Progress Is Made Overseas, But Steps Are Slow At Home
The Bush administration got a badly needed boost March 1 with the capture in Pakistan of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Mohammed, who had been on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most-wanted list of terrorists for months, reportedly was the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and the Bali nightclub bombing last October that killed 202 people.
Other victories may prove harder to secure. Osama bin Laden and his chief deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are presumed alive and still at large. The administration seems committed to forcing Saddam Hussein to give up power in Iraq, despite opposition from France, Germany, the Turkish parliament and a broad cross-section of the American people. With support from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and an offer from the United Arab Emirates to provide exile for Saddam, the Bush team continues to press its case.