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Al-Qaeda has grown stronger, says study by British security expert

LONDON: United States President George W. Bush’s much-trumpeted “war” on terror has failed to weaken Al-Qaeda which remains as strong as it was six years ago when he set out to “destroy” it in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

In a damning verdict on American-led western campaign against terrorism, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, one of Britain’s leading think-tanks, has warned that Al-Qaeda retains the ability to “plan and coordinate large-scale attacks in the Western world” as shown by the discovery of terror plots in Europe and elsewhere.

In its annual Strategic Survey, released here on Wednesday, it pointed out that far from being isolated, Al-Qaeda was expanding its influence with several regional jihadist groups signing up to its “global objectives” .

The trend was towards increasing Islamist “radicalisation”, it pointed out.

“The bottom line is that for six years, the United States and its allies have been struggling to eliminate this threat [from al-Qaeda] and it is becoming increasingly clear that they have not succeeded in doing so,” Nigel Inkster, a former MI6 director, who contributed to the report, said.

He warned that Al-Qaeda had both the “ambition and to some degree, the capability, to stage a spectacular operation” .

His chilling reply was: “both” when asked whether Al-Qaeda had become stronger since 9/11 and whether it had the capacity to launch a 9/11-style operation.

Its ability to plan and coordinate attacks, which could have “catastrophic” impact, was illustrated by alleged terror plots such as the foiled attempt last year to blow up U.S.-bound planes taking off from Heathrow and the more recent plot to attack Franfurt airport. Releasing the survey, Dr John Chipman, director-general and chief executive of the Institute, highlighted the failure of American foreign policy in Iraq which, he said, had led to loss of U.S. authority.

“In general, Strategic Survey argues that during 2007, the U.S. suffered a loss of international authority as a result of the failure to impose order in Iraq,” he said, pointing out that this had affected the international community’s ability to address some of the more complicated security crises such as the Palestinian issue.

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