Zawahiri at the Helm

Article 3. The New Yorker Zawahiri at the Helm Lawrence Wright June 16, 2011 -- Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon, has come into his inheritance—A1] Qaeda—at a time when the organization is at its nadir. Osama bin Laden, its charismatic founder, is dead, and after some internal debate his No. 2 man, Zawahiri, has taken control. For nearly a decade, bin Laden pushed his followers to come up with a second act to 9/11, but they were unable to match the appalling brilliance of that attack. Now it is up to Zawahiri to salvage an organization that many think (and hope) has drifted into irrelevance. Compared to bin Laden, Zawahiri lacks charisma, but it would be a mistake to underestimate his commitment and his willingness to spill blood. He was hardened by the torture he endured in the three years he spent in Egyptian prisons following the assassination of Anwar al-Sadat, in 1981, and by the savage underground war that he has fought with Egyptian intelligence agencies ever since. Zawahiri has shown a daring willingness to improvise. He inaugurated the use of suicide bombers with his failed attack on the Egyptian Interior Minister, Hasan al-Alfi, in 1993, although the tactic breaks a fundamental taboo in Islam against the taking of one’s own life. He also introduced the propaganda ploy of the martyrdom video, which would become a signature of Al Qaeda. Bin Laden needed Zawahiri, not least because of his physical ailments. Although bin Laden did not have kidney disease, as was widely thought, he was often ill; Zawahiri served as his personal physician, and manipulated his position to cement their relationship. Bin Laden also depended on Zawahiri for his organizational skill and the talented men he brought with him. But Zawahiri also depended HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018094