Archive for AQ killing Muslims

Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, Dead Today, Eaten By Wolves…

August 28, 2011 Another Bites the Dust, AQ killing Muslims, AQ on Defense One comment

He wasnt really eaten by wolves.  But that SNL skit is brilliant.

Anyway, it’s a big hit for us in the ongoing campaign to decimate AQ’s senior leadership.  Absolutely. No question.

But all the media and CT analyst attention that I’ve seen on the issue has focused on the structural damage that his death has caused to AQ.

“Rahman has been at the nerve center of al Qaeda’s global terrorist operations,” Noman Benotman, a former Libyan jihadist acquainted with Rahman, bin Laden and other top al Qaeda leaders, told CNN in an interview earlier this week. “He has become their CEO, the only person that al Qaeda cannot afford to lose.”

and

Says Steve Hayes at the Standard, “If Atiyah Rahman is indeed dead, as it appears, [it's] hard to overstate how significant a blow that is for AQ. And win for us.”

and

“Rahman was bin Laden’s channel to the world.” (David Ignatius in the WaPo)

and

“Atiyah was at the top of Al Qaeda’s trusted core,” the American official said. “His combination of background, experience and abilities are unique in Al Qaeda — without question, they will not be easily replaced.”

Ok, this is helpful, but distorts Atiya as a purely administrative wonk, a senior veteran bureaucrat.  He may have kept the trains on time, but there’s a lot more to the Atiya story than has been adequately explained.  Most notably for me is that he played an important role in mitigating the more rabid end of the AQ spectrum.  His time in Algeria during the 90′s left an indelible mark on him and his anxiety over perceptions of Muslim-on-Muslim violence when AQ targeted in the Middle East. For him, it was always preferred to strike West.

A hard look at his last couple years of writings and statements shows that he was not in lock-step with his partner in crime, Abu Yahya al-Libi, who is in favor of really sticking it to the man on the homefront.  With Atiya now gone, I say that AQ can take off the gloves easier back home.

 

 

Dear Adam Gadahn, Note the Disconnect?

January 1, 2010 AQ killing Muslims, AQ Videos, Gadahn One comment

From today’s Times Online: “Suicide bomber kills 70 at Pakistan sports event”

A suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives on to a field during a volleyball tournament in northwest Pakistan today, killing at least 70 people.  Police said that at least 65 people were wounded and some 20 houses destroyed in the attack.

The blast occurred near Pakistan’s tribal belt, and was the latest in a series of attacks in the country since the Army launched a military offensive against Taleban fighters in the South Waziristan tribal region. More than 500 people have died in reprisal attacks. Police said that today’s bombing in Lakki Marwat city, not far from South Waziristan, was possibly in retaliation for local residents’ efforts to keep militants out of the area.

Now how does Adam Gadahn’s video earlier this month in, “The Mujahideen Do Not Target Muslims” at all fit with attacks on people watching volleyball games?

Seems to me that al-Qaida is either suffering from “acute disconnected from reality syndrome” (a la Stalin or Saddam) or has such little regard for the critical thinking capacity of Muslims that it can put out such inane drivel and that it will be blindly accepted.

Whereas al-Zawahiri and Gadahn believe that they can put this kind of unfounded propaganda out without problem, Abu Yahya al-Libi knows better.  Expect him to come out with something more candid in the near future to address the unpopularity of these ongoing attacks on Muslims.