“Throughout 2008 and 2009, U.S. officials repeatedly trumpeted al-Qaeda’s demise. In a May 2008 interview with The Washington Post, then-CIA Director Michael Hayden heralded the group’s “near strategic defeat.” And the intensified aerial drone attacks that President Obama authorized against al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan last year were widely celebrated for having killed over half of its remaining senior leadership.
Yet, oddly enough for a terrorist movement supposedly on its last legs, al-Qaeda late last month launched two separate attacks less than a week apart — one failed and one successful — triggering the most extensive review of U.S. national security policies since 2001. Al-Qaeda’s newfound vitality is the product of a fresh strategy that plays to its networking strength and compensates for its numerical weakness. In contrast to its plan on Sept. 11, which was to deliver a knock-out blow to the United States, al-Qaeda’s leadership has now adopted a “death by a thousand cuts” ~Bruce Hoffman (Follow the link below for the full article)
Al-Qaeda has a new strategy. Obama needs one, too.
al-Qaeda’s leadership has now adopted a “death by a thousand cuts” approach. There are five core elements to this strategy.
First, al-Qaeda is increasingly focused on overwhelming, distracting and exhausting us
Second, in the wake of the global financial crisis, al-Qaeda has stepped up a strategy of economic warfare
Third, al-Qaeda is still trying to create divisions within the global alliance arrayed against it by targeting key coalition partners.
Fourth, al-Qaeda is aggressively seeking out, destabilizing and exploiting failed states and other areas of lawlessness
Fifth and finally, al-Qaeda is covetously seeking recruits from non-Muslim countries who can be easily deployed for attacks in the West
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