The Chronicler's Web (TCW)

by DAN CALLOWAY
Published on 15 August 2010

WASHINGTON, DC – The Obama administration has launched a shadow war against Al Qaeda and terrorism on a worldwide scale. From the deserts of North Africa, to the desolate mountains of Pakistan, even to former Soviet republics that have been crippled by ethnic and religious strife, and covering more than a dozen countries throughout the world, the United States has expanded its worldwide war against terrorism and its military and intelligence operations, pursuing the enemy through the use of commando teams and robotic drones, paying civilian contractors to spy on terrorists and training local operatives to defeat terrorism wherever it exists.

On May 25th of this year, an airstrike hit a suspected group of Al Qaeda operatives in the remote desert region of Marib Province. The airstrike, unfortunately, also hit and killed the province’s deputy governor, a well-respected leader who Yemeni officials claim was attempting to talk Al Qaeda into halting their war on terrorism in the region. The President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Selah, took responsibility for the attack and paid the terrorists blood money as compensation for the loss.

As it turns out, the airstrike in Marib Province was not the work of President Selah’s forces, but was a secret mission launched by the United States, and was the fourth such mission against Al Qaeda launched by the United States military in the desert and mountainous regions of Yemen since December, 2009.

The White House and the Obama administration has increased its efforts against terrorism by strengthening the CIA’s drone missile campaign in Pakistan, approved secret raids against Al Qaeda in Samalia, and launched clandestine operations in Kenya. Working with its European allies, the United States has helped to dismantle known terrorist groups in North Africa, and assisted the French in removing terrorists in Algeria. In addition, the United States is paying contractors to spy on terrorist group activities in Pakistan and other locations and report back to the government on what they have uncovered.

Unlike his predecessor, George W. Bush, President Obama’s secret shadow war against terrorism in Yemen and other parts of the world have never been publicly acknowledged. The troop buildup in Afghanistan is the only publicly announced campaign against terrorism that the White House has officially admitted is underway.

The Obama administration has chosen to take a different approach to fighting terrorism; one that does not boast about what it is doing, but secretly accomplishes the same mission and ultimately saving the American taxpayer millions of dollars by not involving the United States in an all-out war against any particular group or country, such as the war on Iraq, toppling huge governments and resulting in years of occupation. The “scalpel” rather than “hammer” approach taken by the White House in its fight against worldwide terrorism is seen as an advantage in “getting the job done” without the aftereffects that come from public acknowledgement of the activities.