World’s leading terror group continues to lose top leaders

A mere three months after the world’s leading terrorist organization, al-Qaida, suffered a crippling blow with the killing of Osama bin Laden, the organization’s founder and miliary and spiritual leader, it has been hit again — hard.

Last week, the No. 2 man was killed in a drone attack conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency. Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, a Libyan national who had directed al-Qaida’s operations when bin Laden was holed up in Pakistan, rose to be the right hand man of the new leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. He was representative of the next generation of leadership for the embattled terror group and his absence will be felt greatly — especially by al-Zawahiri, a physician from Egypt who spent his career as a terrorist in bin Laden’s shadow.

By any measure, al-Qaida has been knocked back on its heels, and now is the time for the United States and its allies in the war on global terrorism to go in for the kill. When U.S. Navy Seals conducted their secret mission in Pakistan in May that reulted in bin Laden being killed in a house he had occupied for six years about an hour’s drive from the capital, Islamabad, al-Zawahiri was said to have been living in a home not too far from his leader. It’s unfortuntate that he wasn’t targeted at the same time, but now, with his No. 2 man gone, he is vulnerable.

Indeed, as the knot is tightened, he may well decide to cut his losses and seek to make a deal.

The timing of al-Rahman’s death is significant, given that America will be commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack on the mainland that resulted in 3,000 people being killed. Islamic extremists trained by al-Qaida hijacked commercial airliners and flew them into New York City’s Twin Towers, the Pentagon and into a field in Pennsylvania. Bin Laden and his followers celebrated.

As the years passed and the world’s leading terrorist eluded capture, even with a $25 million bounty on his head, hope began to fade. But then in May, President Obama gave the green light to the Navy Seals and the personification of evil was destroyed. The rememberance of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will have special meaning this year.

Operational structure

Al-Rahman’s death is significant because it demonstrates the Obama administration’s determination to destroy the operational structure of al-Qaida. While there are cells all over the world, the core of the organization is still crucial. While he was alive and hiding from the U.S. and its allies — under the noses of America’s partner in the terror war, the Pakistanis — bin Laden used al-Rahman to deliver messages to other leaders and to ensure that his recorded communications were broadcast widely, according to the New York Times.

“Yet even as Qaeda affiliates in places like Yemen and North Africa continue to plot attacks against the West, most intelligence analysts believe that the remnants of Al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan have been weakened considerably,” the Times reported. “Mr. Rahman’s death is another significant blow to the group.”

Last year, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, also known as Saeed al-Masri, a founder of al-Qaida, was killed by a U.S. drone attack. He was the organization’s chief financial officer and managed secret bank accounts in the Persian Gulf that were used to help finance the Sept. 11 attacks.

The remaining leaders of al-Qaida are vulnerable. The U.S. and its allies should show no mercy.