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Terrorists Strike Again Despite US Occupation of Iraq: An Editorial
Many who opposed our unilateral invasion of Iraq, including Citizen Soldier, warned that it would lead to renewed terror attacks on targets either in the US or in countries that support US policy. "The US, Britain, and Spain have stirred up a wasp's nest," observed Julio Anguita, a leader of Spain's United Left Party. "Bush, Blair and Aznar have lit a rocket fuse and they don't know what comes next." The New York Times (5/17/03) concluded after interviewing unidentified intelligence officials; "Since the US invaded Iraq in March, the (terrorist) network has experienced a spike in recruitment." Next, a senior European counterterrorism official is quoted; "There is an increase in radical fundamentalism all over the world. But whether this means that more young men will leap to Al Qaeda, I don't know." Citizen Soldier editorialized last October, 2002 after a terrorist bombing in Bali, Indonesia killed 200 civilians that it was folly to think that our military invasion of Afghanistan and ouster of the Taliban regime would put an end to the terrorist threat posed by Al Qaeda. We believe that only intensive police work, based on close international cooperation, offers any hope of eventually neutralizing small cells of highly motivated terrorists. As 150,000 US and British troops struggle to occupy and control an increasingly anarchic Iraq, tiny bands of anti-American terrorists roam the world able to strike at targets of choice with impunity. Today, can anyone serving in Congress or the White House seriously argue that our illegal invasion of Iraq has reduced the risk of terrorist attack in the future? |
Suicide bombers linked to Al Qaeda
or groups that are probably affiliates struck again in mid-May
2003, this time in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Casablanca, Morocco,
killing at least 75 civilians and injuring hundreds more. Since
the horrific 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
Citizen Soldier has argued that terrorist assaults cannot be
stopped by conventional military assualts or carpet bombing--no
matter how "smart" the bombs.