Jewish World Review July 9, 2002 / 29 Tamuz, 5762

Jack Kelly

Jack Kelly
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Was LA International Airport shooting, in fact, good news?


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | At 11:29 a.m. local time on July 4, Hessan Mohammed Hadayat, a resident alien from Egypt, approached the ticket counter for El Al airlines at Los Angeles International Airport. He killed a woman behind the counter, then turned his guns on customers waiting in line, killing one and wounding four before he was shot by security guards.

The FBI thinks this was an isolated incident. Israeli officials are not so sure.

"It seems like a terrorist attack and it looks like a terrorist attack," said Yuval Rotem, the Israeli consul-general in Los Angeles.

If the FBI is right, then the Fourth of July came and went with no organized terror attacks on Americans. That's good news. If the Israelis are right, and Hadayat's attack was part of an internationally-planned campaign of terror, that's better news.

Constant terror warnings have had an impact on public opinion. A recent poll indicated only a third of Americans think we're winning the war on terror. But we're surely not losing. There have been no successful attacks on Americans at home or abroad since Sept. 11.

This may simply be because the terrorists are biding their time. There typically has been a lapse of a year or so between major al Qaida operations. The Khobar Towers barracks in Saudi Arabia was bombed on June 25, 1996. U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed on Aug 7, 1998. The USS Cole was attacked in the port of Aden on Oct 12, 2000.

But it may also be because the capacity of al Qaida to mount large scale operations has been crippled. Since Sept. 11 al Qaida has lost its base in Afghanistan. Pakistan has gone from supporting the Taliban to fighting terrorists...at least on alternate Tuesdays. And there has been a crackdown on al Qaida cells in Europe. This is significant, because the evidence suggests most of the major al Qaida operations were planned in Europe.

The United States has yet to capture Osama bin Laden or his top deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri. This is considered by many to be a "defeat" for America, especially since there is credible evidence to suggest bin Laden could have been captured at Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan in early December.

But neither bin Laden nor al Zawahiri have been heard from since early December. The Arabic Sahab website said last month bin Laden would release a video on July 4. He didn't.

Bin Laden is politically dead even if he isn't physically dead, argued Amir Taheri, who writes for the Arab News, an English-language daily in Saudi Arabia.

"With an ego the size of Mount Everest, Osama bin Laden would not have, could not have, remained silent for so long," Taheri wrote July 5. "He had always liked to take credit even for things he had nothing to do with. So, would he have remained silent for none months during which his illusions have been shattered one after another? If his adjutants can smuggle a video to al-Jazeera in Qatar, why couldn't he?"

We do know the whereabouts of the numbers three and four in al Qaida. Mohammed Atef is dead. Abu Zubaydah is in custody. So are hundreds of lesser fry.

Only two successful terrorist operations have been attributed to al Qaida since Sept. 11. Pakistan blames al Qaida for a car bombing outside a Karachi hotel May 7 that killed 10 French naval officers. Al Qaida has claimed responsibility for the bombing of a synogogue in Tunisia April 11 that killed 21, most of them German tourists.

These "successes" were counterproductive. No Americans or Israelis were hurt in these bombings, the effect of which was to cause France and Germany to cooperate more with the United States.

Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, was caught trying to blow up an airliner. Jose Padilla, aka Abdullah al-Muhajir, was nabbed scouting sites for a "dirty bomb" attack. Because neither of these guys are among the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, there was speculation they were being deliberately "dangled." But it could also be this is the best al Qaida has left.

This is why it would be good news if Hessan Hadayat turns out to be a member of an international terror group. If his attack is the most devastating al Qaida can muster these days, we're doing better than most of us imagine.

Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.




Comment on JWR contributor Jack Kelly's column by clicking here.

07/02/02: What the "intelligence community" can learn from Alexander the Great
06/28/02: Muslim link in Oklahoma City bombing revisited
06/25/02: A good environmental scare needs two ingredients - an impending catastrophe, and someone to blame for it
06/21/02: Stirring the security pot
06/18/02: Why the military is so messed up
06/14/02: Vast majority $68.7 billion proposed for weapons will be spent on systems of little use in the war on terror
06/12/02: Bush saw them and raised them, and he's holding the aces
06/10/02: Some heads need to roll
06/04/02: A new draft for the 'war on terror'?
05/31/02: So the FBI has finally caught up to our priorities?
05/29/02: Taking on common sense
05/23/02: Political terrorists
05/21/02: There is a great deal to fret about, but I've never been more optimistic
05/15/02: If there is a way for America to lose the war, Gen. Tommy Franks can find it
05/13/02: Impartial justice against Americans by the UN?
05/07/02: Want to win the 'war on terror'? Reinstate the draft
05/03/02: An expanded NATO is needed as a counterweight to the UN and the EU
04/29/02: Islamic 'smarts'
04/26/02: Did Bush play his Aces with Abdullah wisely?
04/23/02: Why peace in the Mideast is closer than ever
04/19/02: What the Arabs of Gaza and the West Bank gained from the "peace accords"
04/17/02: Logical Muslim allies
04/10/02: How to guarantee an infinite Mideast war
04/08/02: Saddam's American friends
04/05/02: Arab winners and sinners
04/01/02: Why is the commander of U.S. Central Command not coming clean to the American people?
03/31/02: Dubya under attack … by conservatives
03/26/02: Saddam watch coming to an end?
03/21/02: Get the Jews!
03/19/02: It's time pols and gov bureaucrats be held to the same standard of accountability we insist for corporate execs
03/15/02: Khaki Throat
03/12/02: Making foreign cheaters pay
03/08/02: Timidity and indecision by senior American commanders
03/04/02: Why 9-11? Ex-CIA officials come clean
02/25/02: Don't rule out a quick victory --- even if prez says otherwise
02/21/02: Saving our military from itself
02/19/02: Front Page fiction
02/15/02: Our European allies are like the fat kid who wants to play quarterback
02/13/02: Is the Army in danger of becoming "irrelevant"?
02/11/02: So, I "propagate hatred" …
02/06/02: Bush whacking the media
02/04/02: Why serious folks disregard the European Union --- and why Bush must, too
01/30/02: Give economy pneumonia in order to protect it from a cold
01/28/02: Media is its own worst enemy
01/25/02: Journalists making road to peace a bumpy ride, or: A case study in stupidity
01/23/02: Toward a stronger defense at a lower cost
01/21/02: How Bush could be Generations X and Y's Kennedy ... and guarantee a GOP victory in the midterm elections

© 2002, Jack Kelly