

Bush didn't "need to know" for the plot to unfold. His main job, like that of Hoover in the JFK investigation, was to prevent it. The State of New York did nothing, the Feds did nothing and finally, with the evidence destroyed and stolen, the first responders betrayed and dying, the propaganda blitz associating OBL with the WTC a success, he appoints a rubberstamp committee to give the appearance of an investigation...

[condumism]

Fran Townsend = GOP CRONYISM! Thus, loyal, yet completely INCOMPENT!

Know any cons at your work that are in their position for any other reason than CRONYISM?