Progress and new worry in terror war
Iraq handover could allow US to refocus forces, but anxiety persists about hits at home and abroad.
The US Embassy in Pakistan virtually shut down Tuesday following warnings of a terrorist attack.
An Al Qaeda-linked group is threatening to turn Yemen into a "third swamp" for US forces now fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
FBI officials are increasingly concerned that terrorists are planning a US strike meant to disrupt November's elections.
Whatever US progress in handing Iraq back to the Iraqis, the struggle against radical Islamist terrorism continues around the globe. In the short run, developments in Iraq probably won't affect the larger conflict. If nothing else, significant US forces will remain there for some time to come.
But US officials hope to transfer resources as soon as possible to other nations, such as the Philippines, where the war on terror has so far been something of a holding action. If the US troop presence in Iraq could be cut in half, "about 40 percent of our entire combat capability [would then] be freed up to pursue other people where they need to be pursued," says a retired Army general.
As far as Washington is concerned, the most worrisome front on the terror war may be within US borders. Officials remain convinced that Al Qaeda wants to carry out some spectacular strike to influence US politics. The Democratic National Convention in Boston July 26-29, and the Republican National Convention in New York Aug. 30 - Sept. 2, might be particularly attractive targets.
"This summer and fall our nation will celebrate a number of events that serve as powerful symbols of our free and democratic society," FBI Director Robert Mueller said recently. "Unfortunately, the same events that fill most of us with hope and pride are seen by terrorists as prime vehicles for sowing fear and chaos."
Electronic intercepts indicating Al Qaeda's glee over the effect of the March 11 Madrid bombings on the Spanish elections are among the reasons US authorities are worried about November, they say.
"War on terror" is a loose terminology that covers a wide array of US security activities, of course. FBI enforcement inside the US is one of the war's core components. So is Special Forces liaison with domestic security in Africa, East Asia, and other regions.
To the Bush administration, the toppling of Saddam Hussein was a central front in the terror war. But the nature of links between the Hussein regime and Al Qaeda remains a matter of dispute.
The displacement of a dictatorship of epic proportions may eventually change the nature of the entire Mideast, by showcasing the benefits of democracy and economic development. That is the hope of the administration, in any case. But for now the invasion of Iraq appears to have spurred Al Qaeda-related recruitment throughout the region, and provided terrorists a central front on which to confront US forces.
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