Terror: Heating up for Christmas
While Al Qaeda has generally avoided the obvious dates and targets for its operations, trying to remain unpredictable to stay one step ahead of western intelligence, it is no surprise they would like nothing better than spreading death and destruction in some western country in the remaining days before Christmas. It would hit at the heart of the western consumerism and Christian celebration they despise.
 French anti-terror police recently announced they have arrested four people and seized a number of so far unknown chemicals along with a protective suit for use against chemical and biological weapons. Some small wins in the war against terror are made public to both reassure the public and keep us at our toes (now that is a balancing act); others are done in secret. Worldwide, western forces and allies are eliminating terrorist operatives every day.
The importance of armed forces are easy to understand. The general public often underestimates the importance of intelligence and security services. It is worth remembering that the nations in western europe are very well versed in using vast resources on intelligence. There has been a cut-throat competition between Germany, France and Britain for centuries, and the dark art of deception and covert operations have been made into an art. The US and Russia have similarly been locked in a cold war fought mostly in secrecy.
 It is true that western intelligence was caught off-guard on 9/11, mostly because its vast apparatus has been directed at old enemies. This is now rapidly changing. Britian in particular, as an old colonial power, has retained a significant network in all parts of the world, and has vast experience in fighting these asyummetric wars: terrorism, guerilla, brushwars, propaganda. Hidden behind very serious laws prohibiting public disclosure, the largest army the world has ever seen is moving in darkness, both domestically and abroad, to overpower the emeny in a war that is at least as real and as ruthless as World War II.
One programme sends thousands of operatives into normal places where people work, live, pray, eat and drink, and gather small pieces of information to a vast database that will help intelligence agencies worldwide react quickly when something comes up. In the not so humble opinion of this writer, the headline-making news about the Total Awareness Network, with the obviously controversial John Poindexter in charge, looks more and more like a smokescreen for the real thing. Those who have a good grasp of what went on in the cold war knows that what went on in secrecy and what ended up in the newspapers are two very different things.
An intelligence operative in an allied country told me some weeks ago, 'we estimate there are around 10,000 terrorists in the world. It will take time, but we will find and eliminate every one of them.'
No intelligence expert thinks the casualities on our side are over. The odd terrorist will slide through the net now and then, spread death and havoc and fear. Perhaps they think the western democracies are weak and decadent, and will collapse in the face of fear and economic recession. Hitler thought so. The Japanese warmongers under WWII thought so. And Bin Laden is repeating that mistake.
10:56:46 PM 
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