Al-Qaida is much stronger than it was
on 9/11 despite the death of Osama bin
Laden and it's a virtual certainty that the
growing terrorist group will launch a major
revenge attack, according to author and
former CIA bin Laden-expert Michael
Scheuer.
**
In an exclusive Newsmax.TV interview, Scheuer
predicted that bin Laden will have “an enduring
resonance among Muslims for hundreds of years,”
because he hurt the United States and survived
for a decade afterward.
**
“It’s a bigger organization geographically, it’s a
bigger organization in numbers, and on a whole
there are more mujahedeen in the field against
us today than there were on 9/11,” Scheuer
told Newsmax. “So this is a problem that America
hasn’t come to grips with yet.”
**
A revenge attack from al-Qaida against American
or Western targets is “certain.” He adds: “They will
counterpunch. I’m not sure it’s going to be in the
near term though. If they have something they
can do that’s on the shelf, they’ll do it. Otherwise,
they’ll plan and execute an operation that is of
significant size.”
**
Don't be fooled by the rosily optimistic scenarios
of democratic revolution spreading across the Arab
landscape, Scheuer advises. Already, Muslim
Brotherhood and other Islamist groups are moving
to exploit the turmoil in Egypt. Al-Qaida, too, will
seek to move in and fill the power vacuum in places
like Libya and Syria.
“Islam is on the rise across the Middle East at
the moment, despite BBC and CNN singing
the praises of so-called democrats in Egypt,”
Scheuer said.
***
