Bin Laden Appoints New Commander to Target the West

11-12-2010
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Saif al-Adel has long been a well-known name in Al Qaeda circles whose stay in Iran for several years (he was relased by Iranian authorities in April) remains shrouded in mystery. Now he has an important new role with Al Qaeda. From the Daily Mail:

Osama Bin Laden has appointed a new lieutenant to lead a flurry of Al Qaeda operations against the West.

Known to intelligence as Saif al-Adel - or 'Sword of the Just' - the new chief of international operations is believed to be behind the recent terror alerts across Europe and the mid-air parcel-bomb plot.

U.S. and Pakistani sources said that al-Adel was running several operations aimed at convincing the West that the war against terror was unwinnable.

Any dwindling of support for action against terrorism could pave the way for Al Qaeda to seize power in fragile states including Somalia and Yemen.

Syed Saleem Shahzad, a Pakistani expert on Al Qaeda, told the Daily Telegraph: 'His strategy is to stage multiple small terror operations, using the resources of affiliates and allies wherever possible.'

Five years ago al-Adel wrote a planning document which said Islamist movements failed because their 'actions were mostly random'.

In it, he called for a 'greater objective, which is the establishment of a state'.

The new attrition strategy marks the triumph of a minority faction within Al Qaeda who had opposed the 9/11 attacks, arguing that the inevitable U.S. retaliation against Afghanistan would cost the movement its only secure base.

Ah, yes. What I call the "Chip Away" strategy. We've been talking about itin this spacefor some time now.

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