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Roemer Says bin Laden Is Far From Being 'Impotent'

By James Wensits, South Bend Tribune

September 12, 2007

Is Osama bin Laden as "impotent" as Frances Townsend, the president's homeland security adviser, suggested in her response to the international terrorist's most recent video release?

Tim Roemer, the former Democratic congressman from South Bend, doesn't think so.

"This is bin Laden reminding us he wants to be the leader of the global jihad," Roemer said of the video, adding that bin Laden is also saying that he's free and can continue to motivate and recruit supporters.

Roemer, now president of the Center for National Policy in Washington, D.C., was a member of the 9/11 Commission and, as a member of Congress, served on the House Select Intelligence Oversight Committee.

In the video, which was released last week, bin Laden complained about the failure of American leaders to stop the war in Iraq, threatened to escalate the fighting and even invited Americans to adopt Islam.Townsend, in a taunting response, said of bin Laden: "This is a man on a run, from a cave, who's virtually impotent other than these tapes."

"We learned a lesson a hard way on 9/11 that someone from a cave could inflict great damage on the United States," Roemer said. "To say he's ineffective today badly misstates the power of his political message."

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Roemer said, "we have made some progress in making our country safer," such as capturing and killing high-level jihadists.

Unfortunately, those captured are just "drops from a spigot," according to Roemer, who said the nation needs a complete strategy that cuts off the pipeline and stops or slows the recruitment of jihadists.

"This is not just a war of weapons. It is a war of political ideas," Roemer said.The former congressman believes al-Qaida has regrouped and rebuilt its training camps and is now radiating across Europe and into England.

"They're perched on our doorstep," Roemer said, emphasizing the need for the nation to improve its ability to respond to the terrorists.

Roemer is somewhat leery, however, of the Protect America Act.

In an op-ed piece in today's Tribune, Roemer said the bill, which was passed by Congress under pressure from President Bush, strips the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of much of its independent oversight regarding wiretaps.