The Government Accountability Office released a report (PDF) today concluding that the United States has no plan to combat al Qaeda and other terrorist threats in Pakistan. The GAO found that “[t]errorists are still operating freely in Pakistan along the country’s Afghanistan border, despite the U.S. giving Pakistan more than $10.5 billion in military and economic aid.” In a glaring rebuke of President Bush’s terrorism policy, the report says that there is “no comprehensive plan” to “destroy the terrorist threat and close the safe haven in Pakistan,” and “al Qaeda had regenerated its ability to attack” the United States.

From a previous One Utah post (July 24, 2007):

America is straining its military resources fighting the wrong war in the wrong country, but nobody can tell President Bush.

The reality is that (1) the occupation of Iraq does nothing to stop global terrorism, and (2) evidence is mounting that the whole Iraq fiasco is a gift to Al Qaeda, which is thriving in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Al Qaeda is now better prepared to attack the United States than it has been since 2001.

From a previous One Utah post (February 26, 2007):

We’ve had years of speeches from President Bush that basically went, “War on terror, blah blah, September the 11th, blah blah, support the war in Iraq.” After all, we were told again and again, Iraq is the central front in the war on terror. That’s a boneheaded concept. Josh Marshall points out on Talking Points Memo that “al Qaeda’s goal is to bait us into ridiculous and unwinnable wars that will sap our military strength and financial power. …we’re playing right into their hands.”

Is there any chance that the Bush administration can get a clue? When Condi Rice was the National Security Advisor in the summer of 2001, she ignored multiple, urgent warnings about al Qaeda. Now she is the Secretary of State. Is she paying attention to this GAO report?

al Qaeda’s central leadership, based in the border area of Pakistan, is and will remain the most serious terrorist threat to the United States… al Qaeda is now using the Pakistani safe haven to put the last element necessary to launch another attack against America into place…

Time to stock up on the duct tape and plastic sheeting, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

More: from Max Bergmann on The Huffington Post.