CIA Rains Hellfire on Al Qaeda

A story on the front page of today’s NYT reports on the killing of two very senior al Qaeda officials in Pakistan.

In my New Atlanticist piece “Marriot Bombing Planner Killed in CIA Strike,” I argue that it actually matters this time.

FILED UNDER: Intelligence, Terrorism, World Politics, , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Bithead says:

    “It matters now”, James, suggests it didn’t before. I’m not so sure of that. At the least, I would suggest looking at it this way; Without all the AQ eliminated previously, this one wouldn’t matter so much, either. They coudl simply hand off operations to (Insert mega-Islamic space cadet here) without any real loss. The very reason this one cost them so much is the ones before aren’t there to hand off to. That lack of leadership due to previous strikes also tends to explain much about why we’re now getting the intel required.

    Of course, I have my doubt that trend will continue after the 20th.