Despite suffering major setbacks, the terrorist organization al-Qaeda remains a "determined adversary" eight years after it carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, present and past U.S. intelligence officials told the Washington Times (see GSN, June 3).
(Sep. 11) -
A memorial ceremony held today at the former site of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Al-Qaeda remains dangerous despite continuing U.S. efforts to smash the terrorist organization behind the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, intelligence officials said (Rick Gershon/Getty Images).
The United States has had "mixed" success in efforts to eliminate al-Qaeda, said Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The group has had to "perpetually rebuild," but leader Osama bin Laden and deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri have not been captured.
The organization has been able to attract some U.S. citizens to its cause, Burgess said, citing Somali-Americans who collaborate with militants in Somalia and "others" that fight in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Conversely, al-Qaeda might be losing support within Muslim communities, according to Burgess and CIA chief Leon Panetta.
"Al-Qaeda's own vicious ideology, founded on the murder of innocent people, has proven to be a major weakness," Panetta told CIA personnel recently. "But we cannot wait for popular disgust to isolate and overcome the extremists. We and our allies must continue to press the offensive, eroding their ability to plot and kill."
Roughly 12 top al-Qaeda operatives have been killed in the last 14 months, according to former CIA Director Michael Hayden. The list of the dead includes chemical and biological weapons specialist Abu Khabab al-Masri (see GSN, Aug. 11, 2008).
This "has been the most compressed or rapid-fire loss of leadership that Qaeda has had to adapt to, and I think it has had a dramatic impact on them," Hayden said. "You can replace one person at a time; when you have a series of folks who have been dying, it is harder," he told the Times.
The rising number of al-Qaeda deaths can be connected to the Bush administration's move in July 2008 to increase drone and other strikes on suspected terrorist hideouts in Pakistan, according to counterterrorism officials. President Barack Obama has maintained the effort.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq is "near strategic defeat," while al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia has already reached that point, even considering the attempted killing of the Saudi prince who leads that nation's antiterrorism efforts, Hayden said.
"We have had substantial success against al-Qaeda, but they remain dangerous," he said. "We are not as safe as we need or want to be, but we have made substantial progress" (Eli Lake, Washington Times, Sept. 11).
There has been no al-Qaeda strike against a Western target since July 2005 (see GSN, Sept. 9).
U.S. officials agree, though, that the al-Qaeda threat is not past, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.
The organization remains "very capable" of strikes against the United States and is "very focused" on doing so, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in August.
Operatives have round refuge in the tribal area of Pakistan, while there are worries in Washington that more-limited al-Qaeda "franchises" might develop in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
"Al-Qaeda is feeling some intense pressure at the moment, especially with the loss of several of the group's top leaders," said one U.S. counterterrorism official. "But make no mistake about it: they remain a serious threat to the United States and our allies" (Daphne Benoit, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 10).