(Washington Post) Peter Bergen - According to a new narrative, al-Qaeda as an organization is severely impaired, but has been replaced by a broader ideological movement made up of self-starting, homegrown terrorists who have embraced al-Qaeda's doctrine of destruction, yet had no ties to the terrorist group. However, according to five veteran U.S. counterterrorism officials, al-Qaeda the organization remains a real threat. So while the rapid spread of al-Qaeda's ideology in the past two years should be of considerable concern, it would be quite wrong to conclude that al-Qaeda the organization is down for the count. Almost five years after 9/11, al-Qaeda not only remains in business in its traditional stronghold on the Afghan-Pakistan border, but continues to project its ideology and terrorism abroad. The writer is a Schwartz senior fellow at the New America Foundation.
2006-07-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive