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Khokar maintains:
"There was not a single person from Afghanistan, who indulged in carrying out the purported 9/11 attack. But look at the intensive aerial bombing carried out."

Those who sent the 19 thugs to bomb the USA were living in Afghanistan and were embraced and protected by the Taliban. The Taliban were asked to hand over those terrorist ringleaders. At first they all denied having anything to do with what happened. A common trait of criminal thugs. Well you know now what happens when gang overlords defy a superpower.

This guy from an illegal state talks of sovereignity. If the Muslims of undivided Hindustan wanted a separate country for themselves they should have a formed a "country" in the desert sands of Arabia and probably called it Islamistan. They chop Hindustan just because a few millions were forcibly converted by the marauders from the desert and was ashamed to admit their forfathers were stupid to convert instead of killing their oppressors and he advises restraint. What a joke?

Yes, in fact nothing was learned from other conflicts that fuels the American economy periodically, fighting weak countries after demonizing their leaders and pretending to estabish the elusive, abused and ambigious democracy bit with violence.
Dictators are welcome if they are ours, like Somosa, etc, etc. Others wacht out.
The question is how long until the world realizes the scheme of a pathetic and oppressive system that feeds on lies and their monopolies that trives on others natural resources and labor for the sake of their parasite Christian Democracies.

There are No Terrorists
There are no Terrorists; just Avengers. Avengers of the atrocities inflicted upon them, for no fault of there. There was not a single person from Afghanistan, who indulged in carrying out the purported 9/11 attack. But look at the intensive areal bombing carried out. Certainly the bombs when they hit the ground; do not turn into rose petals spreading the whiff of fragrance filling the air.

Avenge is always a retaliatory actions, to repay the savagery that he/she or the family is recipient of, for none of their faults. They may try to strike back, where the enemy is weakest; possibly in equal coins if they can, to settle the scores; the loss and deprivation; the destruction and fatality, which is thrusted upon them, day in and day out.

They also know that you can help the oppressor; how you can help? By stopping or restricting the oppressor to bring about the atrocious actions. Possibly with the force; this is also a known fact that the dog fly can put the ferocious terrier Bull dog in a spin; if it bits the dog at right place.

This may end and there will be no more avengers (so called Terrorists) left; the day, there are dialogues on equal terms. When there are no more injustices and ill wills of bifurcation of societies as ‘US’ and ‘Them’.

www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/06/us_targets_al_qaeda.php 3 AQ from Gulf as bigshot planner financiers. huh? "invisible" in your own backyard

Khokar and Somali:
You say:
"A grand American onslaught is since on in Middle East and sovereign countries are invaded, occupied, people are subjugated and lands turned into US mega bases".

A well known philosopher once said that the utmost of virtue is ” to know thyself”. Khokar and Somali do not seem to be aware of this bit of wisdom. Let me help them out.
You ran away from dysfunctional societies that give no value to human life, liberty or rights. You call your entities “sovereign states “ when sovereignty there is only to the rich and powerful . Your societies are no different than Hijaz of the 7th Century. You were raised to believe in demon, jinn, talking ants and talking birds. You have long lost the ability to discern between reality and fancy. That is why your societies are marching backward in time. What complicates matters for you is you believe you are better and superior to everyone else because it says so in your Book.
The USA on the other hand is a superpower, the only superpower , with interests around the world. You and your ilk talk about it as if you are the superpower and the US is a mere worthless insignificant entity. Rule number one ; know who you are and who is the world’s dominant power and behave accordingly

Its attitudes like this that is the reason reporters and regular citizens are not leaders of this nation… Instead it’s a lot of whining about things.

Get involved in politics! Or GassRoots programs… Until then, anything anyone writes about or blogs about is meaningless unless they take positive action on their feelings.

I’m surprised WaPo hasn’t completely sunk yet... but I guess cutting a major part of their biased staff is a start...

