Al-Qaeda has changed
Sent by the Executive Director of WesPAC on July 13, 2005
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Like many Americans, I watched the news reports from London on Thursday morning with horror and sadness. And we stand united with the world in condemning this barbaric and disgraceful act of terrorism.
But we must do more than denounce these acts. We must do everything in our power to prevent these acts from ever happening. The reality is that we continue to face the threat of terrorism in America.
Appearing in yesterday's USA Today, General Wesley Clark's Op-ed "Al-Qaeda has changed; Bush strategy also needs to shift" outlines a framework to help protect America from terrorism. General Clark writes:
"...al-Qaeda has evolved since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001.
Relentless pressure by the CIA, Special Forces and many other national intelligence and police efforts has made the old, centralized structure of al-Qaeda unworkable.
And we need to keep up the pressure. But al-Qaeda's new threat is decentralized. Thursday's attacks in London have all the earmarks of such a "franchise" operation, locally planned and resourced with relatively modest means, emulating al-Qaeda without the vulnerabilities of centralized resourcing and direction.
Preventing attacks probably can't be accomplished by the administration's preference for taking out "state sponsors." And it's going to be very difficult to employ military means. National intelligence efforts, special police activities and local community policing efforts, which focus on identifying and targeting terrorist individuals and organizations, are required."
I urge you to visit SecuringAmerica.com to read the entire article. Then, please forward this message to your friends and family.
Sincerely,
Catherine Grunden
WesPAC Executive Director
