Time's Battleland: "Does al-Qaeda go the way of AIDS?"
Friday, June 17, 2011 at 11:47AM 
Nice piece in WAPO about Ayman al-Zawahiri taking over al-Qaeda from the recently assassinated Osama bin Laden. Story leads with remembrances from a guy who knew him back in the day:
He was arrogant, angry and extreme in his ideas,” said Azzam, 40, son of a radical Palestinian ideologue who had become bin Laden's mentor. “He fought with everyone, even those who agreed with him.”
Thus, experts are now saying that al-Qaeda will suffer under his leadership:
U.S. intelligence officials, terrorism experts and even the Egyptian's former cohorts say a Zawahiri-led al-Qaeda will be far more discordant, dysfunctional and perhaps disloyal than it was under bin Laden.
Just to cover rear-ends, though, the story's next statement leaves open the question whether or not the group will be more or less effective (terrorism experts must always do this to make sure they can win big when the next strike comes and they told us so!).
Read the entire post at Time's Battleland.
Reader Comments (2)
Bad leadership has often done more damage to terrorist or revolutionary groups than the efforts of the CIA or FBI. Best examples...Black Panthers, Weathermen, and the loony misfits of the Symbionese Liberation Army Panther leaders decided it would be a great idea to have photos of everyone holding a gun and produce tons of literature advocating the violent overthrow of the government and the murder of police officers. A treasure trove for prosecutors in every criminal case brought against them. Also, the Panthers found out the police could be a dangerous foe.
The Weathermen, unlike the IRA, never mastered explosives and kept blowing themselves up.
By the way, I highly recommend the rather long but surprisingly realistic movie "Carlos."
I don't think the Black Panthers' 'discovered' that some police officers could be 'dangerous foes' - I was under the impression they were founded on that premise.
Nor is it clear what the commentator means about the Weathermen Underground 'kept' blowing themselves up outside of the Greenwich explosion. And comparing them to the IRA's supposed 'mastery' is overly complimentary to the IRA's car-bomb butchery.
I think the commentator is gloating about the inadequacy of American leftist terrorist groups, but unfortunately American inadequacy is so ubiquitous today that there is little need to revel in it.
Al-Qaeda is in chaos - look how long it took them to announce al-Zawahiri's appointment - and al-Zawahiri is like John McCain: a respected but charismatic, bitter torture victim. Really, the question now is not about al-Qaeda's leadership but about our own.