It's working...

[angus]

The invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq which have decapitated the leadership of Al Qaeda and ground down the manpower of the Jihadist movement, the Patriot Act, the signals monitoring and wiretap programs, and the other domestic security measures, all of it.  It's working.  The enemy just played its best card, and that card wasn't good enough.

Does all that spinning make you dizzy?

[angus]

sure you can.  you can diatribe without mentioning it was some other government besides our own foiled a plot.  which means you can also omit that congressional hawks will benefit from the press coverage (even though the hapless Blair, whose approvals make Bush's look not so bad, doesn't seem to be experiencing a bounce).  you can suggest that you know what is in the dealt hands of the terrorists (to continue the metaphor John started).  I'm not necessarily saying he's wrong in toto, just admiring his optimism.

[angus]

Well, in all fairness he doesn't say the Iraq war thwarted an attack, but rather the combined efforts of Afghan and Iraq invasions, the patriot act, monitoring signals, wiretapping, and other security measures.  But it's still a huge extrapolation.  Even senior law enforcement officials in the US say they aren't sure what form al Qaeda takes, or what its relationship is with a network of jihadist groups.  al qaeda's leaders are mysterious and there are many conclusions even within the Bush admistration now about the meaning of the links between pakistani groups and al quaeda.  Moreover, british officials have distanced themselves from the assertions of conspiracy centering about the paki-brit who'd been in pakistan.  presumably American officials would like to demonstrate al qaeda links, since it bolsters Bush administration's prior claims, but they seem more concerned with shampoo and corkscrews at the moment.  Also, it isn't clear that what we're doing the US would have foiled the attack.  Just because the public in both countries seem willing to get to airports earlier and earlier, and put up with greater and greater intrusions, doesn't imply that security is improved.  Still, something in the investigation went right.  clearly.  But from what I read both US and British officials are shifting the policy to understanding (and undermining) recruitment.   It makes sense to me that the shift of focus implies an understanding that current measures aren't sufficient (and they may not even be a good idea).  I'm just cautioning against making this cause-and-effect conclusion, particularly since whether it's wrong or right, the price paid in personal and economic liberty is heavy.