Can We Consider That We Are Winning The War Against Terror?

I know to some that thought is just too farfetched or inconceivable to even think about. For many sadly such a possibility interferes with their politics and the spin they wish to conduct for the upcoming Presidential race. Also, if one goes down this route one might to have to give some kudos to the supposed Unholy Trinity of Bush/Blair/Howard and the other nations that have the same outlook.

We live in a World where prominent politicians announced a major military action is a failure when it is just barely a couple of weeks old. But this is nothing new. Let us just look at the aspect of al Qaeda and particually Al Qaeda in Iraq. In November 2006-Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters on Wednesday that she feels it is "sad" that President Bush continues to blame Iraqi insurgent violence on al Qaeda. Well of course we knew this was BS. We sort of got the hint because there were so many reports like this that kept referring to dead non Iraqi AQ folks. Now we find that a senior captured AL Qaeda terrorist has admitted that some followers have been duped into following the direction of foreign leaders and not native born Iraqis.

We Learn:

"During interrogations, Mashadani admitted that the Islamic State of Iraq was merely a puppet front group established by al Qaeda in order to put an Iraqi face on the insurgency. Mashadani cofounded the Islamic State of Iraq with al-Masri in 2006. “The Islamic State of Iraq is a ‘front’ organization that masks the foreign influence and leadership within AQI in an attempt to put an Iraqi face on the leadership of AQI,” said Brig. Gen Bergner. "

Oh well. So much for the expertise of Nancy Pelosi and company. Everyday Iraqis of course knew were were fighting AQ in Iraq. That is why people that were fighting us have now joined sides with the "American Tribe". This is of course all lost among many of our leaders in the District of Columbia. I for one would have taken Bin Laden at his word when he said way back when it was reported that Bin Laden was shifiting his resources to Iraq.

So are we winning? First we need to acknowledge that this is a war also for hearts and minds. The President has always refused to play Bin Laden's game. A game that sadly some "conservatives" wish to play too. That is make this a war between all those that are Moslem and those that are not. That is the vision that Bind Laden(if he is even alive) and his followers dream about. Big Lizards in his must read post called World Moslems: Jihad Is Like So Ten Minutes Ago takes a look at that incredible poll that was just done. Basically Worldwide we are finding that support among Moslems for Bin Laden and Suicide bombings has taken a nose dive.

THe Moslem World has seen first hand the evil that this group represents. They have seen that up close and personal in Iraq. The story of how AQ commited this evil massacre of this village of innocent women ,children , and men is just one example. Things are not going well. The promised Spring offensive in Afghanistan by AQ never got off the ground. in fact they took heavy casualities.

The Strata Sphere blog is correct when he is saying watch Pakistan right now. The groundwork ofr what we are about to do there has been laid by the administration for months.

There are challenges. I have no doubt that AQ in need of a much need shot in the arm is going to attack the US mainland. There have been just too many indications that the White House and Pentagon know it is coming. The latest warning about being on the look out for terrorist dry runs on airplanes is just one small example. It is coming and we need to prepare ourselves. Hopefully we can stop it. However, there is a element of luck in stopping these attacks from happening. It is not all skill and intelligence. That is why it is called luck. Just like in gambling that the luck fails to show. That is just statistics.

Iran will continue to be a problem. A problem that will have to be dealt with. A nuclear armed Iran is something I hate to even fanthom. In fact it cannot be allowed to happen. Besides their Nuclear ambitions their continued spread of terror from Lebanon to Palestine has to be stoppped. Thankfully, I think many Arab Countries are coming to that conclusion also.

So are we winning? We are least holding our own and showing great strides against one facet of this war. There shall be others. This will not be over in time for the Presidential election. Islamic extremist seem to have this habit of not carrying about America's limited attention span or the supposed need to move on.