A futile gesture of a military policy


Three stories this morning that make a mockery of the belief that military action in Afghanistan will mysteriously end the threat from Muslim terrorists.
From London’s Daily Telegraph:
France raises Paris terror alert over al-Qaeda warning — France raised its terrorist alert warning today amid fears of suicide bomb plots against the Paris transport network. …
Monday’s warning came a week after the Senate voted in favour of a ban on full Islamic veils in France, which is due to come into force next year if approved by constitutional judges. Al-Qaida’s deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged Muslim women to resist the proposed ban.
From the Associated Press:
Thousands of people have fled a village in southern Yemen where security forces are laying siege to al-Qaida militants, a security official said Monday, signaling an escalation in the government’s U.S.-backed campaign to uproot the terror network’s local offshoot …
Yemen’s government has had trouble gaining control of areas in the south that are under the control of powerful tribes, some sympathetic to al-Qaida and other Islamic militants roaming the area.
From Uganda’s The New Vision:
The Police have issued new guidelines for public gatherings and events in Kampala. Under the new guidelines issued yesterday, wedding receptions will only go ahead after getting clearance from the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Kampala metropolitan Police commander Andrew Sorowen yesterday announced the new measures for gatherings of more than five people in the city and its suburbs …
“We want to ensure safety of our people. If 32 million Ugandans use their eyes and ears, there will be no space for terrorists in Uganda,” he said. He told New Vision separately that the same measures affect funerals, vigils, last funeral rites (nyimbe) and bibanda, (local makeshift video halls).
And a second The New Vision story:
TWO more Kenyans were yesterday charged with terrorism in connection with the July 11 twin bomb blasts in Kampala. They were identified as Al Amin alias Joe Kimathi, 49, a Kenyan human rights activist, and Omar Awadh, 37, a businessman and resident of Halingham in Nairobi.
The suspects were arrested last week with Mbugua Mureithi, a Kenyan advocate, on suspicion of being linked to the al-Qaeda Islamist terror group. Mureithi, who said he was in Uganda to defend terrorism suspects, was over the weekend deported to Kenya.

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