Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, July 23, 2007
WASHINGTON — Oh, as it turns out, they’re not on the run.
And, oh yeah, they can fight us here even if we fight them there.
And oh, one more thing, after spending hundreds of billions and losing all those lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re more vulnerable to terrorists than ever.
And, um, you know that Dead-or-Alive stuff? We may be the ones who end up dead.
Squirming White House officials had to confront the fact last week that everything President Bush has been spouting the last six years about Al-Qaida being on the run, disrupted and weakened was just guff.
Last year, W. called his “personal friend” Gen. Pervez Musharraf “a strong defender of freedom.” Unfortunately, it turned out to be Al-Qaida’s freedom. The White House is pinning the blame on Pervez.
While the administration lavishes billions on Pakistan, including $750 million in a risible attempt to win “hearts and minds” in the tribal areas where Al-Qaida leaders are hiding and training, President Musharraf has helped create a quiet mountain retreat, a veritable terrorism spa, for Osama and Ayman al-Zawahri to refresh themselves and get back in shape.
The administration’s most-thorough intelligence assessment since 9/11 is stark and dark. Two pages add up to one message: The Bushies blew it. Al-Qaida has exploded into a worldwide state of mind. Because of what’s going on with Iraq and Iran, Hezbollah may now “be more likely to consider” attacking us. Al-Qaida will try to “put operatives here” — (some news reports say a cell from Pakistan is en route or already arrived) — and “acquire and employ chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear material in attacks.”
After 9/11, W. stopped mentioning Osama’s name, calling him “just a person who’s now been marginalized,” and adding, “I just don’t spend that much time on him.”