Afghan Pres. Karzai on WOT & Bush on NIE

There's no point in duplicating the message for the sake of duplication but only to say something new. HotAir has it all--including an embedded video capture of the remarks from FOXnews, and has even linked through to LGF, the Washington Post (transcript of the press conference) and other reactions to yesterday's press conference.

The declassified segments of the NIE report are available in PDF straight from the DNI. From the first page, it's obvious why drama-seeking media would try to pick and tear at President Bush on this--like Bush said, it's campaign season. The dirt-hunting has begun.

Bottom line first:

• The Global Jihad has not gotten better or worse as a result of the US/NATO-led forces in Iraq. Yes, the Propaganda War will use victories to claim "success" and will attempt to hide "failures" (which basically equals either (a) failure to kill large numbers of innocents; or (b) failure to kill oneself, thereby getting caught in the act)
  
  To suggest that the violence was not going on in A-stan (or Iraq) before the US showed up is absurd!! It's been going on for years. (Did you not even watch/listen to A-stan's Karzai's remarks on the video? Go on over to Hot Air and listen again now)
  
  Get over yourselves if you think America can cause--or by our mere existence, stop--the kind of Global Jihad that has been building all this time. Definitely, in the last 5 years, the internet and media have seen their roles in the WOT grow by leaps and bounds.


• President Bush twisted but didn't outright distort the message of the report. He didn't lie, he didn't evade and he didn't actually say he was quoting anything. He also didn't write the report, nor did he even voice endorsement or condemnation for it or its message.
  
  All that President Bush did do was paraphrase his understanding of what the report said--perhaps, paraphrasing poorly.
  
  I don't really see (or can't find) any political agenda in his remarks as compared to the report. Now, if he had actually voiced an opinion about the report, then we'd have something to discuss. But he didn't so we don't. Deal with it MSM. Again, I say, get over yourselves.

Below are some selected quotes from the PDF (emphasis added by me, discussion interspersed):

We also assess that the global jihadist movement—which includes al-Qa’ida [sic], affiliated and independent terrorist groups, and emerging networks and cells—is spreading and adapting to counterterrorism efforts.

Then I'd suggest we (back here at home) stop treating this like a cross between Vietnam and an isolated incident. Take a lesson from Israel on how to cope with security--stop pretending there's no war and starting fighting the War on Peace. The "front" for that war is not simply where bombs go off or where the Enemy has already been; it's where bombs could go off or where the Enemy might go in the future.

We assess that the global jihadist movement is decentralized, lacks a coherent global strategy, and is becoming more diffuse. New jihadist networks and cells, with anti-American agendas, are increasingly likely to emerge. The confluence of shared purpose and dispersed actors will make it harder to find and undermine jihadist groups.

Have we really only now figured out that there is a shared purpose among the RIFs? The Enemy is not hard to find. Just follow the money--and stop feeding new sources under the aegis of "international aid." Or are we in the business of funding both sides of this War?

Four underlying factors are fueling the spread of the jihadist movement: (1) Entrenched grievances, such as corruption, injustice, and fear of Western domination, leading to anger, humiliation, and a sense of powerlessness; (2) the Iraq “jihad;” (3) the slow pace of real and sustained economic, social, and political reforms in many Muslim majority nations; and (4) pervasive anti-US sentiment among most Muslims— all of which jihadists exploit.

I think this report fails to factor in the rest of Asia and the Middle East. Iraq--or even Al-Qaeda--is not some lone island of discontent, nor is the problem simply a "slow pace of real and sustained...reforms" but rather corrupt political leadership that is sustaining (or halting) the reforms. It's like the NIE report has put the problem upsidedown. Gee, why am I surprised?

The jihadists’ greatest vulnerability is that their ultimate political solution— an ultra-conservative interpretation of shari'’a-based governance spanning the Muslim world— is unpopular with the vast majority of Muslims.

Here's the next mistake--not understanding the Enemy. The so-called "Muslim world" is not so simple as the NIE report would like to make it. There is a millenia-old blood feud going on between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and some of the "bad guys" (from a western world viewpoint) are Sunni and others are Shiite. So, how are we supposed to evaluate this and determine an appropriate direction of approach when our governmental evaluators so obviously are clueless as to who the players actually are?

While I recognize this NIE report is trying to focus on the problem in Iraq, there is just no way to discuss Radical Islamic Fundamentalist violence and propensity towards Global Jihad without discussing Global RIFs and Global Jihadist groups. Taking the Iraq violence out of context and trying to examine it under a microscope with blinders on is just not going to work. When will we get this?

We judge that most jihadist groups—both well-known and newly formed— will use improvised explosive devices [IEDs] and suicide attacks focused primarily on soft targets to implement their asymmetric warfare strategy, and that they will attempt to conduct sustained terrorist attacks in urban environments. Fighters with experience in Iraq are a potential source of leadership for jihadists pursuing these tactics.

Well, finally!! On page 3 of 4 (barely 4) of the selected tidbits from the NIE we get one cognizant remark. About time. I'd say "better late than never" except that coming late to this party is pretty much akin to forfeiting the game. Here's the last tidbit from the NIE report:

We judge that groups of all stripes will increasingly use the Internet to communicate, propagandize, recruit, train, and obtain logistical and financial support.

No kidding! And if the allied forces (NATO-led or otherwise) are smart, they'll turn to us here in the blogosphere for volunteers to communicate, propagandize, recruit, train and obtain logistical support of the fight for the Free World.

Alas, I fear we are on our own, bloggers, so blog all day and pray all night ;)