Atiyah Abd al-Rahman's death: A 'body blow' for al Qaeda?

Many people have never heard of al Qaeda's No. 2 guy, but his death by drone strike might just be as big a deal as Osama bin Laden's killing

Atiyah And al-Rahman, al Qaeda's second-ranking figure
(Image credit: REUTERS/National Counterterrorism Center)

U.S. and Pakistani officials announced over the weekend that a CIA drone killed al Qaeda second-in-command Atiyah Abd al-Rahman in the mountainous frontier region of Pakistan on Aug. 22. Rahman, a Libyan, represented a new generation of al Qaeda leaders, and had become the network's top operations planner over the past year. He was in frequent contact with Osama bin Laden, and was promoted to No. 2 after bin Laden's death. Is this a major blow to an already weakened al Qaeda, or just another obscure death in an organization that goes "through No. 2's quicker than Dr. Evil?"

Rahman's death is a huge deal: This may seem like "just another in the revolving-door fatalities among al Qaeda's operations chiefs," says David Ignatius in The Washington Post. But it's much bigger: Rahman was bin Laden's conduit to al Qaeda. He was more important to the network than the new No. 1, the "divisive" and unpopular Ayman al-Zawahiri. Rahman's death is "a body blow" against the terrorist group, and moves al Qaeda's top leadership a big step "closer to extinction."

"A body blow against al Qaeda"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Let's not oversell this killing: Good riddance to a bad apple, says Rick Moran in American Thinker. But any pronouncements that al Qaeda is "dead — or near dead" — are probably more about politics than reality. A decade of attacks has surely weakened al Qaeda, but its terrorist foot soldiers aren't going away. "As long as they are able to function in the inaccessible mountains of Pakistan, they will be a threat" — whether President Obama's campaign likes it or not.

"al-Qaeda's #2 killed in Pakistan according to US official"

We need to keep hunting: Non-political counterterrorism experts do say that Rahman's death "will damage [al Qaeda] as much as losing Bin Laden did," says Allahpundit at Hot Air. But a big win could become a huge one if whatever intelligence helped us to find Rahman lets us nab al Qaeda's No. 1 Zawahiri, too. "If we got a hot tip on where to find Rahman, the tipster might very well have a hot tip on where to find the new top dog, too. Here's hoping."

"Big: al Qaeda's new number two killed in Pakistan"

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us