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Chapter III. Strengthen Alliances to Defeat Global Terrorism & Work to Prevent Attacks

 Section B.  Current Context:  Successes and Challenges

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             The war against terror is not over.  America is safer, but not yet safe.  As the enemy

             adjusts to our successes, so too must we adjust.  The successes are many:

                   

             ·  Al-Qaida has lost its safe haven in Afghanistan.

             

             ·  A multinational coalition joined by the Iraqis is aggressively prosecuting the war

                   against the terrorists in Iraq.

             

             ·  The al-Qaida network has been significantly degraded.  Most of those in the al-Qaida

                   network responsible for the September 11 attacks, including the plot's mastermind

                   Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, have been captured or killed.

             

             ·  There is a broad and growing global consensus that the deliberate killing of innocents

                   is never justified by any calling or cause.  

             

             ·  Many nations have rallied to fight terrorism, with unprecedented cooperation on law

                   enforcement, intelligence, military, and diplomatic activity.  

             

             ·  Numerous countries that were part of the problem before September 11 are now

                   increasingly becoming part of the solution ­ and this transformation has occurred

                   without destabilizing friendly regimes in key regions.

             

             ·  The Administration has worked with Congress to adopt and implement key reforms

                   like the Patriot Act which promote our security while also protecting our fundamental

                   liberties.

             

             

             

             

             

 

        National Security Strategy

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        The enemy is determined, however, and we face some old and new challenges:

 

        ·  Terrorist networks today are more dispersed and less centralized.  They are more

             reliant on smaller cells inspired by a common ideology and less directed by a central

             command structure.

         

        ·  While the United States Government and its allies have thwarted many attacks, we

             have not been able to stop them all.  The terrorists have struck in many places,

             including Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan,

             Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.  And they continue to seek

             WMD in order to inflict even more catastrophic attacks on us and our friends and

             allies.

         

        ·  The ongoing fight in Iraq has been twisted by terrorist propaganda as a rallying cry.

         

        ·  Some states, such as Syria and Iran, continue to harbor terrorists at home and sponsor

             terrorist activity abroad.  

             

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