Simultaneously, with these wars, the US has also been conducting another war. However this war is of a different nature. Officially called "The War on Terror," this war is being fought all over the world with covert means, forces and methods and not publicized at all. It's quite the reverse, being kept secret as much as possible.In view of this, the world does not know much about this secret war. Only a few revelations, mainly appearing in the US media, give us a sense of what is happening with regards to this war.
This week, one of those disclosures appeared in a New York Times article, in which new and hitherto unknown information was given on the war. As in many confidential areas, this interesting and revealing information came from unidentified senior US officials.
The paper revealed that the US military since 2004 has used broad and secret powers to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against al-Qaeda and other militant groups in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials.
These raids, carried out by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush, the official said. The secret order, designated as "Al-Qaeda Network Exord" (Execute Order), gave the military new powers to attack the al-Qaeda network anywhere in the world and a broader and more sweeping mandate to conduct covert operations in countries not at war with the US.
The 2004 order identifies 15-20 countries, including Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and several other Persian Gulf states, where al-Qaeda militants were believed to be active or have some kind of sanctuary.
Some of the Special Operations missions were carried out in close coordination with the CIA, according to senior American officials, who said that in others, like the Special Operations raid in Syria on Oct. 26 of this year, commandos acted to support CIA-directed operations.
Asked about the leak that more raids took place than were previously reported, the White House press secretary, Dana Perino, would neither confirm nor deny it. "I cannot comment on our methods of going after al-Qaeda terrorists. What I can tell you is that we're committed to doing so and bringing them to justice one way or the other," she said.
From these remarks we can safely assume that the "covert and secret war" by the US against al-Qaeda, its affiliates and derivations all over the world has been going on and will go on unabated as long as they remain a threat to the US, a fact CIA Director Michael Hayden emphasized last Thursday, during his speech to the Atlantic Council, by saying, "This war -- and no one should mistake it as anything else -- is far from over."
In fact, this war against al-Qaeda was described as a "long war" by Bush back in 2006 during his State of the Union address to the US Congress, and from all the signs and media revelations, it would appear that it will continue to be a "long war" for some time to come.
Furthermore, given the determination and spread of al-Qaeda, this war will, most probably, become the "longest war" the US has ever fought, with unprecedented covert operations, means and methods, and of course, it will come with significant global results, which no one can yet predict.
Benzer Haberler 
