By Brigitte L. Nacos
The revelation that "Alec Station," the CIA unit which hunted Osama bin Laden for a decade or so, was disbanded recently, did not make the front pages of newspapers and the leads of broadcasts. Obviously, nobody in the media was surprised that the Al Qaeda leader ceased to be the most wanted terrorist and became merely the most prominent one among equals. While no longer presiding over a hierarchical organization that trains recruits and plans and finances terror attacks, bin Laden has become even more of an inspirational force for those who spread his message and encourage the establishment autonomous terror groups and cells. If anything, in his role of propagandist-in-chief he is a more dangerous enemy today than he was yesterday as head of the centralized Al-Qaeda organization.
To be sure, the CIA must cast its net ever wider in order to prevent terror attacks. But it is hard to believe that the efforts to hunt down bin Laden will remain as strong as they were when a special unit worked exclusively to get the Al Qaeda boss "dead or alive," as President Bush put it. It is interesting in this context, as revealed in a post on the counterterrorismblog, that the Taliban remains in contact with the core Al Qaeda leadership.
Apart from the real effects of the units demise, the move sends the wrong signal, namely, that the United States has given up its post-9/11 priority--to defeat the architects of 9/11 and previous lethal anti-American attacks once and for all. Instead, bin Laden and his alter ego al-Zawahiri continue to spread their propaganda around the world and incite impressionable radicals to follow in their footsteps of hate and violence. It may well be that a captured or killed bin Laden would turn into a super martyr in the eyes of his followers and sympathizers. But without the publicity of his frequent audio and videotapes the Al Qaeda chief's influence would eventually wane. That's why bin Laden should remain America's most wanted and most hunted terrorist. Given that we spend astronomical sums to fight the "war on terrorism," it is astounding that "Alec Station" was dismantled because "resources needed to be directed toward other people and groups likely to initiate new attacks."
Comments