Fareed Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria argues that those reminding us that al Qaeda does not live or die with bin Laden are merely being cautious. He agrees with me that al Qaeda is a virtual organization held together by its “message and the inspiration it provided”. Where we disagree is his assertion “the central organizing ideology that presented an existential seduction to the Muslim world and an existential threat to the Western world is damaged beyond repair” with his death. He asserts, without substantiation, that bin Laden’s inspirational status will be any less now that he is gone. This is far from clear. Ideologies often survive the passing of their founders or figureheads. People can fight in his name or his memory as well after his death, in fact perhaps even more emboldened by his martyrdom. Sure, as Zakaria points out, loosely affiliated groups of terrorist thugs have always existed, but they have not always been in a pitched battle against the American Shaitan.
The other component of Zakaria’s argument is that the ‘Arab spring’ undercuts the rationale for al Qaeda, the idea that oppressive Middle Eastern regimes were propped up by the West and that the only was to achieve change was by terrorist acts against the US and its Allies. Zakaria notes that, “(i)n the past few months, we have seen democratic, peaceful, non-Islamic revolutions transform Egypt and Tunisia. We are seeing these forces changing almost every government in the Arab world. Al Qaeda is not in the picture.” The verdict is not in on this assertion. Already it is starting to seem naive to some to see Egypt as a power-to-the-people scenario,  the role of Islamic fundamentalists in the upheavals is far from determined, and the uprisings in different countries are heterogeneous. (Think for instance of the recent revelation that one of the released Guantanamo detainees is now training Libyan resistance fighters.)  In any case, my guess is that the wind will not be so easily taken out of the sails of the anti-Americans. (via Global Public Square – CNN.com Blogs)