"I have no doubt that while the Taliban were hated by the people, the fact they reinstated order and stopped the internal civil war is what the Afghan people remember as more important."

And that is why Afganistan will always be a country where anyone, not matter how corrupt and no matter how they treat the public, can gain a foothold of support. In the west we love freedom but in Asia they love order, and force to maintain conformity; conformity of religion, conformity of bigotry, conformity of a corrupt culture where bribery is not only allowed, but officially endorsed and expected. It is why Afganistan will never become a nation but will always fall back to be a failed state and be preyed upon by those seeking ruthless power and corruption. I see no hope for Afganistan as long as Afganis continue to accept their corrupt way of life.

Hey Khokar, that was quite a rant. I'm impressed. So... al Qaeda is a US plot?

I think the true import of Khokar's message is that - crazy and irrational as it may be - it's an accurate reflection of the way many, many people in the Middle East perceive events. To us this looks like the rantings of a fringe-group maniac. But it's not. Khokar is expressing an extremely mainstream Middle-Eastern viewpoint.

The disadvantage this poses for us is the same point Anwer was making in his article, namely that Islamic societies are so full of this type of irrational thought that we can never entirely get rid of Islamic terrorists. Even if we were to totally kill off 100% of the existing terrorists, the ideology and broken thought processes that make terrorism seem like a good idea will remain. More will spring up.

The advantage (for us) is that if we understand what drives the terrorists, we can easily contain them. Read Khokar's post again. These guys are totally irrational and they will interpret everything you do in the most negative way possible. You cannot appease them because they won't let you. Containment is our only option. Fortunately, we've been doing a very good job of it lately and even a surrender-at-all-costs bonehead like Obama probably won't mess it up.

‘Global war against terrorism’ has got a unique scope, which is so vast and so far stretched that any one or any organisation or a country on this planet earth can easily be declared a suspect terrorist and be exterminated. We have also witnessed that all untoward incident of violence happening in the selected theatre of US operations... are simply linked to Al-Qaeda and over a short period of time, this false and phoney myth of Al-Qaeda rhetoric has been repeated so many times that this stark lie is now seen and termed as true and real. Credit goes to the policy makers and its successful executioners.
The beauty of this scheme is that many countries are coerced to join US to form a coalition and to make it sure that it is seen as an international show. Some of the countries like Pakistan are also engaged to act as proxy and to act as front state. Job assigned to Pakistan is to keep the crippled Taliban remnant on Pak-Afghan border stirred so that Al-Qaeda is seen live and kicking and war against terrorism is justified. Huge sums were pelted at the doors of this front state and her agents.
This Al-Qaeda has become a tool and a lynch pin of Neocons dream policy. US have the craze to see it as an omnipotent force. Al Qaeda is an imaginary, invisible enemy; servitude of US, designed to present itself as 'fore runners' to act as enemy to facilitate subsequent planned attacks of…’US Hegemonic Adventurism’.
A grand American onslaught is since on in Middle East and sovereign countries are invaded, occupied, people are subjugated and lands turned into US mega bases. After due consolidation of these bases; they are made as rezendvous (RV) to serve for further advances. A befitting example of Iraq is there, where this country was invaded and now huge bases are developed and forces are ready to launch from these bases, to attack yet another sovereign country…Iran and beyond.
In order to keep the show on in Middle East; the Myth of Al Qaeda has to be kept alive. The announcement that Al Qaeda is some what subdued in Iraq, may also means that US is planning to shift its target and expand the enclave further up; for instance on to and inside Pakistan. US have already floated an allegation very vehemently that the Al Qaeda has since shifted its camps deep inside Pakistan?

I really think that perhaps Al Qaeda inspired nutballs first made their debut in that ambush in Mogadishu that's commonly known in the West as "Blackhawk Down".........Yes, we were "invading" an African country, but at the United Nations and African Union request for a humanitarian mission which had just been toughened to go after the brutal and coldhearted tribal warlords that were attacking Red Cross and World Vision food and medical help to the starving people.......

