...While both the grassroots threat and al-Qaeda will continue to evolve based on changing political and social conditions, it is becoming clear that al-Qaeda -- whatever its form or permutation -- is incapable of achieving its long-term aims. As counter-terrorism analysts Lawrence Wright, Peter Bergen, and Paul Cruickshank report, al-Qaeda's increasingly savage operations have alienated both grassroots supporters and hardcore ideologues from the Middle East to the European diaspora. Defectors increasingly denounce al-Qaeda's bloodlust, nihilism, and strategic myopia...LINK

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