Officials Say Al-Qaeda on Verge of Defeat
In September, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael G. Vickers saidthat Al-Qaeda will fragment within 18-24 months if its leaders keep being taken out at this rate. Defense Secretary Panetta talks of “strategically defeating” the group if another 10-20 leaders are removed. Some officials are now taking it even further, claiming that only two leaders need to be killed or captured to neuter the group. Al-Qaeda has undoubtedly taking many serious blows this year, but it is too early to rule out its comeback.
There is much reason for jubilation over Al-Qaeda’s woes. Osama Bin Ladenwas killed in May, followed by the “commando commander” Ilyas Kashmiri and the chief of East Africa operations, Fazul Abdul Muhammed. The new second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman was later killed, as were Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. A number of other senior members that are less well-known also met their end. Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, Al-Shabaab, has been kicked outof Mogadishu.
However, it is too optimistic to say that only two leaders, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Yahya al-Libi, need to be killed or arrested to finish the group off. The Long War Journal has a list of 26 important Al-Qaeda officials in Pakistan alone. It does not even include the leadership in North Africa, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Iran and the other Gulf countries.
wsieruk Says:
Even if al Qaeda is defeated there are still many other dangerous jihadists groups around to pose a threat to the West. These groups still have to be delt with. Furthermore, the main reason that such evil Islamic entities to rise in the first place is because It’s the religion of Islam with it’s militant jihadism that inspires to form in the first place.
Posted on December 19th, 2011 at 4:00 pm