But just who "dropped the dime", as we say, informed that the warlord and his lieutenants were at the site that the Army Rangers converged on. And amazingly mobs, very WELL-ARMED mobs JUST HAPPENED to converge on the scene, making for an ambush...

Yes many innocent Somalis died that day too as the militants hid behind the women and children as they shot missiles and bullets at the escaping units. But that is so Al Qaeda in intent and technique to use innocents to increase the body count, blood to incite more bloodshed, that convinces me.

i wrote a post responding to mr. mahfouz.
it has not been posted. asking why.

It has now.
You were indeed prompt in reply.

But I must thank you for being as calm, coherent and eloquent as I expected.

So which one do you and your friends belong to - Shaabab, Islamic Courts, Al Qaeda - or do names matter??

Why hasn't my reply to this stupid man called robert from los angeles been posted? WHY????????????

Robert of Los Angeles

You are a stupid Robert. You speak like a brainwashed child. I understand. You are American.

Give me ONE IOTA of PROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF that Somalia EVER, EVER hosted Al Qaeda. Give me ONE PIECE of PROOOOOOOF!!

And please. Don't repeat for me the ALLEGATIOns of your War Criminal, Terrorist "leadership" in washongton!!

THERE IS NONE. WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOMALIA RIGHT NOW IS TERRORISM AGAINST SOMALIS, A WAR CRIME, A GENOCIDE, A HOLOCAUST DIRECTED FROM WASHINGTON WHICH IS USING ETHIOPIAN SLAVES TO MASS MURDER SOMALIS!!!!!!

Also please. Don't give me the GARBAGE that's passed off as western "journalism." I won't believe it because YOU ARE ALL COMPROMISED since September 11 2001 when your "government" KILLED ITS OWN PEOPLE and DESTROYED PROPERTY IN NEW YORK SO IT COULD SLANDER AND KILL MUSLIMS. NO MUSLIM WILL EVER BELIEVE YOU MASS KILLERS, BABY KILLERS AND OLD PEOPLE KILLERS.

You have NOTHING to be proud of Robert because you are DIM, DUMB, having SWALLOWEd, hook, line and sinker ALL the LIES told by YOUR TERRORIST "leadership" and your STINKING "media".

OK Anwer, you're right, the war isn't over. But tremendous progress has been made in containing the problem of international Islamic terrorism to the societies that created it.

Suppose we turn the question around. Have the terrorists made any progress in making the rest of us submit to their will? The answer is no. They haven't made any progress whatsoever.

Al Qaeda even made Iraq the central front in their war on the rest of the world. Which got lots of terrorists and innocent Iraqis killed and trained a generation of American soldiers how to best defeat Islamic terrorists, but accomplished nothing else.

I agree with you to a certain extent. Islamic terrorism is a problem caused by Islamic societies. Until those societies reform themselves, the rest of us will have to put up with occasional Islamic terrorists. Oh well. That's what airport security is for.

"Somali" - you are ignorant or blatantly not telling the truth. Osama was in Somalia and in neighboring Sudan making many friends there after he was kicked out of Arabia, and before his ignoble adventures to take Kabul and knock down Manhattan.

How is it in your benighted land of anarchy and fundamentalism and terror that you somehow miss that connection? But perhaps you must dismiss them as tools of the West, as only more for the takfiri bonfire, because you think that your new group (Islamic Courts??? Shaabab???) of madmen and killers are more faithful to doctrine and will bring paradise to earth.

Mr Sher, I’m glad you have a continuing awareness of an “invisible” enemy, but you show remarkable lack of sense of alarm for being so close to its centers of influence.
Assymetric is the word you’re going for, and yes as you mention with David or one could refer to guerrilla or insurgent efforts that span back in origin of tactics for thousands of years. Caesar or Alexander could beat back enormous armies with superior technique and force, but the “invisible” enemy got to these civilizations, first far away and then like our prophet Rev Jeremiah Wright says “chickens coming home to roost”.

