The head of counterterrorism operations for the U.S. Department of State said the al-Qaeda network is largely broken and has lost the ability to conduct large-scale terrorist operations.
While the U.S. has still been unable to kill or capture the organization’s top leaders, they have nevertheless been “beaten back into a hole” by relentless pressure from special operations, law enforcement and drone attacks.
“They are scratching their heads, realizing they took on a pretty savvy opponent who went after them kinetically very fast, pulled out the rug from underneath them, put them on the run, put them in a area where they didn’t have the assets they had before,” said former Army special operations commander, Amb. Dell Dailey, who now heads the State Department’s counterterrorism office. “Bin Laden can’t get an operational effort off the ground without it being detected ahead of time and being thwarted.”
Dailey cited the foiled terror plot to bring down as many as 10 U.S.-bound commercial jets in 2006 as an example of al-Qaeda’s diminished capability to launch dramatic attacks.
“Their ability to reach is non-existent,” Dailey told military reporters during a Jan. 6 breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C.
But that doesn’t mean the U.S. can sit back and relax, he added.
Though he’s a political appointee who may not keep his job in an Obama administration, Dailey had high praise for the incoming team’s counterterrorism strategy and for the people who’ve been tabbed to wage it.
Over the five meetings he’s had with Obama officials since the election, Dailey sees a willingness to abandon presidential campaign promises to unilaterally move into Pakistan if there’s solid intel on bin Laden’s whereabouts and the local government cannot or will not act. The incoming administration’s focus on strengthening multilateralism over unilateralism seems to mesh with the State Department’s current counter-terror plan.
“It’s not ‘go out and kill people right now’ to the detriment of our relationships with sovereign countries,” Dailey said. “Their twist is going to be more aggressive engagement with our partner nations.”
Transition officials have told Dailey’s office they’re in favor of efforts to assist other countries fight terror, including support for the Shared Security Partnership Plan — a $5 billion, three-year program to bolster law enforcement and intelligence activities with allied nations to help them undermine terror networks.
Dailey also had high praise for the Obama team’s pick for the Director of National Intelligence and new CIA chief.
Adm. Dennis Blair, who was nominated for DNI, is a “smart, smart guy” and a “very aggressive” warrior who will be sensitive to the interagency bureaucratic tangles that come with the job of heading the intelligence community.
While he hasn’t worked personally with CIA chief nominee Leon Panetta, Dailey called him a “team builder” and prudent choice when it comes to “people skills and managerial skills.”
But with al-Qaeda on the ropes and an aggressive and experienced team coming in to confront global terror threats, Dailey warned against resting on laurels.
“We’ve chopped off [al Qaeda’s] arms, we’ve chopped off their communications and we’ve chopped off their funding. We’ve gone after their leadership and taken away their training sites,” Dailey said. “That would be my message to [the Obama team] … keep all that going and not to fall back into a false sense of security.”
– Christian
UBL is in a hole because HE IS DEAD. He has been dead for years now. Our government is not inrested in “capturing” him because they know he is already dead. They want to keep the myth alive though because it helps to justify the loss of civil liberties & freedom that we have all suffered. Your 90 year grandma is felt up by TSA because they don’t want to be accused of “profiling.” Your wife’s breasts are being squeezed by these morons because of the same lame excuse that they don’t want to be accused of “profiling.” This whole thing is total BS.
Oh P.S.,please somebody show me liquid explosives that can be made out of breast milk & soft drinks. What another moronic scam being played out on government school(public school) educated saps.
Take the tin foil hat off Roy.
As long as Bin Laden’s still alive, his subordinates will keep trying to contact him.
Not so much because he’s in control–he isn’t–but he’s still the Old Man of the Mountains. Young up-and-comers will still want his blessing and approval, to give them status as they jockey for position with other up-and-comers.
Of course, every time a young up-and-comer tries to contact the Old Man, that tells us something about the nature and location of the up-and-comer, as well as of the Old Man.
So who do we pick off? The Old Man? No, he’s not a threat. But the up-and-comer is. And the Old Man’s the means by which we can potentially find out who and where the up-and-comers are, and what they’re planning.
Keeping Bin Laden alive has advantages for the U.S. and not just the tin-foil-hat kind.
As long as Bin Laden’s still alive, his subordinates will keep trying to contact him.
Not so much because he’s in control–he isn’t–but he’s still the Old Man of the Mountains. Young up-and-comers will still want his blessing and approval, to give them status as they jockey for position with other up-and-comers.
Of course, every time a young up-and-comer tries to contact the Old Man, that tells us something about the nature and location of the up-and-comer, as well as of the Old Man.
So who do we pick off? The Old Man? No, he’s not a threat. But the up-and-comer is. And the Old Man’s the means by which we can potentially find out who and where the up-and-comers are, and what they’re planning.
Keeping Bin Laden alive has advantages to the U.S. and not the tin-foil-hat kind.
Definite tinfoil hat time. Bin Laden is not the operations leader of Al Qaeda and the Al Qaeda leadership have been on the run long before Sept11th. This is just weak propaganda which is a poor excuse for why they still haven’t captured Zawahiri, Bin Laden or even Mullah Omar.
“Though he’s a political appointee who may not keep his job in an Obama administration“
Time to salvage some credibility and future job prospects by making unsubstantiated claims then!
Pakistan is just lines on a map. It’s not even a failed-state. We need to go in there on the ground and end this mess. It’s pretty clear now that there is no effective government there and there never has been.
Consider the source, to get a sense for how out of touch and incompetent Dell Dailey is, read the book “The Mission, the Men, and Me”. Dailey is referred to by the author as the commanding general. His obstinance and malfiescence is all featured in the books “Not a Good day to Die” and “Cobra II’. The fact he is in that role is a much greater threat to this country than AQ.