There have been many successes in the war against international terrorism since the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Terrorist cells were disrupted in Hamburg, Milan, Singapore, Madrid, London, Paris, and many other cities. Hundreds of millions of dollars in terrorist assets were frozen. Terrorist front groups were shut down. More than three-thousand al-Qaida associates have been detained in over one-hundred countries. Pakistan has arrested more than five-hundred suspected Taleban and al-Qaida operatives. Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines have arrested dozens of terrorist leaders with al-Qaida ties.
The year’s most significant achievement in the war on terrorism was the defeat of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, a regime which harbored and supported terrorists. Nevertheless, the battle against terrorism continues in Iraq. President George W. Bush says that, since its liberation, Iraq has become a magnet for home-grown and foreign terrorists:
“Al-Qaida and the other global terror networks recognize that the defeat of Saddam Hussein’s regime is a defeat for them. They know that a democratic Iraq in the heart of the Middle East would be a further defeat for their ideology of terror. Freedom is a threat to their way of life.”
Al-Qaida has been severely hurt by the war on terrorism. Almost all of the al-Qaida terrorists directly involved in organizing the September 11th attacks are now in custody or confirmed dead. Sixty-five percent of the senior al-Qaida leadership has been captured or killed.
But, says President Bush, recent events, including the assassination attempts on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf show that there must be no letup in the war on terrorism:
“The enemies of freedom are not idle and neither or we. This country will not rest. We will not tire. We will not stop -- until this danger to civilization is removed.”
As Mr. Bush put it, "Civilized nations will continue their war against terrorists wherever they gather, wherever they plan, and wherever they act.”