Indeed, as Hirsh argues, Al Qaeda isn’t the all-powerful group that it is often portrayed to be; its strength and reach have been exaggerated, partly because of the extraordinary impact of the 9/11 attacks, and partly because the Bush Administration has found it politically useful to hype the group’s capabilities.
Two years ago, I interviewed Jack Cloonan, a 25-year veteran of the FBI who, between 1996 and 2002, served on a joint CIA–FBI task force that tracked bin Laden. “How many members of Al Qaeda do you think there are?” he asked me. Cloonan laughed when I pegged its membership at several thousand. The real numbers, he said, “are miniscule.”
Documents discovered by the joint task force, Cloonan said, showed that Al Qaeda had 72 members when it was founded in 1989…
Terrorism is a real threat, but “Al Qaeda” is less of an organization than it is an impulse. And while bin Laden isn’t the all-powerful terrorist mastermind he’s often portrayed to be, the war in Iraq, Guantanamo, extraordinary renditions, and other Bush Administration brainstorms have ensured that his message is broadcast loud and clear throughout the world.
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