US Lists Ten Foiled Terror Attempts

In his speech to the nation on September 20, 2001, President Bush stated that many of the actions taken in our War on Terror would be covert. Some, he said, we would hear about, but many actions would never be revealed. Yesterday, we got a brief glimpse into the results of those covert activities. The White House released a list of ten disrupted terror attacks in the US and against US interests overseas, all foiled by covert anti-terror activities here and abroad. (CNN: White House lists 10 foiled attacks).

Not on the list is yesterday's announced threat against the New York subway system, details of which included plans to detonate as many as 19 separate bombs throughout one of the most crowded metro systems in the world. New York officials last night stated that some of the planned terror activities had already been disrupted, but obviously offered no details.

These two announcements underscore perhaps the greatest threat to our safety: the threat of complacency. The last terror attack in the US was on 9/11/01. Since then, we have become increasingly complacent. The fact that we have not been attacked in the last four years does not mean that our enemies are incapable of doing so, it means that our intelligence agencies are doing an excellent job disrupting terror networks both here and abroad.

A recently released intercepted al Qaeda communication also points to the successes we're having in the overall War on Terror, including the war in Iraq. The letter cites the impact on al Qaeda over the loss of numerous key leaders, many of whom we have either killed or imprisoned. It reveals that the al Qaeda organization is running very low on funds, in part because we have effectively shut off funding and also because they have drained their resources supporting the insurgency in Iraq. Most revealing was a warning to the insurgency leaders, stating that their practices of suicide bombings and beheadings was turning the Arab world against them. The letter also admits defeat in Afghanistan - a major victory for the coalition that has effectively ended a two-decade long stretch of free rein in that almost lawless country.

What it all means is that our efforts are working and they are worth it. We don't always see the results as that would compromise future activities. Al Qaeda's days are clearly numbered. Their leadership is decimated, their funding has dried up, and their ability to coordinate global attacks has been crippled. While they are not quite dead - and most likely will attempt to strike US interests again - they are definitely on the endangered list. Our War on Terror is far more successful than is typically reported. The covert activities to which the President alluded on 9/20/01 are taking their toll on the enemy. What is left now is to finish them off.

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