Faisal Shahzad, Not bin Laden, The True Face Of The New Terrorism

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Faisal Shahzad, Not bin Laden, The True Face Of The New Terrorism

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• Arts

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• Publié par: ycyzadom
• Nombre de lectures: 87
• Langue: Français

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May 3, 2011

Faisal Shahzad, Not bin Laden,

The True Face Of The New Terrorism

Michael P. Mayko, Staff

Writer

His riches funded the horrific

attacks on the World Trade

Center, the U.S.S. Cole and

on American embassies in

Africa. His words extolling

those plots inspired thousands

of Muslims to join extremist

movements. For the past two

decades, Osama bin Laden

was the face of terror.

But now the face of terror is

likely to be a homegrown

assailant -- like Faisal

Shahzad, the onetime Shelton

and Bridgeport resident

convicted of a failed Times

Square bombing. And the

days of a central figure like

bin Laden at the heart of

terror activities appear to be

over, replaced by leaders of

more dispersed and

smaller cells.

In technologically enhanced

bunkers, U.S. intelligence

analysts will spend endless

hours listening to telephonic

chatter recorded by military

satellites to assess the impact

of bin Laden's killing in

terrorist haunts. Federal

agents will painstakingly

comb Internet chat rooms and

websites looking for clues to

clandestine cell activity.

"I see the jubilance at ground

zero, but I want to know what

is happening in Muslim

countries" said Kevin Boylan,

who spent 10 years as a

defense analyst at the

Pentagon and now teaches

history at Housatonic

Community College. "Are we

seeing mourning in the

streets? Are we hearing calls

to avenge bin Laden's death?"

Those scenes, along with any

intelligence material like

papers, records or thumb

drives seized by the Navy

SEALs in bin Laden's lair,

might unmask al-Qaida

operatives or plans.

For now, Boylan believes the

precision of the SEALs'

mission will "put other

terrorists on the defensive."

He said "they may be

diverting resources from

operations to protection. They

may be reconsidering how

they use electronics or who

their couriers are."

Above all, he believes "they'll

be looking over

their shoulders."

So, has bin Laden, in death,

turned al-Qaida, into a paper

tiger? Or will he inspire a

rebirth of international terror?

"Al-Qaida doesn't have the

capability or prestige it had on

Sept. 11, 2001," said

Richard

Ward, dean of the

University of New Haven's

Henry C. Lee School of

Criminal Justice and

Forensic Sciences

. "We've

knocked off close to 100

senior level members since

the war on terror began.

They've got to be down to the

third or fourth string."