By Leonard Doyle
WASHINGTON: Damaging details of infighting within the Bush administration and intelligence agencies are emerging only months before George Bush leaves the White House.
A scathing assessment of US failures in its war with Al Qaeda was published by The New York Times, containing the charge that the infighting has hobbled efforts to capture Osama bin Laden or his senior lieutenants.
The report coincides with revelations in The New Yorker about deep unease among Congressional leaders over a secret directive issued by the Bush administration which significantly boosts the activities of Special Operations Forces inside Iran.
The magazine also detected further disarray by highlighting concern within the US military about White House support for possible military strikes on Iran, which would aim to set back Iranian nuclear ambitions.
Bush will now leave office with Al Qaeda having successfully relocated its base of operations from Afghanistan to Pakistan’s tribal areas.
According to the report in The New York Times, there may be more than 2000 foreign recruits to Al Qaeda. The newspaper describes how last year the Pentagon’s Special Operations Forces were authorised to launch missions in the mountains of Pakistan.
However, they are still awaiting the green light to launch attacks on Al Qaeda camps in the North West territories. There was “mounting frustration” at the delay, a senior defence source told the newspaper.
There have been numerous American missile strikes in Pakistan since 2002, but militants have continued to flock to Al Qaeda encampments it is reported.
The US failure to grapple with the Al Qaeda leadership comes at a time when Bush is increasingly focused on projecting the US military into Iran.
The operations in Iran have been expanded with the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command joining forces, according to current US officials. The New Yorker reported that undercover US operations inside Iran are undergoing a major expansion aimed at destabilising the religious leadership.
Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, is to travel to Afghanistan and Iraq as part of a seven-nation tour later this year to overcome what is seen as a weakness on foreign policy compared to his veteran Republican opponent, Senator John McCain.
Obama has said he wants to send up to 10,000 soldiers to Afghanistan, where violence has climbed as the Taliban and Al Qaeda regrouped. Obama has accused Bush of neglecting the fight in Afghanistan to pursue an unnecessary war in Iraq.
Most damaging of all for President Bush’s legacy may be a 700-page official history by the US Army. It points the finger of blame at US-based commanders who believed “in the euphoria of early 2003,” that the goals in Iraq had been accomplished and failed to send enough troops to handle the occupation.
The study specifically blames President Bush’s statement aboard an aircraft carrier off San Diego, on 1 May, 2003, that major combat operations were over for reinforcing that view.
The audacious conclusions of the official army history “On Point II” were defended in a foreword by General William Wallace, commanding general of US Army Training and Doctrine Command who wrote: “One of the great and least understood qualities of the United States Army is its culture of introspection and self-examination.” – The Independent |