But first who or what is invisible!?? Is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed invisible - I think not. Was Zarqawi invisible - no he was seen in and around Iraq, Syria and Jordan for years plotting and seemed to have free rein in Baghdad and adventures up to disputed Kurdish areas and during his “recuperation” after fleeing Tora Bora. Remember Ansar al Islam - was it invisible, who was it allied with for many years - yeah both Saddam and Zarqawi - the old enemy of my enemy when it comes to Kurds. Can you not come clean with us in the West - afraid to throw in the real details??? Why?

I’ll tell you why. Because Al Qaeda is hardly invisible where you live, or rather it has to be invisible against the security forces but it has many tentacles that can reach out to touch its enemies. Do the Saudis think AQ invisible - I hope not, who are these guys they’ve killed or captured planning massive plots - maybe they were really only nerdy dissident bloggers or shocking young ladies trying to climb into the driver’s seat?

Gosh, were moderate Arabs and reasonable forward looking Muslims “helping” Afghans forge a stable land before 9/11?? I must have missed it, huh??? And I don’t really care if the Taliban provided “order” - My God man, I know they didn't even “make the trains run on time” like Hitler, or bring “universal health care” like Stalin or Mao.

Gosh, was the Arab League working to RID the region of not only the ogre Saddam (and his own tentacles of Islamic terrorism including dealing with parties who since are wholly own AQ “local franchises”) but working just A LITTLE BIT against your own autocracies stuck in the twelveth century? I must have missed that too.

So you tell me, is Al Qaeda...no that’s where you get slippery, is the spirit of AQ, the takfirist, Islamist pan-nationalist spirit alive and influential in Dubai? In the West, it is nihilist terrorism, where you live they want Osama or Zawahiri as grand mullah, as president, as king. Do you worry about what is happening in Yemen? Do you worry about the next 9/11 happening in Ridayh, in Dubai!!!!?

The Terrorist They Call "president" In america Is The Enemy Of Humanity!!

As a Muslim, I knew nothing about Al Qaeda until the western press started to promote the terrorist group as "freedom fighters" against the Soviets. Now, the west is trying to TIE Al Queda to Muslims whio DON'T KNOW NOTHING about it or its Saudi "leader" Osama Bin Laden.

As a Muslim, I regard Bin Laden as a creature of the west. They created him. They USED him. They PROMOTED him. And they are still USING him to destroy and kill Muslims. He is their man.

This is why I get very angry when the west calls Al Qaeda a "Muslim" terrorist group. These people (AL Qaeda) HAVE No alegiance to ALLAH (Subhaanahu Wa Taaala). Al Qaeda should be TIED to the west, which birthed it, which created them. Osama Bin Laden, I believe and many Muslims believe, is a western agent helping America and west re-colonise Muslim lands, which will NEVER be POSSIBLE again. Muslims will fight colinialism.

So stop LINKING Osama Bin Laden and his terror group to Islam and Muslims. We don't know who the hell these people are!!!!!!!!!

mahfouz condemns Islam based on info the youtube documents. What was said is scary and very intolerant. The upside of the youtube is this emam and the brand of Islam in saudi arabia are just two cases of multitudes of cases that claim to be muslim. Islam is not owned by anyone nor is its meanings and definitions are monopolized by any one group or individuals.

Christianity is not defined by any one group or religious association. The group or individual may think they are the 'true' believers. These people are ideologues. the reverend Hagee, supporter of McCain, compares the Catholic Church to be the 'whore of Babylon'. He said that with a heart filled with love for Jesus Christ!!

I condemn the words of Hagee; I do not condemn Christianity. I would do the same to voices of intolerance and propagators of hate. I

There are nuts all over the place.

Islam, much like other religions, is not immune to abuse by such nuts.

