ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style3 { height: 26px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style5 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } .style6 { text-decoration: underline; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> &nbsp;<table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="133" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td width="133" height="2">&nbsp;</td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style4">&nbsp;</p> <p class="style4"><i>Y</i>emen&#39;s Unfinished Business</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright Jan.. 6, 2010<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style5">&nbsp;W</span>hen al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula struck the guided missile frigate U.S.S. Cole Oct. 12, 2000 in Yemen s Port of Aden, the war against Osama bin Laden was already two years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Former CIA Director George J. Tenet acknowledged the U.S. was under attack since two U.S. embassies in East Africa were bombed August 7, 1998, prompting former President Bill Clinton to order Cruise Missile strikes against Bin Laden s terrorist camps 120 kilometers south of Kabul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> While hindsight is always 20/20, failing to go after al-Qaida in East Africa and Yemen paved the way for Sept. 11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Following 9/11, former President George W. Bush promptly launched Operation Enduring Freedom Oct. 7, 2001, toppling the Taliban and driving Bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar into hiding in the mountainous ungoverned lands between Afghanistan and Pakistan.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Instead of relentlessly pursuing Bin Laden and Omar, Bush detoured to Iraq March 20, 2003, diverting U.S. military resources to a new front, which, until Obama switched gears, was considered by the Bush administration as the  central front in the war on terror. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While there s no doubt that al-Qaida moved into Iraq to fight U.S. occupation, there were no al-Qaida operations under Saddam Hussein.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Toppling Saddam caused, as once feared by former President George H.W. Bush, a power vacuum that radicalized the region.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Effective U.S. military operations after  W s troop surge drove al-Qaida out of Iraq and back to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Unfinished business now forces Obama to pivot from his commitment to escalate the Afghan War, a battlefield that, like Iraq, no longer contains the same al-Qaida threat as it did in the days, weeks and months before Sept 11.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Because Clinton dropped the ball in Somalia, East Africa and Yemen and Bush detoured to Iraq, Obama must not make the same mistake in Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>After deliberating for three months, Obama announced Dec. 2, 2009 that he was, adding 30,000 more troops to, ignoring the gathering threats in Yemen and Pakistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Spending $70 million in direct military aid to Yemen is a good first step but doesn t deal with hundreds of al-Qaida terrorists based in southern Yemen Abyan province, where an al-Qaida affiliate called the Abyan Islamic Army runs amok since the days of the U.S.S. Cole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While U.S. and British officials reopened embassies Yemen s capital of Sana a, the threat of a growing al-Qaida-sponsored secessionist movement grows daily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Even with added U.S. aid, the shaky Yemen government doesn t have the resources or personnel to battle al-Qaida or insurgent forces.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Christmas Day 2009 provided a rude awakening to U.S. homeland security, where 24-year-old Nigerian-born al-Qaida operative Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab tried to blow up a Northwest airliner en route from Amsterdam to Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Calling it a  screw up, Barack harshly criticized U.S. intelligence agencies for not heeding warnings, especially the Transportation Security Agency that let a terrorist-aged man travel on a one-way ticket without a passport or luggage, ignoring warnings from the boy s father to the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Finding out why U.S. intelligence agencies don t communicate with each other is a good first step.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>But once that s figured out, Obama must urgently form a Blue Ribbon Commission to combat al-Qaida s brainwashing techniques, a far more dangerous threat to U.S. national security than Bin Laden s attempt to attack the West.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</span><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Walking into Forward Base Chapman near the Afghan city of Khost on the frontier with Pakistan, 36-year-old al-Qaida operative, Jordanian double-agent Dr. Humam Khalil Mohammed detonated his suicide vest Dec. 30, 2009, killing seven CIA officers and one Jordanian intelligence official.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Like the terrorists that flew jetliners in the World Trade Center and Pentagon Sept. 11, Mohammed was programmed by his al-Qaida handlers to commit suicide for Islam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He joins 39-year-old U.S. Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan who massacred 13 U.S. soldiers Nov. 5, 2009, another Manchurian candidate psychotic or not who was brainwashed by U.S.-born al-Qaida affiliated radical Yemen cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Instead of getting bogged down in Afghanistan, Obama must dedicate more effort to targeting al-Qaida terrorists and counteracting the group s brainwashing methods.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Swarming waves of Bin Laden s suicide bombers are now hitting the U.S. or carefully selected targets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama can no longer make the same mistakes as Clinton and Bush without risking another terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Ignoring Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and other al-Qaida nests increases the chances of another Sept. 11-like attack on U.S. soil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama must commission a more in-depth study into al-Qaida s brainwashing techniques used to recruit, convert and transform highly educated individuals into human bombs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While the U.S. must battle extremists around the globe, it must also win the propaganda war and confront the pernicious brainwashing that converts intelligent followers into programmed assassins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Only by a better understanding of the enemy s mind control methods can the U.S. find a long-term solution for today s shadowy war on terror.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span class="style6">About the Author </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author <i>of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a></i> and <i><a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a></i>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>