Peter Bergen

Peter Bergen in the Washington Post | 'They Can Only Go So Far'

Communications — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:12:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Democracy's only real competitor in the realm of ideas today is radical Islamism. Indeed, one of the world's most dangerous nation-states today is Iran, run by extremist Shiite mullahs. But as Peter Bergen pointed out in these pages last week, Sunni radicalism has been remarkably ineffective in actually taking control of a nation-state, due to its propensity to devour its own potential supporters. LINK

Peter Bergen in International Relations and Security Network | 'Costs of War: 'Tell Me How This Ends''

Communications — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:02:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Terrorism expert and CNN analyst Peter Bergen says that little planning has been done for the possibility of bin Laden's capture, but adds that it is unlikely he would allow himself to be taken alive. He adds that in the long term, the al-Qaida leader's death "would most likely give an enormous boost to the power of his ideas." LINK

Peter Bergen on CNN | Anderson Cooper 360 'Musharraf's Resignation'

Communications — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:55:00 -0400

New America in the News:
CAMPBELL BROWN: Tonight, a trusted ally in the war on terror is gone. In his place, a nuclear-armed nation some fear may be falling deeper into chaos.

Threatened with impeachment, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf resigned today. To the White House, the former military man was a close partner against al Qaeda and the enemy. But to his people, Musharraf was corrupt.

With Musharraf stepping down, the threat is that extremists will take control of Pakistan, creating a dangerous new threat for the U.S.

Lots to talk -- lots to talk about tonight, and joining us now for tonight's "360 Dispatch" is CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen.

And Peter, Secretary Rice today lauded Musharraf as one of the world's most committed partners in the war against terrorism. There had been plenty of complaints about him too we should mention, but what does his resignation ultimately mean for the war on terror, for the hunt for Osama bin Laden?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Campbell, I think that Musharraf's resignation, I don't think, really changes things too materially in Pakistan. Pakistan, the economy there is in free fall. There's a great deal of political uncertainty because of the two competing political parties at the top.

Musharraf's resignation, I think, was fairly predictable, because the political parties have long disliked him. And unfortunately, I think that his resignation will simply -- will just find that Pakistan will sort of bumble along as before, which is, you know, chaotic, not particularly efficient, the war on terrorism prosecuted occasionally and then not. The military's involvement, the ISI, the military intelligence agency involvement with the Taliban. It's certainly something the United States has been concerned about for some period of time, and that may not end, Campbell. LINK to transcript

Al-Qaeda At 20... Dead or Alive?

Articles — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 08:11:00 -0400

Two decades after al-Qaeda was founded in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar by Osama bin Laden and a handful of veterans of the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, the group is more famous and feared than ever. But its grand project -- to transform the Muslim world into a militant Islamist caliphate -- has been, by any measure, a resounding failure.

In large part, that's because bin Laden's strategy for arriving at this Promised Land is a fantasy. Al-Qaeda's leader prides himself on being a big-think strategist, but for all his brains, leadership skills and charisma, he has fastened on an overall strategy that is… more

Peter Bergen in the Washington Independent | 'Taliban, Al Qaeda Unchecked in Pakistan'

Communications — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:43:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Peter Bergen, author of two books about bin Laden and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, argues that capturing or killing bin Laden is as vital today as it was in the aftermath of Sept. 11. "I can’t imagine one single thing we could to that would be more important,” Bergen said. LINK

Peter Bergen on CNN's Special Investigative Unit Report | 'God's Muslim Warriors'

Communications — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:25:00 -0400

New America in the News:
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Bin Laden's religious devotion went behind living a simple, pious life. He spent time in the Saudi desert, exposed to harsh conditions, believing it was his duty to prepare to fight and defend Islam. The opportunity came in the 1980s in Afghanistan. For more jihadis of bin Laden's generation, the first holy war. He organized his own all-Arab army to battle the Soviets occupying the Muslim country.

PETER BERGEN, AUTHOR, "THE OSAMA BIN LADEN I KNOW": Young Arabs he was recruiting were willing to martyr themselves, willing to take incredible personal risk, willing to basically take one-way tickets to Afghanistan to go and fight the Soviets.

AMANPOUR: His army would eventually become known as al Qaeda, and bin Laden would himself fall under the influence of the radical Egyptian doctor, Ayman al Zawahiri, number two in al Qaeda.

