Where is Al Qaeda's #2 al-Rahman? He dead.

[Ragnar]

That's the scuttlebutt. Here's hoping.

Big: Al Qaeda’s new number two killed in Pakistan « Hot Air

A few months ago he was the operational chief, a.k.a. the number three, which means his life expectancy was roughly the same as one of Spinal Tap’s drummers. Then Bin Laden took a bullet in the face and he moved up to number two, which worked out okay for the guy who previously held that rank. Oh well. Things change.

He’s not a glamour-puss like Zawahiri so you may not know the name, but this guy is a very big deal. Or rather, was:

US official: Al-Qaida's No. 2 killed in Pakistan - Yahoo! News

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to summarize the government’s intelligence on [Atiyah Abd] al-Rahman, said al-Rahman’s death will make it harder for Zawahiri to oversee what is considered an increasingly weakened organization.

“Zawahiri needed Atiyah’s experience and connections to help manage al-Qaida,” the official said.

Al-Rahman was killed Aug. 22 in the lawless Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan, according to a senior administration who also insisted on anonymity to discuss intelligence issues.

The official would not say how al-Rahman was killed. But his death came on the same day that a CIA drone strike was reported in Waziristan.

More from HA (via first link)

Brian Fishman of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point calls Rahman the communications glue of the organization and says that losing him will damage AQ as much as losing Bin Laden did. If you doubt him, take 30 seconds to re-read this post from last month. Rahman was so important that Bin Laden appointed him as the group’s official emissary in Iran, which allowed him to arrange transit through the country for AQ operatives. Rahman was also Bin Laden’s point man on a plot to attack the United States on the anniversary of 9/11 this year, which is all you need to know about how far his ambitions extended. This was not a guy who operated locally only, against U.S. troops in Afghanistan. He was thinking big. And judging by how frequently he communicated with Osama, he was clearly someone for whom the group had high hopes. Says Steve Hayes at the Standard, “If Atiyah Rahman is indeed dead, as it appears, [it's] hard to overstate how significant a blow that is for AQ. And win for us.” Indeed.

Here is your obligatory Homer Simpson-esq U.S.A, U.S.A, U.S.A!

 

[BDBoop]

An American official said that a drone strike on Aug. 22 killed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, a Libyan who in the last year had taken over as al Qaeda’s top operational planner. Mr. Rahman was in frequent contact with Bin Laden in the months before the terror leader was killed on May 2 by a team of Navy Seals, intelligence officials have said.

It's looking that way!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/world/asia/28qaeda.html

 

[waltky]

He left the world a better place...

... one less cockroach terrorist in this world...

... makes the world a better place...

... don't it?

 

[dilloduck]

How do these dudes get ranked anyway ? Is it a call-in or text thingy like American Idol ?

 

[rdean]

Obviously, they got him based on intel that came from Republicans torturing. Thanks Bush.

 

[rdean]

How do these dudes get ranked anyway ? Is it a call-in or text thingy like American Idol ?

Probably how many followers or who has the best plan to damage this country.

 

[dilloduck]

How do these dudes get ranked anyway ? Is it a call-in or text thingy like American Idol ?

Probably how many followers or who has the best plan to damage this country.

That's not very scientific.

 

[rdean]

How do these dudes get ranked anyway ? Is it a call-in or text thingy like American Idol ?

Probably how many followers or who has the best plan to damage this country.

That's not very scientific.

Religious right wingers are seldom scientific.

 

[dilloduck]

Obviously, they got him based on intel that came from Republicans torturing. Thanks Bush.

No--they did it the old fashioned way. Just killed him and looked at all his stuff. Much more effective.

 

[waltky]

Chippin' away at al-Qaida, one cockroach at a time...

Killing of Al Qaeda's No. 2 a hammer blow to weakening group
August 28, 2011 - The CIA has reportedly killed Al Qaeda's No. 2 Atiyah Abdul Rahman in a drone strike in Pakistan. His death comes as a massive blow to the terrorist group's central leadership.

A Central Intelligence Agency-operated drone has killed Al Qaeda’s No. 2 commander in a strike in Pakistan, according to reports. The loss of Atiyah Abdul Rahman severely damages the Islamic terror organization’s central leadership, which many US officials say is now on the verge of defeat. Still, other officials say that in the short term the death of Rahman will not dramatically affect Al Qaeda cells spread out around the world. Although Al Qaeda is structured so any of its members can be easily replaced, terrorism experts say that Mr. Rahman represented a unique asset to the organization and it is unlikely that a successor will share his qualifications and abilities.

Without him, Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri is likely to struggle to keep control of the organization, reports the Los Angles Times. “Rahman has been at the nerve center of Al Qaeda's global terrorist operations,” said Noman Benotman, a former Libyan jihadist who knew Rahman and other Al Qaeda leaders in an interview with CNN earlier this week. “He has become their CEO, the only person that Al Qaeda cannot afford to lose.”

Who was Rahman?

Rahman became the second in command shortly after the death of Osama bin Laden. In the years leading up to bin Laden’s death, Rahman managed to become one of the Al Qaeda leader’s most trusted deputies. He first joined forces with bin Laden in Afghanistan during the Soviet War in the 1980s, reports Bloomberg. Unlike many in Al Qaeda, the Wall Street Journal reports that Rahman was unique because he possessed both theological training and operational military experience. As a result, he could both run operations and issue fatwas interpreting Islamic law, something not even Mr. Zawahiri is qualified to do.

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