Posted by
KevinSchmidt on Thursday, May 29, 2008 6:58:43 PM
Story
Here
Al Qaeda sites have been abuzz about how "their collapse in Iraq was steep and catastrophic."
Today, al Qaeda has been shattered, with most of its
leadership and foot soldiers dead, captured or moved from Iraq. As a
result, al Qaeda attacks have declined more than 90 percent. Worse,
most of their Iraqi Sunni Arab allies have turned on them, or simply
quit. This "betrayal" is handled carefully on the terrorist web sites,
for it is seen as both shameful, and perhaps recoverable.
Lately the trend has been going in our favor. The New Republic magazine does an excellent job of chronicling the
"jihadist revolt against bin Laden".
These new critics, in concert with mainstream Muslim
leaders, have created a powerful coalition countering Al Qaeda's
ideology. According to Pew polls, support for Al Qaeda has been
dropping around the Muslim world in recent years. The numbers
supporting suicide bombings in Indonesia, Lebanon, and Bangladesh, for
instance, have dropped by half or more in the last five years. In Saudi
Arabia, only 10 percent now have a favorable view of Al Qaeda,
according to a December poll by Terror Free Tomorrow, a
Washington-based think tank.
Has the War on Terror made the world less safe and caused more terrorist attacks? Not according to the
United Nation's study.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A study released on Wednesday
reports a decline in fatal attacks of terrorism worldwide and says U.S.
think-tank data showing sharp increases were distorted due to the
inclusion of killings in Iraq.
"Even if the Iraq 'terrorism' data are included, there has still been a
substantial decline in the global terrorism toll," said the 2007 Human
Security Brief, an annual report funded by the governments of Canada,
Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and Britain.
The evidence is beginning to mount that we are winning the War on
Terror and the War in Iraq. Should the trend continue, I could possibly
see what Bush is predicting. The war in Iraq and terror in general will
make or break how history views his Presidency, and if we get more news
like this, he could just be vindicated. With Maliki taking Basra, Sadr
City, and in the process of finishing off Al Qaeda in Mosul, the future
looks bright. If Obama would go to those places or talk to Petraeus
(without preconditions of course), he might see that we're winning.
An
Iraqi soldier takes a rest during a joint mopping-up operation with
U.S. soldiers from Bravo Company, 1-22 Infantry Battalion on the edge
of Shiite dominated Baghdad's neighbourhood of Shulla, May 20, 2008.