Does al Qaeda still exist? « Fabius Maximus
Summary: As we approach the 10th anniversary of 9-11, we should ask if al Qaeda still exists. There is little public evidence that it does. But dead or alive, it remains useful to our intelligence and military apparatus. At the end are links to other posts about AQ.
In the five years following 9-11 experts produced a wealth of evidence about al Qaeda’s history, methods, and operations. But this flowed slowed since then. Relatively little has appeared during the past two years, other than fevered extrapolations based on jihadists (or wannabe jihadists) talking big in magazines, on TV and websites.
Nor has AQ accomplished much. The major jihadist related operations in the US have been midwifed by the FBI, who fill al Qaeda’s shoes by recruiting, encouraging, and financing terrorists. There is little public evidence that AQ has the resources to recruit, finance, or train terrorist on any significant scale.