Friday, September 25, 2009

News: Al Qaeda Not Confined to Borders

“The brutality seen on September 11th and in other terrorist attacks we have witnessed around the globe are the violent and desperate efforts by extremists to stop the daily encroachment of western values upon their cultures. That is what we fight. It is a force not confined to borders. It is a shadowy entity with many faces, many names, and many addresses.” -US Senator Robert Byrd, from Arrogance of Power, delivered on the Senate Floor, March 19, 2003

Today’s news, of the arrests involving planned bombings in Dallas and Springfield, underscores the fact that Senator Byrd’s observations were correct in 2003, and are correct today. As we diverted our attentions from Afghanistan, to fight the war in Iraq, the global dispersion of Al Qaeda, of Jihad, escalated. Today’s events call for a reevaluation of the mission in Afghanistan. It’s easier for us to think of war geographically. Unfortunately, failure to adapt our thinking to the realities of the 21st century, may be to our demise.

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