Al Qaeda’s in Trouble
The LA Times: ‘Al Qaeda increasingly faces sharp criticism from once-loyal sympathizers who openly question its ideology and tactics, including attacks that kill innocent Muslims, according to U.S. intelligence officials, counter-terrorism experts and the group’s own communications.’
A litany of complaints target Osama bin Laden’s network and its affiliates for their actions in Iraq and North Africa, emphasis on suicide bombings instead of political action and tepid support for, or outright antagonism toward, militant groups pressing the Palestinian cause.
The criticism apparently has grown serious enough that Al Qaeda’s chief strategist, Ayman Zawahiri, felt compelled to solicit online questions. He responded in an audio message released this month. For more than 90 minutes, Bin Laden’s second-in-command tried to defuse the anger…
Such rifts have been emerging for several years, but they have become increasingly contentious lately, in cyberspace and on the streets of some Arab countries. In addition to Zawahiri, Al Qaeda leaders, including Bin Laden himself, have gone on a public relations offensive. In October, Bin Laden asked followers for forgiveness for the deaths of civilians in Iraq.Analysts with U.S. and allied intelligence agencies differ over whether the backlash poses significant risks for Al Qaeda, or whether it is simply a public relations problem. The organization is expanding its pool of hard-core recruits, according to one U.S. counter- terrorism official. And Internet communications and other intelligence have shown that its anti-American message continues to resonate with extremists throughout much of the Islamic world.
But Al Qaeda also has sought to use regional groups to become more mainstream and expand its power base. It is in these groups that most of the conflict is occurring.
Strange how killing thousands of innocent civilians doesn’t make one more popular. Also strange that encouraging sons to blow themselves up in a crowded market results in parents and siblings have a slight distaste for the ones who convinced their son / brother to take his own life.
And lets not even mention the response of the fathers and mothers of the innocent bystanders who get killed by such a suicide bombing.
Al Qaeda’s tactics are tactics that will cause tremendous blowback. You can, seemingly, do it for a couple of months, but if you kill civilians years in a row, well, people have this awkward tendency to wonder whether there aren’t other ways to fight the perceived enemy. In fact, when using these tactics it won’t be long before the organization is perceived (to be) an enemy.
And rightfully so of course.
Bad news for Al Qaeda = good news for us. The less Arabs support Al Qaeda, the easier it becomes to severely weaken or even destroy this terrorist organization. The West should add fuel to the fire; we need to spread more propaganda in the Middle East, pointing out the crimes committed against Arabs by Al Qaeda et al.
Topics: everything
Posted by Michael van der Galien at 7:55 am on Thursday, April 24, 2008
3 Responses to “Al Qaeda’s in Trouble”
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April 24th, 2008 at 11:01 am
It’s about damn time.
It’s like waking up and realizing you’ve been brainwashed by cultists, in this case, two old men , each persona non grata in his respective country, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
There was also an encouraging “piece” in the NYTimes a couple of weeks ago that Iraqi youth are very skeptical of the financial blandishments and other perks offered to them by Al Qaeda recruiters in their midst.
April 24th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
The problem is if we help kill al-Qaeda the Koran is still the place where the Mahdi (of Khartoum fame) and bin Laden got their marching orders from. If a Christian ruler were to do the same the bet is that you find other Christians against him or her, not so the Muslims.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Mike H.
All in good time. don’t be such a pessimist or you might be mistaken for M. Obama.