The Master Terrorist We Gave Away
May 28, 2013 4:45 AM EDT
One of al Qaedas top people, whose strategy continues to inspire attacks, was in CIA custody. Then he was handed over to Syria and set free.
It has been a while since we heard directly from "the architect of global jihad," "the mufti of murder," the apostle of "individualized terror" known by his nom de guerre Abu Musab al-Suri. Indeed, most people outside jihadist circles have never heard of him at all.
But thanks to the shadowy practices of the Bush administration in its global war on terror, this Syrian-born former adviser to Osama bin Laden is now at large and an inspiration to a whole new generation of killers, including, it would seem, those in Boston and London.
And these attacks do not look as if they are likely to stop any time soon. Over the weekend, a French soldier on anti-terrorist patrol at the La Defense transport hub and shopping center on the outskirts of Paris had his neck slashed by a tall, bearded assailant who has yet to be apprehended.
Al-Suri, a continuing inspiration to terrorist far and wide, had a core strategy which was detailed in a 1,600-page treatise, The Call for an International Islamic Resistance. He encouraged opportunistic and improvised terrorist acts in the West, sapping the public's morale and undermining the ability of the American, British, French, or other armies to fight on Muslim soil. But it is such a thorough guide to the philosophy and techniques of terror that crazies far outside the realm of Islam have adopted it. Anders Behring Breivik, the Muslim-hating "lone wolf" who murdered 69 people in Norway in July 2011, studied Al-Suri's lessons closely.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/28/the-master-terrorist-we-gave-away.html