Rising Terror Fears

It seems a growing trend, but unsurprisingly, Terrorism fears grow in Europe:

BERLIN, Germany (UPI) -- A series of Islamist terrorist killings, kidnappings and video threats have shocked several Western European nations in recent weeks.

A German aid worker was killed in Afghanistan, Germany and Austria over the weekend received a video threat from an Islamist group, a German woman and her son have been kidnapped in Iraq, and an Italian journalist faces execution if Rome doesn`t come up with an exit strategy for its roughly 2,000 soldiers in Afghanistan -- this is the horrific toll of the past 10 days.

Finally, Europe seems to be waking up. And maybe, just maybe... so are the Democrats. Hot Air reports: Dems abandon demand that Bush get approval before attacking Iran

Conservative Democrats as well as lawmakers concerned about the possible impact on Israel had argued for the change in strategy…

The Iran-related proposal stemmed from a desire to make sure Bush did not launch an attack without going to Congress for approval, but drew opposition from numerous members of the rank and file in a series of closed-door sessions last week.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in an interview there is widespread fear in Israel about Iran, which is believed to be seeking nuclear weapons and has expressed unremitting hostility about the Jewish state.

“It would take away perhaps the most important negotiating tool that the U.S. has when it comes to Iran,” she said of the now-abandoned provision.

Meanwhile, our enemies are fighting amongst themselves:

Zawahiri unloads on Hamas for being centrist sell-outs

Zawahiri: “The leadership of Hamas surrendered to the Jews most of Palestine”

He goes on to credit the 2002 Saudi peace plan to NYT columnist Tom Friedman, which is amusing not only because it shows AQ paying attention to the Times op-ed page (if only to find Jewish plots) but because Friedman himself hasn’t been shy about making the same point. Should be interesting to see how this latest message plays with Sunni jihadis, though, given Hamas’s role as the face of “authentic” Palestinian resistance and the burgeoning Iranian influence over the organization.

Meanwhile, the Brits say they’ve uncovered an AQ plot to take down the Internet in the UK — not with a hack attack but the old-fashioned way, by blowing up the building that houses the country’s main servers. And three years to the day after the Madrid bombings, a video posted on an AQ website is threatening attacks on Germany and Austria if they don’t pull their troops out of Afghanistan. Total Austrian troops in country: five.

The war on terror (in Iraq, Afghanistan, and everywhere else) is far to complex and interconnected for anyone to say we are winning or losing. But rest assured, plenty of skeptics are convinced we are losing.