Deathly figures wait in the
wings By Sami Moubayed
DAMASCUS - Although many would hate to
admit it, the killing of Osama bin Laden comes as
too little, too late. The damage has already been
done, to the lives - and minds - of so many Arabs
and Muslims. It is beyond repair, at least for an
entire generation.
His influence has
already spread far and wide and his disciples have
mushroomed throughout the four corners of the
globe - indoctrinating a new generation of A-class
Islamic radicals. Many wrongly believe that with
Abu Musaab al-Zarkawi killed in the summer of 2006
in Iraq and Bin Laden now dead, the world is a
safer place for all of us.
But numerous
figures out there hail the al-Qaeda founder as a
true leader and fine patriot. Ismail Haniyya, for
example, the Hamas
prime minister in Gaza,
described Bin Laden as a "holy warrior". He added,
"We ask God to offer him mercy with the true
believers and the martyrs."
Haniyya's
position speaks volumes since it reflects his
inner thoughts in complete disregard to how the
world will view such a remark and how damaging it
can be for Hamas. Just days ago, Hamas had agreed
to reconcile with the pro-Western Fatah Movement
in the West Bank, trying to market itself as a
pragmatic political party willing to engage with
the international community.
Hanniya's
remark brings them back way beneath square one.
Nevertheless, it reflects what some in the Muslim
world might feel, although not necessarily say in
public.
In Damascus, when al-Qaeda first
skyrocketed to international fame in the 1990s,
many argued that this was a faraway phenomenon
that did not concern the people of Syria. The
horrific September 11, 2001 attacks proved just
how wrong this statement was; given that that many
of al-Qaeda's top commanders were in fact either
Syrian or had been to Syria.
Imad Yarkas,
for example, was a Syrian national accused of
organizing a July 2001 meeting in Tarragona,
Spain, attended by Mohammad Atta, the man who
crashed one of the airplanes into the Twin Towers.
Atta himself, it must be remembered, had been to
Aleppo while a student in the 1990s.
During the investigation, Yarkas, known by
the name of Abu Dahdah, denied having met Bin
Laden. Yet when his home was raided after his
arrest in November 2001, police found books about
jihad and newspaper clippings about al-Qaeda. Also
his name and phone number showed up at a Hamburg
cell where Atta once lived, and Yarkas was
believed to have recruited Muslim youth to an
al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.
Spanish
courts sentenced him to 27 years in prison for his
membership of al-Qaeda. Other Syrians that have
emerged in the hunt for al-Qaeda are Tayseer
Alluni, news anchor for al-Jazeera, who
interviewed Bin Laden right after 9/11, the
businessman Maamoun al-Darkazanlli, and the
infamous Abu Musaab al-Souri, accused of being
mastermind of the March 11, 2004 attacks in
Madrid.
The post-Bin Laden al-Qaeda The story of these men proves that there are
dormant al-Qaeda cells ready to operate not only
in Europe but throughout the Arab world. These
figures combined, through their shura
(council), will have to find a replacement to Bin
Laden. The most logical choice would be Ayman
al-Zawahiri, 60, the Egyptian who often deputized
on behalf of Bin Laden during al-Qaeda's 22-year
history.
Although less charismatic and
less obeyed by young stalwarts of al-Qaeda,
Zawahiri, a medical doctor and certified surgeon,
is respected among the generation that grew up
with Bin Laden since the late 1980s. Zawahiri, the
son of a chemistry professor, speaks English and
French, has a deep understanding of Islamic
theology, and is well connected in the Arab world
through his early membership in the Egyptian
Muslim Brotherhood, which he joined at the age of
14, and his leadership role in the Egyptian
Islamic Jihad Movement that assassinated president
Anwar al-Sadat in 1981.
Had the Jordanian
Abu Musaab al-Zarkawi been around, he probably
would have stood as Zawahiri's strongest
competitor, given his strategic operational role
after the war of 2003 and the vast network and
power base he managed to establish in Iraq. He was
killed, however, in June 2006 in an operation
similar to the one that nailed Bin Laden on
Monday.
Although al-Zawahiri is certainly
alive, there are doubts about Abu Musaab al-Souri,
with some people saying that he was killed during
al-Qaeda operations in Iraq. Others claim that he
is still on the loose, as capable, ambitious - and
ready - to fill in Bin Laden's shoes. Some have
even described him as "the most prolific al-Qaeda
ideologue and trainer alive".
US officials
claim to have apprehended him in Quetta, Pakistan,
in November 2005 although two years ago, the
Spanish justice sent out queries on his location,
asking the United Kingdom, the US, Pakistan, and
Afghanistan about his whereabouts.
Abu
Musaab (whose real name is Mustapha Nasar) offered
online training to al-Qaeda members for years, in
addition to hands-on practice in chemical weapons
and explosives. Most sources write his full name
as Mustapha Setmariam Nasar, but the "Setmariam"
is confusing because it refers to his grandmother.
Abu Musaab is one year younger than Bin
Laden was, born in the northern city of Aleppo in
1958. He studied mechanical engineering and joined
al-Talia al-Muqatila (The Fighting Vanguards), a
military group headed by the prominent member of
the Muslim Brotherhood, Marwan Hadid, in the
mid-1970s.
He studied mechanical
engineering at university, while training in
military affairs at the hands of Egyptian and
Iraqi militants in Jordan and Baghdad. He left the
Brotherhood in 1982 after some of its leaders
allied themselves with Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein, heading off to Afghanistan to take part
in the war against the Soviet Union.
While
visiting Europe in 1992, he joined Bin Laden's
al-Qaeda, establishing the London-based Conflicts
of the Islamic World Center. Reportedly, he first
met Bin Laden in Peshawar in the early 1990s. In
1998, he moved back to Afghanistan and pledged
allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, working
at Kabul Radio during the heyday of the Taliban
regime and training recruits in the Afghan capital
and Jalalabad.
In 2000, under Bin Laden's
supervision, he opened his own training camp,
al-Ghuraba, located in Kargha, near Kabul. After
the US State Department labeled him as one of the
US's most-wanted men, with a reward of US$5
million for his arrest, he wrote a lengthy reply
which was posted on the Internet, denying
involvement but strongly supporting 9/11, and
denying involvement for the Madrid bombings.
In January 2005, he published a 1,600 page
book on the Internet, called The Global Islamic
Resistance Call. Last June , he published an
article in Inspire, al-Qaeda's first
English-language publication, called "The Jihadi
Experience: The Schools of Jihad", raising
speculation that the man was indeed on the run and
not in US custody as had been claimed in 2005.
Time will tell where these notorious
figures stand in the post-Bin Laden era of
al-Qaeda. What is certain is that the world's
problems will not end with the killing of Bin
Laden, given that al-Qaeda's radical and skewed
interpretation of Islam is on the rise and had
long surpassed Bin Laden's ability to control or
manage the organization. A leader will emerge to
replace Bin Laden who is perhaps more radical and
dangerous than the al-Qaeda founder himself.
Sami Moubayed is a university
professor, political analyst, and editor-in-chief
of Forward Magazine in Syria.
(Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online
(Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about sales, syndication and
republishing.)
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
