Whew! Safe at last!

The Christian Science Monitor for February 26 covered testimony before Congress on the progress in the "war on terrorism." An overview of what officials had to say, based on that account:

CIA Director George Tenet:
- Al-Qaeda has been "transformed ... into a loose collection of regional networks that operate more autonomously. These regional components have demonstrated their operational prowess" in attacks from Morocco to Saudi Arabia to Indonesia.
- "The insurgency we face in Iraq comprises multiple groups with different motivations but with the same goal: driving the US and our coalition partners from Iraq."
- "A hard core of former regime elements - Baath Party officials, military, intelligence, and security officers - are still organizing and carrying out attacks."

FBI Director Robert Mueller:
- "There are strong indications that Al Qaeda will revisit missed targets until they succeed, such as they did with the World Trade Center. The list of missed targets now includes the White House and the Capitol."
- Al Qaeda "has a cadre of supporters within the US." Those are not just of Middle Eastern origin, but include other ethnic groups as well.

DIA head Lowell Jacoby:
- "Capable but less experienced individuals are replacing those captured. Al Qaeda continues to enjoy considerable support and is able to recruit terrorists."
- Iraq is the "latest jihad for Sunni extremists."
- "Iraq has the potential to serve as a training ground for the next generation of terrorists where novice recruits develop their skills, junior operatives hone their organizational and planning capabilities, and relations mature between individuals and groups as was the case during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and extremist operations in the Balkans."

Most significantly,

"[s]upport for America has dropped in most of the Muslim world," Jacoby noted. In Morocco, for example, he cited public opinion surveys showing support for the US dropping from 77 percent in 2000 to 27 percent in the spring of last year. In Jordan, it fell from 25 percent in 2002 to 1 percent in May 2003. And in Saudi Arabia, it fell from 63 percent in May of 2000 to 11 percent in October 2003.

So let's just consider for a moment whether or not, based on its own descriptions, the Bush administration in particular and the US government in general a)have actually made any advances in their "war on terror," b)have actually made Americans, Afghans, Iraqis, or anyone else safer, c)know their asses from their elbows.

Personally, I think the answer is in all cases no, but hey, who am I to say. I report, you decide, right?