Seven years since 9-11, a large majority of terrorism experts continue to agree we are not winning the “war on terror.” The bi-annual terrorism survey by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy magazine shows that experts agree that more emphasis needs to be placed on fighting terrorism and that withdrawing from Iraq would help the U.S. in the fight against terrorism. The decision by the Bush administration and his supporters, like Sen. McCain, to invade Iraq not only distracted the U.S. from fighting those who attacked us on 9-11, but created a terrorist recruiting and training ground in Iraq that has worsened the terrorist threat.  The Bush administration’s failure to stem the terrorist threat was on vivid display yesterday, as violence erupted throughout the Middle East and South Asia.

Bi-partisan Terrorism Index concludes that more focus must be placed on tackling the terrorist threat.  Experts participating in the Center for American Progress’ Terrorism Index agree that the terrorist threat needs greater focus from U.S. policymakers.  While this year’s panel showed increasing optimism, there is still widespread consensus that the U.S. must do more to address the terrorist threat.  70 percent of experts “believed the world was growing more dangerous for Americans and the United States.”  Just 21 percent of experts agree with the statement that “the United States is winning the war on terror.” [Center for American Progress Terrorism Index, 8/19/08] 

There is a strong consensus among terrorism experts in favor of re-deploying from Iraq and turning our focus back to the forgotten front in Afghanistan.  “Eighty percent of the experts say that the United States has focused too much on the war in Iraq and not enough on the war in Afghanistan.”  In a blow to conservative politicians arguing for a limitless engagement in Iraq, “almost 70 percent recommend that the majority of U.S. forces be withdrawn and redeployed to Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf in the next 18 months.” [Center for American Progress Terrorism Index, 8/19/08]

Five year anniversary of UN bombing in Iraq marked a turning point in which international relief organizations became terrorist targets. Five years ago today a suicide bomber blew up the UN headquarters in Baghdad killing 21 people including the UN’s top diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello. The attack on the UN, as Samantha Power explained, indicated a major turning point for international relief organizations as their “flags no longer offered them protection.” This was brutally apparent last week when three aid workers from the International Red Cross were murdered by the Taliban just outside of Kabul. Last December, 17 people were killed the UN offices were attacked by Al Qaeda in Algeria and threats against UN offices and personnel are now prevalent throughout the world. [NY Times, 8/19/08]

A disturbing array of attacks yesterday demonstrated the continued strength of terrorist and extremist groups almost 7 years after 9-11:

• A police academy in Algeria was attacked by suicide car bombing, killing at least 43.
• At least 25 people have been killed by suicide bombing in an attack on a hospital in Pakistan’s lawless northwest tribal areas.
• A “rampage” by Islamist militants has killed at least 28 in the Philippines as Christian-Muslim tensions are on the rise.
• Approximately 100 insurgents attacked a group of French paratroopers in Afghanistan, killing ten in a battle that took place only 30 miles from Kabul.
• The Taliban tried unsuccessfully to take a U.S. military base near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border; the bodies of six suicide bombers were found.  The assault was coordinated with the attack on the French paratroopers near Kabul.
• Allied forces find lethal cache of sophisticated insurgent weaponry in Afghanistan.

Quick Hits

Pervez Musharraf has left the office of the President of Pakistan, leaving uncertainty in a volatile region in his wake.

Kurdish control of the strategic, ethnically diverse, and oil-rich city of Kirkuk has created an explosive situation in Iraq that is a major block to political progress.

NATO members meet in an emergency session, deciding to cool relations with Russia and declare that Russia is not following the terms of the cease-fire. Secretary Rice also made clear that the United States would not push for Georgia to be a member of NATO. Meanwhile, Russian military forces briefly seized the important Georgian port of Poti.

China, taking advantage of a system in which one must apply for a permit to protest at the Olympic Games, has been preemptively arresting would-be protestors.

Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, has stated that “the worst is yet to come in the U.S.” economic crunch.

Meanwhile, oil production has begun to decline at all major Western oil companies, which are finding it very difficult to expand their capacity due to mature fields and political pressures