Academic: al-Qaida stronger than pre-9/11 ( 2003-09-09 09:32) (Agencies)
The al-Qaida terrorist network is stronger than before the Sept. 11 attacks,
and the U.S.-led war on terror has so far been a failure, a British academic
concludes in a study published Tuesday.
Paul Rogers, a professor of peace studies at the University of Bradford in
England, said the U.S.-led coalition's military successes in Afghanistan and
Iraq have failed to crush al-Qaida's structure or stem its recruitment.
"(Al-Qaida) and its associates have managed to plan and often undertake a
remarkable range of activities, with these collectively showing a capability
that exceeds that existing before the Sept. 11 attacks," Rogers wrote.
"On this basis alone, it is difficult to accept any claim that the war on
terror is being won."
But other terrorism experts said the United States and its allies had scored
significant victories against al-Qaida. They cautioned, however, that the chaos
of postwar Iraq represented a setback.
In a speech to the nation on Sunday, President Bush said the United States
would "do what is necessary" to defeat the "enemies of freedom" in Iraq.
Rogers' report was compiled for the Oxford Research Group, a think-tank
specializing in arms control and nonproliferation issues.
In his report, Rogers said that while U.S.-led anti-terrorism efforts had
succeeded in preventing some terrorist plots, al-Qaida linked attacks have
killed more than 350 people and injured almost 1,000 in the two years since
Sept. 11.
The attacks include the Oct. 12, 2002 bombings on the Indonesian island of
Bali that killed more than 200 people; car bombings of residential compounds in
the Saudi capital, Riyadh, that killed 26 people in May; and the Aug. 5 car
bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, in which 12 people died.
