GWOT change of focus?

[Griff]

The Bush administration has launched a high-level internal review of its efforts to battle international terrorism, aimed at moving away from a policy that has stressed efforts to capture and kill al Qaeda leaders since Sept. 11, 2001, and toward what a senior official called a broader "strategy against violent extremism."

The shift is meant to recognize the transformation of al Qaeda over the past three years into a far more amorphous, diffuse and difficult-to-target organization than the group that struck the United States in 2001. But critics say the policy review comes only after months of delay and lost opportunities while the administration left key counterterrorism jobs unfilled and argued internally over how best to confront the rapid spread of the pro-al Qaeda global Islamic jihad.

Too bad we didn't treat al Queda like the criminal organization that it was instead of giving the movement credibility with military action. The Iraq invasion nonsense has screwed that up. It seems to me the Administration changed the focus of the GWOT before there was a GWOT.

[headsplice]

First question to ask:
How exactly to do you stop 'terror?'
My girlfriend is terrified of my cat (as well she should be). Does that mean the GWOT is going to send Marine Recon in to obliterate my cat?

[xoxoxoBruce]

You haven't heard of catastrophic "accidents" that no one gets blamed for and no one takes credit for.

[mrnoodle]

Originally Posted by headsplice

Does that mean the GWOT is going to send Marine Recon in to obliterate my cat?

how cool would THAT be? And how embarrassing when the cat wins.

[jaguar]

.....it's degenerated into internal bickering and politicking without really achieving anything? Hijacked by those with agendas to pursue even if it's against the national interest? Surely you kid.

[warch]

This makes Richard Clarke look less like the sour grape and more like the voice of reason.

[jaguar]

I have to say I love this:

Much of the discussion has focused on how to deal with the rise of a new generation of terrorists, schooled in Iraq over the past couple years. Top government officials are increasingly turning their attention to anticipate what one called "the bleed out" of hundreds or thousands of Iraq-trained jihadists back to their home countries throughout the Middle East and Western Europe. "It's a new piece of a new equation," a former senior Bush administration official said. "If you don't know who they are in Iraq, how are you going to locate them in Istanbul or London?"

Way to admit the invasion of Iraq has massively increased the recruiting power and anger base for these organisations to draw recruits from creating an entire new generation of jihadists, just the way the Afghan war did for the last generation. Way to go guys.

[russotto]

The Romans had a solution to enemies who could neither win nor surrender nor be negotiated with. They seem to have been the only ones, however.

[wolf]

Does the Geneva convention address decimating the populace and salting the fields?