U.S. Cites Big Gains Against Al-Qaeda: Group Is Facing Setbacks Globally, CIA Chief Says

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Washington Post, page one

By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 30, 2008; A01

Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

In a strikingly upbeat assessment, the CIA chief cited major gains against al-Qaeda's allies in the Middle East and an increasingly successful campaign to destabilize the group's core leadership.

While cautioning that al-Qaeda remains a serious threat, Hayden said Osama bin Laden is losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world and has largely forfeited his ability to exploit the Iraq war to recruit adherents. Two years ago, a CIA study concluded that the U.S.-led war had become a propaganda and marketing bonanza for al-Qaeda, generating cash donations and legions of volunteers.

All that has changed, Hayden said in an interview with The Washington Post this week that coincided with the start of his third year at the helm of the CIA....

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052904116_pf.html

[htuttle]

1. "In a strikingly upbeat assessment..."

Has there ever been any other kind of assessment that has come out of the Bush administration?

:eyes:

[Igel]

9. Yes, the one last year that this one contrasts with.

AQ has regrouped, is as strong as it was in 2001. That's one *-admin assessment that got quoted a lot.

Then there was the NIE on Iraq from 8/2006, saying that Anbar was all but lost and it was going to get worse, meanwhile everything else in Iraq was terrible with no improvements in sight. That certainly wasn't upbeat. Well, unless you like the idea of dead Americans and Iraqis, then it was a cause for great joy.

The 2003 NIE (2005? hard to keep all the years straight) dealing with Iran was also not upbeat, the one that said Iran was working on nuclear weapons. The 2006 (2007?) revision, saying with a high degree of certainly that Iran had abandoned its efforts in 2004, was considered upbeat, in spite of it's less confident assertion that Iran hadn't resumed work on how to weaponize enriched uranium.

[Vincardog]

2. The Greedy Oil PArty has to appear to be winning to hold onto the last thread of hope

that they are not exposed as the fear mongering frauds they are.

[Parche]

3. He Should Know As The CIA IS The Head Of Al-Kida

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

:hi:

[arcadian]

4. This is a lie.

Bin Laden is dead. They know this. Everything out of this misadministration is a lie.

[Tempest]

5. Hayden is a known liar

He said videotaping of prisoner interrogations stopped in 2002. The Army Inspector General found tapes from 2004 interrogations.

He also said the NSA Survelliance Program wasn't violating any laws. It was violating the FISA law.

[kaygore]

6. Do we really believe anything that the CIA or any other US government group tells us

Fool us once... .

[Riddler]

7. How timely this information is in the aftermath of McClellan's indictment against the Bush liars.

[LynnTheDem]

8. Funny then how every other intell agency -including all the rest of ours- says the

opposite.

:eyes:

[AlphaCentauri]

10. when was the last time I heard this?

[Systematic Chaos]

11. Every time I hear "Al Qaida", I think of a commercial for a new Taco Bell Value Menu item.

:puke:

[ohio2007]

12. Al-Qaida's stance on women sparks extremist debate ( Losing hearts/minds in the home )

CAIRO, Egypt - Muslim extremist women are challenging al-Qaida's refusal to include — or at least acknowledge — women in its ranks, in an emotional debate that gives rare insight into the gender conflicts lurking beneath one of the strictest strains of Islam.

In response to a female questioner, al-Qaida No. 2 leader Ayman Al-Zawahri said in April that the terrorist group does not have women. A woman's role, he said on the Internet audio recording, is limited to caring for the homes and children of al-Qaida fighters.

His remarks have since prompted an outcry from fundamentalist women, who are fighting or pleading for the right to be terrorists. The statements have also created some confusion, because in fact suicide bombings by women seem to be on the rise, at least within the Iraq branch of al-Qaida.

snip
Another woman signed a more than 2,000-word essay of protest online as Rabeebat al-Silah, Arabic for "Companion of Weapons."

"How many times have I wished I were a man ... When Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahri said there are no women in al-Qaida, he saddened and hurt me," wrote "Companion of Weapons," who said she listened to the speech 10 times.

"I felt that my heart was about to explode in my chest...I am powerless."

Such postings have appeared anonymously on discussion forums of Web sites that host videos from top al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. While the most popular site requires names and passwords, many people use only nicknames, making their identities and locations impossible to verify.

However, groups that monitor such sites say the postings appear credible because of the knowledge and passion they betray. Many appear to represent computer-literate women arguing in the most modern of venues — the Internet — for rights within a feudal version of Islam.

snip

"A lot of the girls I speak to ... want to carry weapons. They live with this great frustration and oppression," said Huda Naim, a prominent women's leader, Hamas member and Palestinian lawmaker in Gaza. "We don't have a special militant wing for women ... but that doesn't mean that we strip women of the right to go to jihad."

Al-Zawahri's remarks show the fine line al-Qaida walks in terms of public relations. In a modern Arab world where women work even in some conservative countries, al-Qaida's attitude could hurt its efforts to win over the public at large. On the other hand, noted SITE director Katz, al-Zawahri has to consider that many al-Qaida supporters, such as the Taliban, do not believe women should play a military role in jihad.

Al-Zawahri's comments came in a two-hour audio recording posted on an Islamic militant Web site, where he answered hundreds of questions sent in by al-Qaida sympathizers.

snip


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080531/ap_on_re_mi_ea/al_qaida_s_women

If they enjoy living life like it's 1099, then they won't have to deal with a sexual revolution for centuries.