The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • National

    Tiger Woods injured in car accident

  • Security

    W. House praises IAEA's censures of Iran

  • Business

    Wall Street tumbles on Dubai fears

  • Local

    Private funeral Friday for Pollin

  • Politics

    Ads add heat to health care debate

  • National

    At Mall of America, it's business as usual

  • World

    Drug lords finding safe haven in Bolivia

Home » News » National

Friday, October 31, 2008

SALHANI: Covert forces trumpet successes in war on terror

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos

More National Stories

  • Nation briefs
  • Tiger Woods injured in car accident
  • Black Friday shoppers pack stores
  • Space shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth

By Claude Salhani, MIDDLE EAST TIMES

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Fighting terrorism necessitates a two-pronged approach - covert action by special forces and smart intelligence.

Covert action is absolutely central to winning the war on terrorism, just as it was the decisive instrument of the Cold War, said a senior U.S. intelligence official.

Covert action remains a critical instrument in the war on terror. And it is thanks to a number of covert operations that the United States, according to a high-ranking Pentagon official, has made headway in the war on terrorism.

But there is still a long way to go and real threats to counter, particularly as the Afghan insurgency has gotten significantly more intense in the past two years. In Pakistan, the problem has gotten worse over the past decade, substantially worse.

The tribal areas of western Pakistan remain the most significant strategic threat. However, the threats do not only emanate from traditional Muslim lands. According to a high-ranking U.S. intelligence official, those threats "can emanate out of the United Kingdom and other parts of Western Europe, too.

"If you look at the number of threats over the past decade, you would see as many or more coming out of Europe as the greater Middle East," said Michael Vickers, assistant secretary for special operations and low-intensity conflict at the U.S. Department of Defense.

"Al Qaeda's goals remain to catalyze an Islamist insurgency, to break up and/or prevent the formation of international coalitions arrayed against it, to exhaust and expel the West from Muslim lands, to overthrow apostate - or what they consider - illegitimate states and to establish a new caliphate, weaken the West and transform the international balance of power to favor this new caliphate. Rather large ambitions, to say the least," said the U.S. intelligence official.

According to the U.S. official, not all is dire: America's intelligence services have scored some major points in the global war on terrorism.

"We've had some notable successes over the past seven years, and some of these have been gradual and incremental but still quite significant," Mr. Vickers said.

[Get Copyright Permissions] Click here for reprint permissions!
Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC

123Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Please login or register to post a comment

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  3. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  4. Grade-schooler unearths fossil at dinosaur park
  5. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
More Top Stories »
  1. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
  2. D.C. sports icon, Wizards owner Pollin dies
  3. In tobacco-loving Virginia, bars give up the habit
  4. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  5. List of W.H. state dinner guests

Most Shared

  1. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  2. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
  3. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  4. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  5. Finance mavens gloomy
More Top Stories »
  1. Fenty's approval in D.C. divided by race
  2. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God
  3. Drug lords finding safe haven in Bolivia
  4. In tobacco-loving Virginia, bars give up the habit
  5. Global Warmists exposed

Most Commented

  1. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  2. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  3. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  4. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  5. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God
More Top Stories »
  1. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
  2. Crashers probe may become criminal investigation
  3. Obama taking emissions goal to summit
  4. HOLMES: Behind Obama's overseas allure
  5. 9/11 families sharply split on civilian court trials

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Question of the day

Are you planning to go shopping today?

Blogs & Columns

  • Hot Button Blog

    RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to 'rationing'

  • Belief Blog

    Evangelicals OK civil disobedience

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • Redskins 360

    Hall out, Rogers will start

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.