February 10, 2004 - In January Hassan Ghul, a Pakistani who is described by US officials as a “senior Al Qaeda courier, was arrested at the Iraq-Iran border. He was carrying a computer disk that contained a 17 page letter to the Al Qaeda leadership seeking support for a plan to foment a civil war between Shiite and Sunni factions in Iraq. The letter was believed to have been authored by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who is described as an Al Qaeda associate. US authorities believe that Zarqawi is behind a car bombing campaign against non-US targets including various Iraqi police headquarters; the Imam Ali mosque and UN Headquarters. .

Two years ago the President sent the Marines to Afghanistan to bring Osama and the Al Qaeda to justice. It was a military effort that had the unified support of the American people and the international support of longtime allies and erstwhile foes alike. If there was criticism is was that the President had not committed a strong enough force to do the job. When Mullah Omar and Osama melted into the mountains the President declared that he had lost interest in Osama and it was no longer important whether Bin Laden was alive or dead because he had been marginalized. The effort to get Al Qaeda on the run, round it up, and bring Osama to justice was left unfinished while American attention was diverted to Iraq.

Today the unfinished business of Al Qaeda has come home to roost. A bomb exploded outside of an Iraqi police station south of Baghdad. At least 54 Iraqis were killed. While our attention has been diverted to Iraq Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda has attacked in Bali; in Casablanca; in Istanbul and its associate, Zarqawi, claims 25 bomb attacks on targets within Iraq. According to the 17 page document Ghul was carrying, the Al Qaeda campaign of violence is scheduled for the four months before the Bush Administration has promised to hand over sovereignty to an Iraqi nation.

Today Secretary of Homeland Security announced that an estimated 400 Al Qaeda terrorist have been trained in camps in Pakistan and Pakistan controlled Kashmir. He told a news conference that those trained operatives have been infiltrated into the United States to join sleeper cells already in place. The business of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda left unfinished while the United States moved on to Iraq has made the United States has left the world less secure and not more safe.

Unfinished business has been the mark of George W. Bush’s whole career. It started right out of college with his loss of interest in his National Guard duties. It has been a history of start up, sell out, and move on. It continued through Arbusto and Harken. He did not finish his term as Texas Governor and he has not stayed the course in Afghanistan. Instead he found an illusive imminent threat in Iraq and moved on leaving Mullah Omar and Osama at large in the Pakistani mountains from which they direct the continuing guerilla war in Afghanistan and the terrorist campaign around the globe.

On June 30th President Bush will hand over the government of Iraq to some authority yet to be constructed. The same process was followed in Afghanistan and like the manhunt for Osama and Omar it is still unfinished. The country outside of Kabul is still lawless and the process of building a national government there is far from finished. It is time that we replaced Chicken George and Dugout Dick with a team that will finish the job.