Bush's Osama Problem

Getting Worse

Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus write in The Washington Post: "Intelligence officials attributed the al-Qaeda gains primarily to its establishment of a safe haven in ungoverned areas of northwestern Pakistan. Its affiliation with the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, the report said, has helped it to 'energize' extremists elsewhere and has aided Osama bin Laden's recruitment and funding."

That's a dramatic contrast from the NIE on global terrorism written in April 2006, which "described a downward trend in al-Qaeda's capabilities since bin Laden and the rest of the group's surviving leadership were driven from their sanctuaries in Afghanistan by U.S. military forces in December 2001. That report, like the one issued yesterday, said that the Iraq war was a primary recruitment vehicle for al-Qaeda. But the earlier report concluded that al-Qaeda's operations had been disrupted and its leadership was 'seriously damaged.'"

Bryan Bender writes in the Boston Globe: "Some national-security specialists were surprised by the frank assessments.

"For the last few years intelligence officials have suggested much of Al Qaeda's central leadership has been neutralized, and that the primary national security threat came from splinter groups bin Laden inspired but doesn't command. Yesterday's assessment summary concludes that the same organization that meticulously planned and executed the September 11th attacks is alive and well."

About Al Qaeda in Iraq

Greg Miller and Josh Meyer write in the Los Angeles Times that "senior U.S. intelligence officials contradicted . . . remarks by Bush, including his statements equating those who carry out bombings in Iraq to the Sept. 11 hijackers.

"The report's principal author, Edward Gistaro, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats, said during a briefing with reporters that Al Qaeda in Iraq did not exist before the U.S. invasion. He also said that the group's 'overwhelming focus' remained confined to the conflict in Iraq."

Richard Willing quotes Sen. Joseph Biden in USA Today: "'Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a Bush-fulfilling prophecy (that) has helped al-Qaeda energize extremists around the world,' Biden said. That's why, he said, the United States must refocus on al-Qaeda and get U.S. troops out of Iraq."

The White House Spin

At a photo op yesterday, Bush spoke briefly on the subject: "Al Qaeda is strong today, but they're not nearly as strong as they were prior to September the 11th, 2001, and the reason why is, is because we've been working with the world to keep the pressure on, to stay on the offense, to bring them to justice so they won't hurt us again; to defeat them where we find them.

"And now we find them in Iraq. These killers in Iraq, people who will kill innocent life to stop the advent of democracy, people who are trying to get on our TV screens on a daily basis to drive us have got ambitions and plans. These people have sworn allegiance to the very same man who ordered the attack on September the 11th, 2001, Osama bin Laden. And they want us to leave parts of the world, like Iraq, so they can establish a safe haven from which to spread their poisonous ideology. And we are steadfast in our determination to not only protect the American people, but to protect these young democracies."

Frances Townsend, Bush's homeland security adviser, held a press conference yesterday about the report; here is the transcript.

Her opening remarks were full of praise for the president: "Almost six years after September 11th, we have not been attacked, and I am often asked why." Townsend's answer: "Because the President has made clear that job number one is to protect the American people from an attack, and his strategy for doing this has been clear and unambiguous."

And here is the transcript of Tony Snow's briefing from yesterday.