The End of a Violent Life Doesn’t Mean the End of a Global Threat

The news of the death of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri leaves many of us with the sense an era has passed - or perhaps, a bad nightmare. al-Zawahiri was killed in a US intelligence operation by Hellfire Ninja R9X missile - a drone-fired missile that uses pop-out swords rather than explosives to take down high-profile targets. A gruesome but, quite frankly, appropriate end to an individual who helped plan the 9/11 attacks and a host of other violent, vicious attacks on civilians across the globe.

What will be interesting to read in the months and years to come as the mission is declassified is how long Western intelligence services had been tracking him. Perhaps for years - wouldn’t you want to track those he was in communications with so you could be ready to stop them before they attacked? Or did they just find his whereabouts in recent months as he moved to Kabul (a rather audacious move which one has to suspect the Taliban government likely was not too pleased with on some level)? Also, since the US left Afghanistan almost a year ago, what does this say for “Over the Horizon” intelligence? Is it that good or did we leave a large number of assets in place in Afghanistan that will make “Over the Horizon” up close and personal? All fascinating questions about the future of the War on Terror.

Either way, justice was delivered. But the threat remains. al-Zawahiri was only one ugly head of a multi-headed monster that constantly plots to strike targets worldwide.

Al-Qaeda is now believed to be led by Saif al-Adel, a former Egyptian Army Colonel who fled to Afghanistan in 1988 after being accused of trying to overthrow the government. After joining with Osama Bin-Laden and al-Zawahiri, he went on to help mastermind the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Kenya, which killed more than 200 people, the training of and participation with radicalized Somalis who attacked US troops in Mogadishu (“Black Hawk Down”) in 1993, the abduction and gruesome murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Richard Pearl, and the 2003 suicide bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is a resume of extraordinary audacity, meticulous planning, and brutal execution.

For the moment, the world is safer with al-Zawahiri’s death. But just for a moment. The fight continues in the Forever War against radicalized terrorists.