Are U.S. Drone Strikes Working?

Shane Harris & Katie Zavadski, Daily Beast: Drones Turn al Qaeda Killers on Each Other

U.S. airstrikes on the terror group are sowing paranoia within the terror group’s ranks about who among them may spying for the Americans, intelligence officials and terrorism analysts say.

Jihadist social media accounts on Wednesday claimed that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terror group’s Yemen division, had executed an alleged spy. Humam al-Hamid was blamed for the drone strike last week that killed AQAP’s top man. The claims that Hamid had tipped off the Americans to the leader’s location couldn’t be independently verified. But U.S. intelligence officials are aware of the allegations and say it shows how attacks on AQAP—which have increased in the last two months—are having a secondary effect: fomenting distrust inside the terror outfit.

“Reports of AQAP’s execution of purported spies suggests unease among the group amid high-profile losses,” a U.S. intelligence official told The Daily Beast. From the American perspective, that’s a good thing, because it throws the group off balance and makes it harder to plan attacks.

“Such distrust is often difficult to overcome and can create friction at a critical time,” the U.S. official said.

WNU Editor: U.S. drone strikes have been effective in decimating Al Qaeda's leadership .... doubly so in regions where it is assumed that there is no US presence (see above video). It is obvious that Al Qaeda's ranks have been infiltrated by moles, and they are providing the needed intelligence for US drone strikes. For Al Qaeda's leadership this is a problem .... who to trust? For US planners .... this is probably what they wanted to accomplish in the first place .... sow confusion and distrust in Al Qaeda's ranks.