1/11/2007

“…John Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, gave a startling assessment in January [11] 2007 to the Senate, stating that al Qaeda ‘are cultivating stronger operational connections and relationships that radiate outward from their leaders’ secure hideout in Pakistan, to affiliates in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.’ Whereas previously U.S. intelligence officials spoke of al Qaeda as being based on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, now the United States was admitting–six years after 9/11–that the group was based solely in Pakistan.”

 – Ahmed Rashid, Descent Into Chaos, Page 371