What About State Sponsorship?
Reader comment on item: Al-Qaeda's Limits

Submitted by Avraham (United States), May 28, 2003 at 18:51

Dr. Pipes, you are right to point out that al-Qaeda is not a cohesive terrorist organization with operational capacity at the international level, but you fail to recognize why this is true-and herein lies the danger of your analysis. You assert that al Qaeda is decentralized, but the fact is just the opposite: it is redundant. In other words, spectacular terrorist operations are the work of key commanders who answer directly to bin Laden; the cells that these commanders organize are thus decentralized geographically, but identically organized and controlled very centrally.

Furthermore, you fail to identify the three-part operational structure of the international Islamist terrorist entity: 1) those directly answerable to bin Laden (responsible for spectacular/strategic attacks such as 9/11); 2) organizations whose leaders maintain an independent command structure but answer personally to bin Laden concerning mid-level/tactical attacks (the "local networks" of whom you speak); 3) bin Laden loyalists/operatives who infiltrate "charitable" and terrorist organizations for him (including the "Afghan" infiltration of Fatah under Marwan Barghouti). Even more so, you neglect the role of state-sponsorship, something which you have previously emphasized. "al-Qaeda" cannot carry out spectacular attacks without the skill, permission and order of Tehran and its Hezbollah associates in the Bekaa and Qom.

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