It's Waziristan Stupid

Al Qaeda's money, inspiration and organizational abilities have helped turn Pakistan's Pashtun belt into the extremist base it is today, but U.S. and Pakistani policies have helped more.Donald H. Rumsfeld's refusal to put enough U.S. troops on the ground let the extremists escape and regroup in Pakistan's Pashtun belt.

In fact, Gary Berntsen the leader of the CIA team which lead on the ground in the destruction of the Taliban was begging Genl Franks for 800 Rangers as a blocking force in Tora Bora as the 'eastern' alliance, which had far less trust from us than the Northern Alliance, ran herky jerky during ramadan (fast during the day,be with the family after dark) up the mountains after Bin Laden. He was told both that we feared too many casualties, and they weren't 'ready' (WTF?).

more....

What followed was a disaster: For 27 months after the fall of the Taliban regime, Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Washington's closest ally in the region, allowed the extremists free rein in the Pashtun tribal areas to re-establish training camps for militants who had escaped Afghanistan. These included Arabs, Central Asians, Chechens, Kashmiris, Africans, Uighurs and a smattering of East Asians. It was a mini-replay of the gathering in Afghanistan after bin Laden arrived there in 1996.

I believe this to be factual.

Today the extremists rule over North and South Waziristan and other tribal agencies, while the 70,000 Pakistani troops stationed there are boxed up in outposts, too frightened to patrol the mountains. More than 100 pro-government tribal elders have been assassinated by extremists for divulging information to the U.S. or Pakistani secret services.

Fact.

And in another article

Hibernating securely somewhere along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, bin Laden and his Egyptian sidekick, Ayman al-Zawahiri, must be deriving warmth from the fact that the Iraqi insurgency has taken on a decidedly Sunni extremist coloration; that Hamas has successfully exploited political opportunities in Palestine; that radicals within Europe's Muslim communities are gaining strength and destructive force; and that caricatures of the prophet Muhammad have led to violence even among Muslims not inclined toward terrorism.

This is certainly true as well. (Although the west certainly needed a live demonstration of the issues between what passes for Islam and what we hold dear and COMPULSORY)

While al Qaeda has been rocked by a well-financed and increasingly successful international counterterrorism effort, there is no equivalent successful campaign to counter bin Laden's strategic plan and vision. Sunni extremist activists roam virtually unchallenged in the Islamic world, spreading political and ideological seeds among a younger generation thirsting for attention, power and celestial reward.

Leaders of Islamic countries, organizations and local communities have most of the burden, as well as the best chance, of steering Muslim hearts and minds away from bin Laden's world vision. Yet while most distance themselves from his terrorist acts, their penchant for engaging in fiery rhetoric castigating the West helps breed greater intolerance of non-Muslims

I think the time to get Bin Laden and Zawalhiri has come. I'd rather it be alive and we squeeze and humiliate them, finding them in garters and Victoria's Secret burqas, or maybe in a nice pair of 'white Saddam Briefs'. But either way, this admin has to rise above the frankly STARK and undeniable errors, verging on real incompetence and ignorance at this point, and get that job done. Musharraf has to acquiesce, and we have to get the SOB's, and Waziristan has to rejoin earth, rather than transmogrify into Afghanistan II.

We are in a world war in which events will certainly slide back and forth, but the moment has arrived for an unsparing effort to Kill Yamamoto