Month: January 2002

The most perilous attitude Americans could have right now is overconfidence. There is a good reason the Bush administration continues to urge vigilance, despite our success in Afghanistan. “We have to assume,” a senior White House official told the Washington Post in December, “that since there were cells prior to Sept. 11 buried in the United States for some time, there might be others. This is the most dangerous fact for American security right now.” It should be remembered also that even without Afghanistan as a safe haven, al-Qaida cells can still reproduce. “Tens of thousands of foreign extremists have already learned military and terror skills and moved on,” Newsweek recently reported. “Hundreds if not thousands of hard-core militants are still at large, including many who were involved in previous terrorist operations. They know how to raise their own money, even if al-Qaida’s funds are blocked, and they have knowledge that can be passed on to other extremists.” But the real danger lies beyond the mere presence of al-Qaida cells; it’s what those terrorists are … Continue Reading