Feingold says war on terror, al-Qaida should be a global fight

[undeterred]

Wisconsin Democrat Senator Russ Feingold says war on terror, al-Qaida should be a global fight in aftermath of Christmas Day attempted airline bombing

WASHINGTON — When lawmakers began debating whether to invade Iraq after the 2001 terrorist attacks, Sen. Russ Feingold warned them that a terrorism threat was percolating in Yemen. That was in October 2002. Last summer, Feingold made a statement for the Congressional Record again pointing to the danger posed by the Arabian Peninsula country.

"The threats to our national security in Yemen are serious and are getting worse," the Wisconsin Democrat told colleagues Aug. 6. "To effectively fight the threat from al-Qaida and its affiliates, we have to change the way our government is structured and how it operates."

On Tuesday, Feingold cited the botched Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound plane — allegedly by a Nigerian man with suspected ties to al-Qaida in Yemen — as evidence of the threat he's warned of for nearly a decade. "It's very sad that it takes an incident like this for people to pay adequate attention to places like Yemen," Feingold said in an interview. "Time and again, I've been trying to get people to think about the war against al-Qaida as a global war rather than fighting it country by country."

Feingold, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations and Select Intelligence committees, said U.S. anti-terror efforts have focused too narrowly on Iraq and Afghanistan while unstable countries like Somalia and Yemen have become havens for al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. President Barack Obama's decision to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan is an example of a misguided mindset, Feingold said. Instead of increasing troop levels there, he said, Obama should devote more resources to rooting out terrorism around the world.

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20100106/APC0101/1060547/1003/APC01

[babylonsister]

1. More resources for rooting out terrorism around the world?

What 'resources' is Feingold talking about? And where does Feingold think they should be placed? And who will provide them?

It's easy to critique, hard to play with numbers and countries. I just bet this admin would love world-wide cooperation.

[dkf]

3. He wants the effort more broad based and not centered on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sounds like more cooperation and policing with less nation building and throwing good money after bad.

[undeterred]

4. More from Feingold:

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold on the Need to Improve our Intelligence Capabilities
Tuesday, January 5, 2010

“It should never take an attempted terrorist bombing for us to notice a long-standing terrorist safe haven. Our national security depends on using all the resources at our disposal to gather and integrate information on threats from around the world, rather than always reacting to the latest crisis. That is why the Senate Intelligence Committee has twice approved bipartisan legislation, originally offered by Senator Hagel and myself, to create an independent commission to reform how our government collects this information and seeks to anticipate threats before they arise. The legislation has already passed the Senate, as part of the Intelligence Authorization bill, and it is my intention to offer it as an amendment to other pieces of legislation in the coming months.

“Those who view Afghanistan as today’s war and Yemen as tomorrow’s fail to understand the nature of our enemy. For years, I have been warning of the threat from Yemen. The answer is not to bounce from war to war, but rather to develop sustainable, global counterterrorism policies based on a deep understanding of the dispersed regions in which al Qaeda operates. We have not heeded the 9/11 commission's warning that we must focus on ‘remote regions and failing states.’ And we have failed to make use of open information we need in order to anticipate terrorist safe havens and ideological radicalization. Unless we reform how our government collects, reports and analyzes information from around the world, we will remain a step behind al Qaeda’s global network.”

http://feingold.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=321290

[dkf]

2. Sounds like Feingold might have a better way.

I'm in his camp over the Mcchrystal gang.