Al-Qaida ‘cut off and ripped apart by Isis’

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

Source: The Guardian (U.K.)

Two of al-Qaida’s most important spiritual leaders have told the Guardian that the terror group is no longer a functioning organisation after being ripped apart by Isis. In a wide-ranging interview, Abu Qatada, a Jordanian preacher who was based in London before being deported in 2013, and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, regarded as the most influential jihadi scholar alive, say the al-Qaida leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is cut off from his commanders and keeping the group afloat through little more than appeals to loyalty.

How Isis crippled al-Qaida

Senior insiders in Jordan add that al-Qaida around the Middle East has been drained of recruits and money after losing territory and prestige to its former subordinate division. The ongoing war between al-Qaida and Isis has left the US struggling to catch up with the tectonic shifts within the global jihadi movement, intelligence insiders told the Guardian.

SNIP

Isis leaders, who described al-Qaida as a “drowned entity” in issue six of their official English-language publication, Dabiq, have declared that they will not tolerate any other jihadi group in territory where they are operating. They have readily delivered on that statement. Last week, Isis fighters in Afghanistan were reported to have beheaded 10 members of the Taliban, and on Wednesday al-Qaida in Libya vowed retaliation after blaming Isis for the death of one of its leaders.

But the US has been slow to grasp the implications of al-Qaida’s decline and possible collapse despite extensive study of Isis, according to intelligence community insiders. “There’s such a cadre of people so closely tied to the al-Qaida brand within the IC [intelligence community] that I think they don’t see what else is going on outside the organisation,” said Derek Harvey, a former intelligence analyst who predicted how resilient the Iraq insurgency would be.


Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/10/isis-onslaught-has-broken-al-qaida-its-spiritual-leaders-admit

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The image of a dog turning on its master comes to mind. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" may not exactly fit this case, but it's nice to see at least one terrorist group being annihilated.

[dbackjon]

1. Do we need to do a GoFundMe for them?

[samsingh]

2. this is more than a few radicals. it is a global terrorist organization

where 10000 members can be killed and REPLACED by other volunteers willing to kills and die for religion.

this is big and the world better take notice. just as we said that invading Iraq was stupid and it was proven to be true, isis is more than just a few radicals.

[GP6971]

5. So true

But will they take notice?

[Jack Rabbit]

3. I'm waiting for the neocon Bobsy Twins, McCain and Graham, to react

In a joint press conference Thursday, Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham called the Obama administration's response to the situation in the Middle East uncertain and insisted that the administration make approaches to overtures in Al Qaida about joining forces against ISIS.

[cosmicone]

4. Supply both sides with old rifles and old guns

then supply popcorn to people like me.

[hibbing]

6. "spiritual leaders"

What a pleasant way to refer to them.

Peace

[flying rabbit]

7. Heh

[project_bluebook]

8. Didn't the T-baggers

cut off and rip apart the republican party?

[Ford_Prefect]

9. Would you call this "lost in translation"?

[bemildred]

10. I'd call it seeing what you went looking for.

What I don't understand is why anybody would believe anything that these guys say.