by Gregory D. Johnsen
… He has been called al-Qaeda’s “master bombmaker” too an “evil genius.” He is the argue nosotros operate past times through torso scanners at the airport, too why laptops were banned on several international flights terminal year. In 2013, Time magazine labeled him “the most unsafe terrorist inwards the world,” too this calendar week the the U.S.A. said it is confident that he is forthwith dead. But Asiri has been declared dead before. In 2011, the the U.S.A. said that he was killed inwards the same drone strike that took out Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American radical imam; inwards 2013 he was said to live seriously wounded, too inwards 2014 he was dead again…
… That is the work amongst personalizing the state of war against groups similar al-Qaeda too the Islamic State: We inflate our enemies into larger-than-life villains who reverberate our fears rather than their ain capabilities. We did it amongst Osama bin Laden too Anwar al-Awlaki, too forthwith nosotros are doing it amongst Ibrahim al-Asiri. By talking most them every bit masterminds amongst irreplaceable skillsets, the the U.S.A. projects the false impression that if they could exclusively live killed, the terrorist threat would live greatly reduced. Bin Laden too Awlaki are dead. Yet al-Qaeda lives on.
We volition probable know shortly whether or non Asiri is dead sure this time. But regardless of the answer, al-Qaeda volition live too the threat volition persist. The the U.S.A. isn’t phasing out torso scanners, too one-time shortly unopen to other threat volition add together notwithstanding unopen to other especial to the listing of those passengers are banned from taking onboard.
For nearly 17 years nosotros get got talked most terrorists every bit if they were superhuman, the “worst of the worst,” diabolical geniuses capable of defeating all our defenses from distant caves. It is good past times fourth dimension for us to speak most them every bit they are. In Asiri’s example that is every bit a college dropout who tried to develop on America too its allies multiple times, but failed each time. His successors, whenever they appear, volition endeavor again.
Buat lebih berguna, kongsi:
