Once again the CIA run drone campaign in Pakistan is paying off in dividends. Why is it no surprise that this high level operator was killed in Pakistan? It’s no surprise because most of the rest of the high level al-Qaeda operators were killed there also.
A more important question may be the question of how long can al-Qaeda possibly last with so many of their high ranking officials being taken ou? The CIA is decapitating al-Qaeda with strikes which target only their high level leaders. The strategy is right on because taking out the highet members has the effect of keeping that organization off balance. They have to spend more of their time reacting to our offensive attacks which leaves them less time to attack Americans. It also leaves the organization rudderless in some areas for long periods of time. When a new leader has to take over it takes some time for him to get the situation under control.
The terrorist in this case was Abu Hafs al-Shahri. This man was the person who coordinated al-Qaida attacks inside the Pakistani side of their border with Afghanistan. The Pakistanis even say that he was dangerous, probably because his actions resulted in casualties for them.
I like the strategy that the CIA is implementing is working beautifully. There is no need to wear out our military ring customers serving in the middle east by having them attempting to root out every rank and file member of al-Qaeda when we can effectively keep them at bay by targeting their headship. I believe that if the head is successfully lopped off the body will wither.
