Is al Qaida stronger than ever?

The U.S. hasn’t done enough to disrupt al Qaida, said Lebanon’s Daily Star in an editorial. The bombs discovered last week in packages sent from Yemen and bound for two Chicago synagogues are believed to have been the work of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemeni branch of the international terrorist network. The attacks were thwarted by a tip from Saudi intelligence, but we can be sure more are in the works. Nearly a decade after 9/11, al Qaida is now flourishing not only in Yemen and Pakistan, but also in Algeria, Somalia, Mali, and Niger. Yet the Obama White House is continuing the failed policy of the Bush administration, trying “to assert its power through force,” an effort that has merely “radicalized a new generation, and benefited groups like al Qaida.”

The U.S. would do well to emulate the Saudis, said Ahmad Abdal Aziz al-Jarallah in Kuwait’s Al Seyassah. The Saudi royal family knows that by targeting innocent civilians, al Qaida does great damage to “orthodox Islam, which is as far away from terrorism as one can get.” So the Saudis have implemented a multipronged strategy to stamp out extremism. Security measures are just one part. Equally important is counseling. Saudi authorities provide courses “to correct the religious behavior of victims of terrorist misguidance,” and even to mentor “the families of those who have been lured” into extremism. These efforts are paying off: The man who alerted Saudi authorities to the Yemeni mail-bomb plot was a former Guantánamo inmate who received religious retraining upon his release.

I find it hard to believe this story, said Hassan al-Haifi in the Yemen Times. The supposed mastermind of the alleged bomb plot, Anwar al Awlaki, spent most of his life in the U.S. and returned to Yemen only two years ago. If he had wanted to attack America, wouldn’t he “have some operatives” in the U.S. do it, rather than sending explosives “from the mountains of Yemen”? There must be a deeper reason why Yemen is being cast as a hotbed of terrorism. Perhaps President Obama “finds political convenience in such theatrics.”

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Of course he does, said Amin Ershadi in Iran’s Javan. Obama had a good reason for “fabricating” this tale of mail bombs from Yemen: the midterm elections. Hyping the threat of Islamic terror is a way of “diverting public opinion from America’s many real problems, like the economic crisis, unemployment, and two wars.” Battered by polls that show his Democratic Party headed for defeat, Obama seized the chance to look tough and presidential by giving a speech “vowing a new phase of confrontation against al Qaida.” What a convenient enemy.