First off, a tip of my hat to Barack Hussein Obama on the take-down of OBL. His willingness to strike inside Pakistan without first notifying Pakistani officials was doubtless key to not warning OBL of the impending attack. Likewise, kudos to BHO for his willingness to strike despite his aversion to the U.S. acting unilaterally. So, attaboy, Mr. President.
That being said, I was surprised to hear a terrorism analyst (interviewed on TV) say that he expected Al-Qaeda to wither and die without OBL.
I am not a terrorism analyst but I do know that post 9-11, Al-Qaeda evolved into less of a top-down organization and into more of a multi-headed monster with Al-Qaeda operatives and supporters acting more autonomously, often with neither funding nor permission from any Al-Qaeda leaders.
That’s not to say that there is/was no leadership, only that OBL was recently more of a figurehead/inspiring leader than he was pre 9-11. Al-Qaeda today is less an organization that an amalgam of organizations sharing Al-Qaeda’s goals.
I don’t see “Al-Qaeda” going away any time soon. In fact, to avenge the death of OBL, I’d expect to see more terrorist activity against the U.S.A.