Why is there never any discussion about the role of colonialism and artificial bordering that created the problems in these countries?

Al Qaeda- the invisible foe:
A more serious threat to the security and wellbeing of this country than AlQaeda is the threat within posed by the message preached by most if not all Imams of the proliferating mosques in this country.
Those Hamasniks who are hired by the Wahabis of Saudi Arabia as preachers(Imams) in many of the West’s mosques have one basic mission; to preach the hate of the “infidel” and imposition of the Sharia (Islamic Law). They want the West to be a carbon copy of Saudi Arabia and the other Sharia ruled places. Check out the video linked below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlV-6-FihFg

They preach against everything that the West stands for. Secular constitutions, they argue, are man made and need be replaced by the much superior God’s law i.e. Sharia laws. Nothing in the West suits their taste, yet they are willing to do or say anything to stay in the West. This Patterson New Jersey Imam featured below who is now tried by Immigration court for being a Hamas member and lying about it on his entry visa is now denying he ever was a Hamas member or even shares any common views with his benefactor, the previous Imam of the same mosque, while sobbing through it all. I say good riddance!

"U.S. imam fighting deportation
By The Associated Press

“A Muslim leader facing deportation asked that his children be removed from the New Jersey courtroom Monday before he broke into tears while describing graphic torture he said he was subjected to in Israeli detention.”
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“The United States government has rejected his bid for permanent U.S. residency, saying Qatanani failed to disclose a 1993 arrest and conviction in Israel for being a member of Hamas on his green card application.”
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"Earlier in the day, Qatanani described growing up poor in a Palestinian refugee camp. He said that since age 6, he has wanted to be a mosque leader - following in the footsteps of his father.”
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-“Qatanani's lawyers spent part of the morning trying to distance him from his controversial predecessor at the mosque, Mohammed el-Mezain, who was arrested and is facing re-trail on charges of funneling money to Palestinian terrorist groups.”
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“Qatanani testified that he didn't get along with el-Mezain and never shared his vision.”
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Roneida said: "There have been no terrorist attacks in the USA homeland since the 911 murders."

And there were no attacks in the US after the first WTC bombing...until it happened again. There doesn't have to be another attack because the US is still in turmoil over the first one. George Bush has used al Qaeda to slowly grind away at the Constitution and your liberties. But, Roneida, when the next attack happens it will happen, regardless of George Bush.

Terrorism didn't start with 9.11. We were always a target. Other countries have dealt with terrorism for decades. The only difference is, you want to give up what makes America great to try and prevent something that can't be 100% prevented.

"When wars are fought with an adversary who is largely invisible, how can one make the assertion that the war is over?"

Answer: When it is politically expedient to do so and you need some good news, you can say whatever you want as long as access to the truth of the statement is impossible. In the same way, Christians have been pronouncing the “Second Coming” for two millennia.

yellow journalism at its best

I THINK HE HAS GO IT !

Until the government of Iraq achieves a monopoly on violence, as any democratic republic must, there will always be attempts at sporadic civil discord through random killings by suicide bombers and targeted assassinations of government officials.
At present, these attacks are at the level of nuisances and have no effect on the ability of Iraq to govern. Governance will come only through cooperation and compromise by elected officials and their constituents based upon a shared sense of nationhood. It will come in time as Jihadists are relegated to the trash heap of history. All of which will be brought about by the sacrifices of the American people and their allies.
Just as South Korea emerged as a great democracy and engine of production so will Iraq. The Korean War was even more unpopular yet the results of that sacrifice could not be more obvious today.

You mentioned there are underlying problems that have to be resolved. I agree with you that the economic well-being of these societies crucial. Yet how on earth can anybody achieve this? The mismanagement you mentioned that was ongoing before the US intervened has not improved.