BERGEN: Again and again, bin Laden is influenced by Egyptian ideas, Egyptian political organizations and Egyptian people. And they tend to move him in a more radical and militant direction over time. LINK to full transcript

Peter Bergen on CNN | Anderson Cooper 360 'Recent Female Suicide Attackers'

Communications — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:09:00 -0400

New America in the News:
PETER BERGEN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: ...The first female suicide attackers showed up in Iraq November 9, 2005. She, in fact was Belgian, conducted a suicide attack on an American convoy. But she was the beginning of a trend that, unfortunately, has increased.

We've seen a large number of female suicide attackers. One of the reasons that al Qaeda is employing these female suicide attackers now is that the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq has decreased rather significantly.

I was in Iraq some months back and, you know, a year ago, 120 foreign fighters, many of them volunteering for suicide missions, were coming into Iraq. Now that flow has gone down to about 25 a month... LINK to full transcript

Peter Bergen in MotherJones.com | 'Lieberman: Trading Facts for Fear To Help McCain'

Communications — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:24:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Was Lieberman right in his history? Do the evildoers really mount terrorist operations to test new presidents early in their terms? I put this question to Peter Bergen, a journalist who is an expert on al Qaeda and terrorism. (He's written two good books on al Qaeda.) Bergen replies:

"The planning cycle of these ops militate against the idea that they were planned to test the new president. 9/11 was on the drawing board in 1996 and serious planning began in 1999.

There is no doubt al Qaeda would like to test a new president with an attack but they also hoped to test President Bush in 2006 with the plan to blow up seven US and Canadian planes leaving the UK. Had it succeeded this would have been a 9/11 style event six year into Bush's two-term presidency.

Similarly, Ahmed Ressam arrived in the United States in December 1999 from Canada, planning to blow up LAX airport in the waning days of Clintons presidency. Luckily he was arrested, but the attack was supposed to take place in the final days of the Clinton presidency, not because of presidential politics but because that was when the plotters were ready. And also Xmas in LAX probably meant more potential victims..." LINK

Peter Bergen on CNN | Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees - 'Recent al-Qaeda Attack'

Communications — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:43:00 -0400

New America in the News:
ANDERSON COOPER: The resurgence of the Taliban and al Qaeda both fueling a June was the deadliest month for the U.S. since the war began. With that, let's talk strategy and reality on the ground in Afghanistan. Joining me are Nic Robertson and CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen, who is in Kabul.

Peter, how significant is the scale of this attack? The fact that the Taliban or perhaps al Qaeda can mount such a major operation? What does that tell you?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: They've been resurging for years, as you know, Anderson, but they seem to really control a lot more territory. They seem to have developed tactics that allow them to attack inside Kabul, pulled off an attempted assassination against President Karzai, blew up the Indian embassy, killing 41 people, and then this attack that you referenced earlier, indicating an ability to mount large scale operations, not just IED attacks but full-on, frontal assaults on American soldiers, Anderson... LINK to transcript

Peter Bergen in Spiegel Online | 'Turning their Backs on Jihad'

Communications — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:10:00 -0400

New America in the News:

(Britta Sandberg) - ...Paul Cruickshank of New York University and terrorism expert Peter Bergen spent six months investigating the turmoil within al-Qaida. The two were the first to interview Noman Benotman, and they also spoke with other critics of the terror organization -- including Sheikh Salman al-Oudah. On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Saudi went on the television channel MBS to publicly demand of bin Laden how many innocents had already been killed in the name of al-Qaida. Oudah also wanted to know how bin Laden planned to face the almighty with hundreds, even thousands, of innocent lives on his conscience.

"Al-Oudah is neither in prison nor is he suspected of being a friend of the Americans or a tool of the Saudi government," says Cruickshank. On the contrary: In 2004, the sheikh called on Iraqis to fight against the US occupiers in their country.

Cruickshank believes that, ironically enough, it was the Iraq war that delayed latent criticism of bin Laden and his concept of jihad. "What's emerging now has been simmering for a long time." The fact that American soldiers were occupying holy ground provided every major terrorist leader with a convenient justification for jihad in Iraq.

There is no doubt that al-Qaida remains an unscrupulous and dangerous terrorist organization, even if it has lost some of its influence in Iraq. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, its core countries, it is enjoying renewed support. Allied with the newly strengthened Taliban, al-Qaida is doing its part to seriously jeopardize the regimes in Islamabad and Kabul. "In the long term, however, they will face problems as a result of the ideological debate," says Peter Bergen. "They are already having trouble finding recruits in Europe today."...

This shift in the general mood that experts like Bergen believe is happening in Europe is clearly in evidence at London's Al-Tawhid Mosque... LINK