The End Of Al Qaeda?

Newsweek:

If Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban's most dangerous and powerful leader, was indeed killed by a U.S. Predator drone strike earlier this week, the biggest loser of all may be Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda. For the past eight years, the group had depended on Mehsud, his close allies, and other sympathetic tribals to protect it in South Waziristan after its previous host, Mullah Mohammed Omar, was chased from Afghanistan by American bombs in late 2001. With Mehsud gone, Al Qaeda could be in trouble. "Mehsud's death means the tent sheltering Al Qaeda has collapsed," an Afghan Taliban intelligence officer who had met Mehsud many times tells NEWSWEEK. "Without a doubt he was Al Qaeda's No. 1 guy in Pakistan," adds Mahmood Shah, a retired Pakistani Army brigadier and a former chief of the Federally Administered Tribal Area, or FATA, Mehsud's base.

Read the whole story: Newsweek

Comments

[omobob]

01:33 PM on 08/10/2009

Al Qaeda has been on the outs with everyone since losing two Islamic States to the West. "Al Qaeda" is the bogey word that keeps US intelligence officers up at night. Not because Bin Laden is a threat but that no one wants to have an "al Qaeda" "incident on their watch. For vanities sake Bin Laden and "al Qaeda" will continue in the headlines while other far more dangerous terror groups replace the vacuum.

[yankees]

10:22 AM on 08/10/2009

I'm was wondering if Newsweek is part of our Administration, is the Magazine the Czar of War? Did Obama get the message? Well in that case can we get our troops out of that area now!

[loki]

02:16 AM on 08/10/2009

wont happen. The republicans will have nothing to promote fear with then.

[dargay]

01:30 AM on 08/10/2009

Mehsud was not Alqaeda, he led a group that took inspiration from Alqaeda and Afghan Taliban. His death is good for Pakistan, to a lesser extent Afghanistan.

[Cogs]

10:46 PM on 08/09/2009

He reportedly has 20,000 followers who will never listen to reason. A worldwide effort is needed to put an end to this madness. Every country has a stake and is at risk if these criminals get a hold of a nuke.

[1murillo]

09:34 PM on 08/09/2009

This is a silly story.
The question in the headline is part of the hopeful guessing that continues throughout the story. "If Baiitullah ... was indeed killed ... the biggest loser of all may be ... Al Qaeda."
It goes on to quote Pakistani Army spokesman, "If you can knock out the problem's center of gravity ... you may not have to go against the other forces."
To believe that if Baiitullah was killed - let's agree that he was - and therefore, perhaps, Al Qaeda is weakened, is whistling in the dark.
As long as an extraordinary amount of $$$ and forces are dedicated to pursuing Al Qaeda, it doesn't matter whether the group is coming to an end.

[4TJefferson]

06:06 PM on 08/09/2009

THIS IS GREAT NEWS! Economy is about to turn around. Stock market has turned around. Health Care for all is around the corner. Al Qaeda on the run. Again, THIS IS GREAT NEWS. How is that "FAILURE THING" working for gopers now?

[GunneraGirl]

09:44 PM on 08/09/2009

it's not. it never was. they got nothing and they're dead in the water. r.i.p. g.o.p.

[bismillah001]

03:39 PM on 08/09/2009

It's still unclear whether or not he's actually dead this time. We'll see what happens with that.

An interesting side note: Most Pakistanis consider the US to be the greatest threat to their country:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/08/20098910857878664.html

[3dtrix]

01:33 PM on 08/09/2009

Nothing brings out the nutjobs like a story about nutjobs - dependable as Old Faithful, and always as scary as it is funny...

[S1m0n]

12:22 PM on 08/09/2009

End of Qaeda? Not a chance. End of al Qaeda in Waziristan? Maybe.

The problem with the "we have to fix this failed state, or else terrorists will attack up from here" argument is that there's no shortage of failed states they can move to. Clinton ran them out of Somalia, so they moved to afghanistan. Was that the end of al Qaeda? No. Bush drove them out of Afghanistan, so they moved to Pakistan. If Obama pushes them out of Waziristan, they'll go someplace else. They know the drill.

[dogman44]

05:50 PM on 08/09/2009

Somalia again. They thrive in failed states.

[Liberal2]

11:34 AM on 08/10/2009

Not "failed" states, *LIBERTARIAN* states. Note the small government, low or no taxes, no limits on weapons, no OSHA, no welfare, no Social Security, no unions, etc. In Somalia a man can be anything he wants....including a pirate.

[kburlz]

12:16 PM on 08/09/2009

I can't wait to see the birthers' reaction when we pull Bin Laden out of a hole. I think their heads will expode.

[FoonTheElder]

05:19 PM on 08/09/2009

You mean Obama bin forgotten, the man who "is no longer important" according to George W. Bush.

If he's no longer important, what are we doing there? Nation building in a country that hasn't ever really been a nation? Or is it just a bunch of political chicken hawks proving how tough they are to the voters by having other people fight their battles again.

[Shacked]

10:11 AM on 08/09/2009

While the CIA is doing a great job taking out Al Qaeda leadership with drones, the new administrations justice department wants to start jihad against this agency. Only in the USA.

[SALADIN]

09:45 AM on 08/09/2009

I am more interested in the "conception" of Allen Quaeda during the Bush Administraton, or within the meetings of PNAC!

[oxi]

08:08 AM on 08/09/2009

I do not think the CIA will allow this nor should Rambo that helped them in Rambo 3...

[AngieMom57]

09:05 AM on 08/09/2009

Watch this and if you do, pay special attention to these words that come from this young man's knowledge:

http://www.ted.com/talks/emmanuel_jal_the_music_of_a_war_child.html

"...it wasn't the Muslims or the Arabs; it was someone somewhere sitting & money playing the system & using religion to get what they wanted out of us...which was the diamonds, the gold and the land."

Published on Saturday, August 8, 2009 by CommonDreams.org Faulty Forecasting by Ralph Nader http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/08-0
"...if the workers in the real economy stayed home, the economy would stop cold..."

Get the picture?

[kevinabt]

02:16 AM on 08/09/2009

When I read that headline I first though... did we finally shut down the CIA?