A new offensive against terror

The following is an edited version of a recent Wall Street Journal editorial.

The tide of war against AlQaeda is expanding, as two weekend raids by u.S. commandos illustrate. The raids show the skill and reach of American special forces, but also the enduring nature of this conflict with Islamists and the need to counter its African expansion.

Special forces and u.S. intelligence scored a major victory in snatching Abu Anas Al-Libi in Libya. Al-Libi is wanted as one of the plotters

U.S. commando raids in Africa are overdue, but welcome

behind the 1998 bombing of u.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 and injured more than 4,000 innocents. Al-Libi ought to be an intelligence gold mine if the Obama administration is willing to extract it.

Al-Libi is currently believed to be on a u.S. Navy vessel. He ought to be brought to Guantanamo as an illegal enemy combatant and tried by military commission. but it apparently offends the Obama administration’s political sensibilities less to keep captured killers on board a ship for weeks instead. The Obama administration has captured very few Al-Qaeda operatives — drones don’t take prisoners — and as a result we know less than we should about the ways that Al-Qaeda is decentralizing and expanding in Africa. Let’s hope it doesn’t offer Al-Libi a Miranda warning.

Navy SeALs were less successful in a raid on the AlShabaab branch of al-Qaeda in Somalia, which carried out last month’s attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi that killed at least 69 people. The SeALs withdrew after taking fire to avoid civilian casualties. but the administration deserves credit for undertaking both raids. The administration has often seemed reluctant to act forcefully against Al-Qaeda in Africa lest it undermine President barack Obama’s claim that the terror network is defeated. The raids are a tacit admission that Mr. Obama has been overselling victory, but we’re nonetheless glad to see the u.S. going back on offence.