We Haven't Stopped Looking!

On April 25th, I submitted a post that discussed James Woods accidental flight with Mohammed Atta in March 2001. Atta was apparently on a test run for the September 11th hijackings and James Woods was worried there might be terrorists aboard the flight. As we now know, he was right, but I won't rehash all of the details here.

The news today of the capture of Abu Farraj al-Libbi earlier this week got me thinking about a comment I got in regards to the James Woods story.

OK Democrat left the following comment:

It's sad that our government stopped pursuing Al Qaida after Bush took office. He will have to answer for that one day. It's also sad that this government ignored warnings, such as the one this story described.

I don't recall Clinton persuing Al Qaeda with any intensity at all. It was Bush that made it a top priority! That said, there are a lot of people out there who think we called of the search for Bin Laden when we began operations in Iraq. Obviously, nothing could be further from the truth! The search has never stopped as evidenced by the capture of Abu Farraj al-Libbi, aka Al Qaeda #3.

It is true that he was caught in Pakistan, within which our military is not allowed to operate, but his capture was aided in great measure by significant U.S. human intelligence. If we are providing human intelligence toward the apprehension of Al Qaeda terrorists, and military support where we can, then it is irrational to think that the search has been called off.

For better or worse, we are following the rules of engagement as they exist at the present time and our military is making significant progress toward the elimination of Al Qaeda. Part of the problem we are facing, as it relates to information coming out of Afghanistan, is the lack of news coverage coming from the region.

Note this excerpt of a post by Arthur Chrenkoff on February 7:

"Once a journalism hot spot, Afghanistan was all but left behind when the media's spotlight turned to the conflict in Iraq. In June/July 2003, [the "American Journalism Review"] reported that only a handful of reporters remained in the struggling country on a full-time basis, while other news organizations floated correspondents in and out when time and resources permitted.

"A year and a half later, Afghanistan has become even more of an afterthought. Only two news organizations--Newsweek and the Washington Post--have full-time reporters stationed in Kabul, the capital. Other major newspapers, such as the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, rely on stringers in Afghanistan and correspondents based in New Delhi, India, to cover the region, a stark contrast to the hundreds of reporters pouring into Iraq since the war began. The New York Times uses a stringer, albeit a full-time one. Television networks have nearly disappeared."

I hate to use the tree falling in the woods analogy, but just because the media is not there to report the events on the ground in Afghanistan doesn't mean they aren't occuring. The left in this country seems to take whatever actions necessary to undermine the war effort due to a pure hatred for President Bush. This does a great disservice to the military personnel serving in the region who deserve to have the great progress they have made reported by a fair and impartial media.

The good news is out there if you just bother to look for it. Here is a great place to start!