Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the group “Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan,” is an up-and-coming jihadi who has evaded capture and has threatened to strike against the United States, as I have reported before. It seems that his knack for evading the Pakistani armed forces is a result of his ties to the Pakistani intelligence agency that tips him off before any operation is carried out against him or his group, at least according to a theory presented by two counterterrorism experts. While currently the government does not believe that Mehsud has the capability to strike at the United States, his rise in popularity amongst extremists and elusiveness make him a threat that should not be ignored. That perception of “harmlessness” is what gave Al Qaeda the opportunity to sneak up on us last time.

I remember when Osama bin Laden came to our attention and when he issued his declaration of war against the United States. Bill Clinton’s reaction was lukewarm. He ordered strikes on a site he thought was producing chemical weapons for Al Qaeda but it turned out to be an aspirin producing plant with little evidence of involvement with Al Qaeda. Clinton also struck at four terrorist training camps that were mainly empty at the time due to the arrest of an Al Qaeda member which made Osama and company cancel a scheduled meeting for fear that the US knew the details, at least according to John Diamond, a former national security reporter. In fact, Clinton admits not being able to do enough against bin Laden:

And former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer says that Clinton did not give the go-ahead to kill bin Laden on the 8-10 occasions that the opportunity presented itself:

But the issue here is not blame, the issue is being vigilant. With Al Qaeda, America was not vigilant enough. Now we have another madman with ties to Pakistani intelligence who is leading the fight in Pakistan and Afghanistan and vows to attack the United States. The current administration must not allow him to develop the organizational and/or operational capacity to attack us. All that this man needs is some logistical and operational “talent” and he can bring terrorists into the US and attack. We cannot let our eyes off of him. We must learn from our mistakes and act. History has taught us that the price of insufficient action is too high.

-AG