This election is revolving around the war on terror and who is winning. Richard Miniter in his book, Shadow War, makes the case that the Bush Administration is slowly winning the war on terror.
Miniterr begins his book with his theory on where Bin Laden is. Mintor believes that it is possible that Bin Laden is hiding out in Iran as opposed to Pakistan. Interviews with former Iranian intelligence officials has led Minitrr to challenge the conventional wisdom that Bin Laden is hiding out in Pakistan. These Iranian intelligence officers told Minitrr that Bin Laden pledged to put Al Qaeda at the service of Iran in exchange for sanctuary. Miniter presents solid evidence of the Iranian-Bin Laden connecton but he will admit that this is a theory not yet proven. And certainly, he does not discount conventional wisdom that Bin Laden still could be moving between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
There are two thoughts on the war on terror. The first thought is that war on terror should be concentrated on Al Qaeda, and considering that Al Qaeda is involved in 60 countries, this is not unreasonable thought based on that fact. Many in this school feel that the war on Iraq has diverted resources and fractured our alliances.
The second thought is that the war of terror can’t be separated from the war in Iraq. The war of terror can’t just be concentrated on Al Qaeda but must include those states that sponsor terrorism. If Miniter is correct on the Iranian-Bin Laden connection, then this only strengthens this school of thought. Miniter makes a solid case for this school of thought.
In a special section, Miniter details meeting of Al Qaeda officials with Iraq intelligence, demonstrating that Al Qaeda did have a working agreement with Iraqi intelligence. As he observes, “Many of those sniping at U.S. troops are Al Qaeda terrorists operating inside Iraq. And many of Bin Laden’s men were in Iraq prior to the liberation.” Reading Miniter’s chapter on this connection will leave no doubt that Saddam Hussein was a supporter of Al Qaeda and this only strengthens Bush’s case that the war in Iraq was essential in the overall war on terror.
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