[extropy-chat] al-Qaeda is growing fast

[gts]

> An interesting news report out of London points out that Al Qaeda has largely
> reassembled itself but in a very distributed fashion.  They cited a figure of
> 18,000 as the probable number of loyalists scattered all over the globe.
>
> This is a problem that will not be easy to solve anytime soon.

Yes, I saw that report. It's not good news. The occupation of Iraq is making the world less safe from al-Qaeda.

"The assessment, by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), states that the occupation has become "a potent global recruitment pretext" for al-Qa'ida, which now has more than 18,000 militants ready to strike Western targets... Jonathan Stevenson, the editor of the survey, said: "Invading Iraq damaged the war on terror, there is no doubt about that. It has strengthened rather than weakened al-Qa'ida."

This is of course exactly what former Whitehouse counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke predicted.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=524939

More worrisome news on this subject:

"[May 28, 2004] "Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said Thursday that al-Qaeda has penetrated the Pakistani military and even recruited volunteers to carry out two attempts on his life in December... This is the first time Musharraf has said al-Qaeda had penetrated the Pakistani military. In the past, he had rejected all such insinuations."
Prior to this infiltration by al-Qaeda, the Pakistani military was already borderline with respect to its loyalty to Musharraf vs. Taliban/al-Qaeda. Much of the Pakistani population consider Osama bin Laden to be some kind of Robinhood-like folk hero. And Pakistan has nukes.

http://www.insightmag.com/news/2004/05/28/World/AlQaeda.Infiltrates.Pakistan.Army.Tries.To.Assassinate.Musharraf-683569.shtml