After Osama bin Laden's death on May 1, there has been much speculation on who will take his place as caretaker/leader of the terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda. Without a leader, the many radical Islamic groups united under al-Qaeda would fracture and the organization would be powerless. Unfortunately that probably will not happen as an Egyptian named Saif al-Adel, a pseudonym meaning "sword of justice", was recently appointed its new interim leader.
Not much is known about Saif al-Adel other than that he was active in the rebellion against the Soviet Union during the '70's and '80's, and is a expert in weaponry.
Al-Adel is one of the FBI's Most Wanted terrorists because of his involvement in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa that killed over 200 Americans. He is a member of the "majlis al shura" (Shura Council) as well as a high-ranking part of al-Qaeda's military committee and has allegedly given military and intelligence training to members of al-Qaeda, Egyptian Islamic Jihad (an affiliate of al-Qaeda) as well as anti-UN Somali tribes. Saif al-Adel was also one of the men behind the assassination of Anwar Al Sadat in October 1981.
The decision to appoint al-Adel as the caretaker of al-Qaeda came as a surprise to many experts who believed that Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s longstanding deputy and who Hamid Mir, bin Laden’s personal biographer, described as the brains of al-Qaeda.
According to Peter Bergen, a famous terrorism expert, al-Zawahiri may not have been appointed because he is not charismatic and cannot elicit the same spiritual admiration as bin Laden was able to do.1 Being a strong, admirable leader will be very important for the next caretaker of al-Qaeda because he will have to to collect "baya", an Arabic word for allegiance, from all of the smaller groups under al-Qaeda. "Baya" is a religious oath of allegiance that was sworn to bin Laden instead of al-Qaeda or Islam. It is not unlike the Nazis that swore loyalty to Hitler only. Not to a cause or idea, but to one person. Without "baya" from all al-Qaeda groups, Saif al-Adel will not have the power Osama bin-Laden had and without it, the organization will fall apart.
With al-Adel in command, America could be in even more danger from al-Qaeda than it was during bin Laden's life. Leah Farrall, an Australian terror expert said this to SPIEGEL ONLINE:
"Not only would Saif al-Adel's return to the field greatly bolster al-Qaida's operational capability, and bring a rigour to its external operations, but his longstanding connections to groups whose relations with al-Qaida have been subject to tension could herald a new era in operational cooperation for attacks against the West."
For now, we know very little about the recent developments in al-Qaeda but I'm sure we will be hearing more soon.
~Addie
"Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war."
Quran 9:5
1 http://news.yahoo.com/s/time Al-Qaeda's Alleged New Leader: Who Is Saif al-Adel?
2 http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,725181,00.html A Top Terrorist Returns to Al-Qaida Fold
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