From my (rather western) perspective, what I see throughout the entire middle east is endemic tribalism run rampant. It appears not only accepted, but expected, that the vast majority of people in any position of power will do what is best for their tribe, or at least their sect, not what is best for their country. This situation appears top to bottom. It's evident even in a marketplace: having to haggle or bargain to obtain a good price for goods by definition means the seller attempts to swindle the buyer by any means. A fixed shelf-price has an entirely different philosophical foundation.

Stable western societies underwent political and religious transformations to achieve a democracy, but more fundamentally, I don't believe such transformations are possible without an established national identity and an accompanying concept of "fairness". I see neither of these in a society where tribalism and swindling are accepted practices.

Despite the US administration's stated goal of establishing democracy in Iraq, I'm thinking this can only be done when the majority of Iraqis fight for it. No matter how long it takes the US to extricate itself from Iraq, I see no signs of the fundamental changes required to establish a national, fair society.

It's more than obvious Muqtada is attempting to wait out the US. It's more than obvious what he will do when the US goes. Killing or capturing Muqtada will make no difference; any number of other hopefuls are waiting for their turn. I can't remotely imagine economic well-being resulting from their kind. Their concept of idealism is to kill their own people to scare them into cooperation.

Where are the de Montforts, the Jeffersons, the Gorbachevs? All murdered?

Now you see it. Now you don't.

Trust me when I tell you this: once upon a time al Qaeda was an existential threat to the United States from both Iraq and from Afghanistan, but now they have been vanquished there, more or less. More I can not tell you of course, because the entire saga of the rise and fall of these evil doers is top, top secret classified.

So just trust me. There, doesn't that feel better?

As long as major parts of the back story to the 911 attacks and the WMD/Osama-Saddam fictions central to the US invasion of Iraq remain hidden from public view and classified on bogus national security grounds, no thinking American should believe claims like the narrative just put forth by the current head of the CIA. This is what happens when intelligence is fixed around partisan policy decisions.

Still, assume for just a moment that it is true, and the Al Qaeda network attributed to folks like bin Laden, Zwahiri, Atta, KSM, and Zarkawi has indeed been scotched by invading and occupying Afghanistan and Iraq as is now claimed.

Then ponder for just a minute how America's enemies have multiplied throughout the Muslim world (and even in places like North Korea) and anti-American passions have been repeatedly inflamed, courtesy of US sabre rattling, military interventionism, air strikes, torture, and mass detentions without trial - all of which has been implemented in the last six years, officially packaged up as George Bush's global war on terror.

Feeling safer yet? Don't you think there now are more nation states, more rogue elements of various countries' national intelligence services, and scores of new jihadist outfits that are inclined to clandestinely launch Al Qaeda style terror attacks, leaving behind a false trail pointing back towards Osama or elsewhere?

That's what happens when you adopt or adapt your adversaries' tactics as your own. What goes around, comes around.

Bill from Saginaw

Your article would have been a fair evaluation 2 or 3 years ago, but today, things are much better and getting better everyday.

One more time, the original purpose of going into Iraq had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. Remember Saddam doing all his shell games with the weapons inspecters? Remember the UN sanctions that he was bound by after the first gulf war?

Quick question! Who was the most surprised that Saddam didn't have a nuclear arsonal ready to unlease on the US forces? Bush? Cheney? Clinton? Wrong, wrong, and wrong! It was Saddam himself! He thought he had the weapons.

Amazingly clear insight without any significant spin. Your views are balanced and are not based on empty rhetoric. We would do well to heed your words, and allow the Iraqis to control their own country on their own terms.

There have been no terrorist attacks in the USA homeland since the 911 murders.

Who else put their career and reputation on the line to achieve this?

AlQueda will never be eliminated..Prince Valiant fought it in the cartoons picturing a thousand years ago...this war is forever..

If antone deserves credit for taking the battle away from America, it certainly is George Bush.

America could not accept the fierce fighting that goes on every day in Iraq and Afganistan.
The slaughter will never stop...let it be over there, not here.