|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What About State Sponsorship?Reader comment on item: Al-Qaeda's Limits Submitted by Avraham (United States), May 28, 2003 at 18:51 Dr. Pipes, you are right to point out that al-Qaeda is not a cohesive terrorist organization with operational capacity at the international level, but you fail to recognize why this is true-and herein lies the danger of your analysis. You assert that al Qaeda is decentralized, but the fact is just the opposite: it is redundant. In other words, spectacular terrorist operations are the work of key commanders who answer directly to bin Laden; the cells that these commanders organize are thus decentralized geographically, but identically organized and controlled very centrally.Furthermore, you fail to identify the three-part operational structure of the international Islamist terrorist entity: 1) those directly answerable to bin Laden (responsible for spectacular/strategic attacks such as 9/11); 2) organizations whose leaders maintain an independent command structure but answer personally to bin Laden concerning mid-level/tactical attacks (the "local networks" of whom you speak); 3) bin Laden loyalists/operatives who infiltrate "charitable" and terrorist organizations for him (including the "Afghan" infiltration of Fatah under Marwan Barghouti). Even more so, you neglect the role of state-sponsorship, something which you have previously emphasized. "al-Qaeda" cannot carry out spectacular attacks without the skill, permission and order of Tehran and its Hezbollah associates in the Bekaa and Qom. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (17) on this item
![]() |
![]() Latest Articles |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes (The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998. For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.) |