When people weigh the positions and, let’s just be honest here, “fluff” that will be eminating from Congress and the liberal media this year it is best to have some core context to assess the ‘message’ being communicated. For me it is whether anyone is answering the tactics and actions of Al Qaeda (or whether they are just throwing feel good PR at us in the hopes we don’t notice the pending threats). Al Qaeda has a plan:

Listen to some of the pundits and one might think that al Qaeda has been reduced to a “soft” organization, its members pursued relentlessly by Western intelligence agencies. However, the reality is that Osama bin Laden has not been driven underground, or lost touch with his organization.

Al Qaeda has not gone to sleep, nor has it morphed into some kind of “ideological” or “inspirational” organization that merely encourages copycat groups. The group’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, issued 15 major speeches in 2006 on audio or videotape. These discourses dealt with such subjects as how al Qaeda should approach Iraq following the departure of US troops; how the conflict in Somalia should be waged; and the need for a new terrorism offensive in Europe. This is not someone who has lost touch with his base, but someone who weighs his words carefully — like a general preparing his troops for battle.

In 2007, al Qaeda will continue to expand its original core aims of trying to discredit Western values, promoting regime-change in the Muslim world, and expanding its base of supporters and operatives. The grand strategic objective remains unaltered: the establishment of an Islamic caliphate under al Qaeda’s philosophical and spiritual direction.

Minimum wage is not an answer to Al Qaeda. Neither is the ridiculous plan to have the government set prices for a prescription drug plan that, by all accounts, is the first fisacally and functionally successful Federal program this country has seen in decades. Our ability to monitor Al Qaeda and warn the FBI of possibly communications with people here in the US (known as the NSA Terrorist Surveillance Program the NY Times gleefully exposed) so the leads can be investigated and FISA warrants issued is an effective answer to Al Qaeda. Strangely the left in this country and in Europe wish to help Al Qaeda by dismantling this and other efforsts – such as the monitoring of large money transfers. Al Qaeda has a plan:

Before the September 11 tragedy, al Qaeda maintained a presence only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Today, the organization once again has emerged as a major threat in both these countries, but it also has established itself in Iraq, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. In addition, al Qaeda operatives are active on the European mainland.

In Iraq, al Qaeda operatives started from scratch after the 2003 US-led invasion and are now able to attract volunteers from around the world to fight and die there for the cause. Iraq has become a training ground, as well as a recruitment poster.

Turning to Afghanistan, al Qaeda and its Taliban allies have largely restored combat capabilities that were destroyed by the US-led anti-terrorist coalition in late 2001. The Taliban, for example, demonstrated last summer that it was capable of mobilizing roughly 8,000 fighters in a military operation.

US and British intelligence estimate that there are less than 100 hardcore Arab al Qaeda militants in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, who have helped revive the Taliban. These Arabs include financiers, fund raisers and dealers who can get the best price for Taliban-produced heroin in Dubai or Teheran. They also include explosives experts and techie wizards, who teach the latest in undetectable communications.

Prior to 9-11 Al Qaeda boldly voiced their intentions, and we ignored them and pretended no threat exist. Anyone planning on repeating that mistake should be duly ignored now. It is too soon to be repeating history from only 5 years ago. Al Qaeda has a plan. So does George Bush. But who else has a plan? At least one that doesn’t involve surrender?