Friday
Nov142008
CIA Director Steps Back In Time
Friday, November 14, 2008 at 11:15 This morning I've been reading the reaction to CIA Director Michael Hayden's talk on 'The State of al Qaeda Today'. The BBC provides a good summary here, and there's a short video at the Atlantic Council's site.
.jpg "CIA Director Michael Hayden")
Aside from the expected appraisals- cause for optimism, support for al-Qaeda falling in Muslim nations, bin Laden on the run- a number of Hayden's assertions really jar. For me his analysis is stuck some time in late 2001, back when we thought we could declare war on terrorism and actually win. Despite his mention of "core al-Qaeda" and "unaffiliated extremists", Hayden really seems to think of al-Qaeda as a single, unified terrorist army- bin Laden is its "iconic" leader, and "this is an organisation that has never been through a change at the top". Is he serious? Does he really believe that if bin Laden had been caught at Tora Bora that the bombers of, say, Bali or London would have given up and, lacking a leader, drifted apart? But the platitudes don't stop there. According to Hayden's view the 'war on terror' is as simple as ever- the "civilised world" is going to defeat its barbaric enemy, the terrorist. And while we don't know what would happen if bin Laden was killed or captured, he's "willing to bet that whatever happens, it would work in our favour." If only it really was that simple.
[Photo: Atlantic Council]
Reader Comments (6)
This is probably why he has but a few weeks left in his CIA career.
He's not reading The Gates of Vienna or Jihad Watch.
and it doesn't strike me that he has said anything new. The stuff about Bin Laden not having day-to-day control has been out there for a while. In other words, he offered a rehash and the media bit thinking it was newsworthy. Perhaps it was a valediction to his CIA career.
Not exactly going out with a bang, is he?
My quick reaction was as a "Don't fire me, you need us" speech....
Nice to see that those at the head of the CIA still maintain their always tenuous grip on reality!! How is it that those in the field and at the bottom of the pile in the analysis offices can easily identify reality but once infomation starts up the chain it becomes dilute and almost mythical!!!