Progress in Asia in GWOT

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The most dangerous terrorist networks in Southeast Asia are on the run thanks to multinational cooperation, good police work, good intelligence, and well executed military operations:

Three years after the region's last major strike - the attacks on three restaurants in Bali that killed three suicide bombers and 19 other people - American and Asian intelligence analysts say financial and logistical support from Al Qaeda to other groups in the region has long dried up, and the most lethal are scrambling for survival. [snip]

It isn't necessarily a question of "military first" or last or when military action is appropriate. It is the willingness to use it against well armed networks that makes the difference. The school of thought that eschews the military as an anti-terrorist organization generally doesn't advocate attacking terrorists in their camps.

There's a long way to go yet. There have been Muslim guerillas in the Phillipines for a hundred years so they are not going away anytime soon. And Indonesia still must deal with a revolt that threatens its stability. But progress is progress. And considering where we were just a few short years ago, what progress has been made has been remarkable.

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