Word: binning
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Know thine enemy." Investigators rounding up suspects searched for a definitive link to al-Qaeda's leaders. Indeed, two of the would-be bombers seem to have met in Pakistan with an alleged al-Qaeda lieutenant and explosives expert. But a clear link may be beside the point. Osama bin Laden has become an ism--as much ideology as flesh--and al-Qaeda has largely devolved or maybe evolved into a franchise operation. Radical groups in various countries are largely self- activated and self-sustaining, though they may check in with top management before a major assault...
...clear that anybody cares. For angry young Muslims in search of a warrior icon of jihad, Hizballah's Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah cuts a far more appealing figure as his men trade blows and hold their own with the most reviled enemy of the Islamists than does Bin Laden, whose followers are more likely to target random civilians than "infidel" soldiers...
...conspiracy theories that had such currency in the Arab world after 9/11 blaming Israel for the attacks were, in themselves, instructive: Even many people who agreed with Bin Laden's worldview were clearly so repelled by the mass slaughter of innocents that they were unable to "own" the event, preferring instead to blame it on the Mossad...
...Even if the invasion of Iraq "proved" Bin Laden's claim of an innate U.S. hostility to the Muslim world, his remedy - a global jihad against the "far enemy" led by himself - appears to have diminished appeal. That may be in part because the alternatives are more compelling: The "far" enemy has drawn very near in Iraq, and those pulled to jihad can actually engage its soldiers in battles that necessarily leave Bin Laden and Zawahiri far away from the action...
...dead, even if the perpetrators had no direct organizational connection but were simply following the idea. But it may also be a sign that the events of the past five years have changed the dynamics of the Muslim world in ways that have marginalized it, so much so that Bin Laden now faces more compelling contenders for the mantle of champion of jihadist rage...