New reports question war on terror

Early in the week, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based think tank, released its annual survey of world affairs. The Associated Press reports that the IISS claims that, far from being undermined by the war on terror, Al Qaeda "has more than 18,000 potential terrorists scattered around the world and the war in Iraq is swelling its ranks."

Driving the terror network out of Afghanistan in late 2001 appears to have benefited the group, which dispersed to many countries, making it almost invisible and hard to combat, the report said. The US occupation of Iraq brought Al Qaeda recruits from across Islamic nations, the study said. Up to 1,000 foreign Islamic fighters have infiltrated Iraqi territory, where they are cooperating with Iraqi insurgents.

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The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the institute's assessment of Iraq was widely accepted by many security experts, even if "its numbers on Al Qaeda are doubted by some." But whatever Al Qaeda's numerical strength is, the paper continues, it has shown that it has "regained its ability to carry out terrorist attacks, and its determination to do so."

A day after the IISS released its report a leading human rights organization, the London-based Amnesty International, issued a scathing report about human rights abuses. The Boston Globe reports Thursday that Amnesty's report questioned the value of the US-led war on terror, and said that the war had " made the world more dangerous, rather than safer, and has prompted the most sustained erosion of human rights and international law in 50 years ..."

'It is clear that the way in which the war on terror is being conducted today is not making us safer. To put it as simply as possible, it is in fact a failure,' William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said at a news conference. 'By relying on force alone, the US government has sacrificed one of its major weapons in the struggle against terrorism; namely, its own reputation as an exemplar of human rights.'

The US wasn't the only nation strongly criticized by Amnesty: several European nations, Russia, China, Israel, the Palestinian leadership, and many Arab nations were criticized for responding to terrorism with human rights violations that were, the report said, "in some cases worse than the original terrorist attacks themselves." The Financial Times reports that Amnesty also "denounced actions committed by armed groups such as Al Qaeda against civilians as crimes under international law, with some amounting to crimes against humanity."

The United States " flatly rejected" Amnesty's allegations.

"I dismiss that. The war on terror has protected the human rights of some 25 million people in Afghanistan and some 25 million people in Iraq," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher also said President Bush had enunciated a "very clear vision defending civilization and society from people who want only destruction," and he said the application and extension of the rule of law is a fundamental part of the war on terrorism. The Voice of America reports that White House officials are, however, being careful not to criticize Amnesty International itself, saying the US has a continual dialogue with the human rights organization and takes its reports seriously.

Also this week, experts attending a seminar on violations of international humanitarian law in Pakistan said individual countries have exaggerated "the terminology of the war on terror" in order to create laws for their own benefit that in some cases have little to do with international terrorism. The International Committee of the Red Cross's media coordinator and lawyer, Frederic Gouin, said the war against terror was a "sexed up term for media consumption and in real legal terms it was non-existent."

When asked if the Bush Administration and its allies were using the "ruse of war against terrorism to trample human freedoms and liberties," WebIndia123.com, an Indian news site, said the two ICRC representatives refused to comment.

National Review wrote in an editorial this week that, despite some mistakes, the US must continue its efforts in the war on terror, particularly in Iraq.

Many hard days are ahead. Bush is now seeking the fourth post-invasion UN resolution, but it is unlikely to bring much in the way of international help. Bush has called Iraq a "heavy lift," and Rumsfeld has called it a "hard slog." We have no choice but to keep lifting, keep slogging.

Also...
• N. Korea flirts with 'red line' ( The Christian Science Monitor)
• Gen. Zinni: It's 'unpatriotic not to question' the Iraq fiasco ( Falls Church News Press)
• Brits snag 'The Hook': Terrorist faces US extradition ( Boston Herald)

• Feedback appreciated. E-mail Tom Regan .