BUSH THE TERRORISM ENABLER GUY

[Guest 9 Trillion Dollar Republican Natio]

This is the product of stupidity, ignorance and ARROGANCE. This is

what happens when you vote for narrow minded, know it all Republicans.

This is our future, thanks to George W. Bush and the Republican Party

that got us to this point. Nearly 6 years after 9-11 and look at what

we now face, Bush and the Republican Party are strong on terrorism?

No, they are STUPID when dealing with terrorism or we would NOT be

where we are now, we need new leadership, we need a new direction.

 

Al-Qaida plots new attacks on U.S. soil

 

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 25 minutes ago

 

WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida 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, intelligence

agencies concluded in a report unveiled Tuesday.

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At the same time, the intelligence analysts worry that international

cooperation against terrorism will be hard to sustain as memories of

Sept. 11 fade and nations' views diverge on what the real threat is.

 

In the National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President Bush and

other top policymakers, analysts laid out a range of dangers - from al-

Qaida 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-Qaida

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-Qaida in Iraq threatened to attack the United States in

a Web statement last September.

 

National Intelligence Council Chairman Thomas Fingar warned that the

group's operatives in Iraq are getting portable, firsthand experience

in covert communications, smuggling, improvised explosive devices,

understanding U.S. military tactics and more.

 

The Iraqi affiliate also helps al-Qaida more broadly as it tries to

energize Sunni Muslim extremists around the globe, raise resources and

recruit and indoctrinate operatives - "including for homeland

attacks," according to a declassified summary of the report's main

findings.

 

In addition, analysts stressed the importance of al-Qaida's

increasingly comfortable hideout in Pakistan that has resulted from a

hands-off accord between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and

tribal leaders along the Afghan border. That 10-month-old deal, which

has unraveled in recent days, gave al-Qaida new opportunities to set

up compounds for terror training, improve its international

communications with associates and bolster its operations.

 

The assessment shows how the threat has changed.

 

Just two years ago, the intelligence agencies considered al-Qaida's

various "franchises" decentralized offshoots, with bin Laden mostly

providing ideological direction.

 

Fingar said his experts believe bin Laden and his top deputy are

hiding in Pakistan. "There is no question that the ungoverned

character of the space is a major factor in the Taliban's and al-

Qaida's and other extremist groups' ability to hide - hide in plain

sight," he said.

 

National Intelligence Estimates are the most authoritative written

judgments of the 16 spy agencies across the breadth of the U.S.

government. These documents reflect the consensus long-term thinking

of top intelligence analysts.

 

Tuesday's publicly disclosed judgments are part of a more expansive,

still-classified document, approved by the heads of all 16

intelligence agencies on June 21.

 

Analysts - who concluded the U.S. now faces a "heightened threat

environment" - painted an increasingly familiar picture of al-Qaida: A

group focused on high-profile attacks against political, economic and

infrastructure targets, while striving to cause mass casualties and

dramatic destruction.

 

FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said the bureau does not know of any

al-Qaida cells in the United States, although his agents continue

investigating such questions. The estimate said international

counterterrorism efforts since 2001 have hampered al-Qaida's ability

to attack the United States again, while also convincing terror groups

that U.S. soil is a tougher target.

 

Charles Allen, the Department of Homeland Security's top intelligence

official, said the department isn't changing the nation's threat

level, which remains at yellow, or "elevated" - the middle of a five-

point scale. Airlines remain one step higher, at orange.

 

Even as authorities warn of dangers in the U.S., analysts concluded

the threat is more severe in Europe. The problem could touch the

United States directly, Fingar noted, because of the ease of travel

between Europe and here.

 

The White House sought to downplay the report's worries about the

future of international counterterrorism cooperation. Bush's homeland

security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, said the administration

isn't concerned about being abandoned by allies. Cooperation is

"actually as strong as it's ever been," she said.

 

The Bush administration also brushed off critics who say the

administration released the intelligence estimate now to help its case

as the Senate debates whether to withdraw troops from Iraq. White

House press secretary Tony Snow said critics are "engaged in a little

selective hearing ... to shape the story in their own political ways."

 

Meanwhile, Democrats said the report was proof that U.S. anti-

terrorism efforts are being drained by the Iraq war.

 

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., called on

the U.S. to "responsibly redeploy" its troops from Iraq and turn

security over to the Iraqis. "In hindsight, we should have

concentrated our efforts on al-Qaida in Afghanistan from the

beginning," he said.

 

Significant debate in recent weeks has focused on the genesis of the

al-Qaida threat in Iraq and the nature of its links to al-Qaida's

leaders. With the intelligence report's release, Bush sought to draw

the threat in Iraq closer to bin Laden. "These people have sworn

allegiance to the very same man who ordered the attack on September

the 11th, 2001," he said.

 

At a briefing and in a later interview, Ted Gistaro, the national

intelligence officer for transnational threats, said al-Qaida in Iraq

did not have any active cells when the U.S. invaded in March 2003. He

said the watershed moment was when its now-deceased leader, Abu Musab

al-Zarqawi, declared his allegiance to bin Laden in an October 2004

Internet message.

 

Beyond al-Qaida, the report also laid out three other potential terror

threats to the country:

 

_Lebanese Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim extremist group, may be more

likely to consider attacking here, especially if it believes the

United States is directly threatening the group or its main sponsor,

Iran.

 

_The number of homegrown extremists in the U.S. and its Western allies

is growing, fueled by Internet web sites and anti-American rhetoric.

 

_So-called "single issue" terrorist groups probably will attack here

on a smaller scale. They include white supremacists, anarchists and

animal rights groups, such as Animal Liberation Front.

 

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