The Heretic -- How Al-Qaeda's Mastermind Turned His Back On Terror

Osama Bin Laden walks with Afghanis in the Jalalabad area in this 1989 photo. Photograph: EPA

From The Guardian:

In May 2007, a fax arrived at the London office of the Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat from a shadowy figure in the radical Islamist movement who went by many names. Born Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, he was the former leader of the Egyptian terrorist group al-Jihad, and known to those in the underground mainly as Dr Fadl. Members of al-Jihad became part of the original core of al-Qaeda; among them was Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's chief lieutenant. Fadl was one of the first members of al-Qaeda's top council. Twenty years ago, he wrote two of the most important books in modern Islamist discourse; al-Qaeda used them to indoctrinate recruits and justify killing. Now Fadl was announcing a new book, rejecting al-Qaeda's violence. 'We are prohibited from committing aggression, even if the enemies of Islam do that,' Fadl wrote in his fax, which was sent from Tora Prison, in Egypt.

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My Comment: Al Qaeda must not only be defeated on the battlefield .... but it must also be defeated in the hearts and minds of the Muslim world. This conversion in thinking from one of the founders of Al Qaeda's philosophy is a good start.

But has one of Al Qaeda's thinkers changed his tune .... I guess being imprisoned for life is a wake up call .... but I do feel that there is a change in thinking among those who first started the movement.

If there is a historical similarity to Al Qaeda, it has to be communism. Communism was an ideology that came from European intellectuals who thought that their ideology would bring man to an enlightened age. Like the philosophy of Al qaeda, the thinkers were mainly scholars who had a certain belief that their philosophy would bring great benefits to the people that they sworn to help. Unfortunately, this thinking was by co-opted the worst individuals possible that brought death and destruction to untold millions. The people who run Al Qaeda may have not killed millions, but if they had the power they would.

Death and destruction to the civilian populations of Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere .... and the resposne to this destruction was something that the founders of Al Qaeda did not envisioned. In their arrogance they assumed that they were untouchable. For those who are now rotting in a small jail .... I guess they must now know that they were and are wrong.