So Al Qaeda Is Defeated, Eh? Go Tell It to the Marines

The Independent by Robert Fisk | Jun. 2, 2008 (Opinion)

Recently the head of the CIA claimed it was winning the battle. Nonsense, argues Robert Fisk. The extremists in the Middle East are growing stronger.

Six thousand dead in Afghanistan, tens of thousands dead in Iraq, a suicide bombing a day in Mesopotamia, the highest level of suicides ever in the US military - the Arab press wisely ran this story head to head with Hayden's boasts - and permanent US bases in Iraq after 31 December. And we've won? Full Story »

Posted by Melva Hackney

See All Reviews »

View

2.6

by Lewyn Li - Oct. 1, 2008

I found it difficult to summarise the author's arguments in this piece. Fisk clearly thinks that Michael Hayden's claim that al Qaida is "almost defeated" is wrong. He does not seem to have presented a coherent case against Hayden; the evidence in the piece is limited and not sourced. Fisk's assertion of al-Qaida as "a way of thinking" that "feeds on pain and fear and cruelty" may be true to some extent, but is unlikely to be the whole story. A calmer and more eloquent tone, combined with more solid evidence and arguments, would have made this piece significantly more effective.