Why the Associated Press Was Blocked From Trump's Oval Office Event Yesterday
Bill Maher's Nails It With These Remarks About the NFL Removing This Slogan...
Women's Magazine Editor: Taylor Swift's Booing at the Super Bowl Was Beyond Chilling
GOP Rep Vows to Reveal All Top Federal Secrets
A CNN Host's Frustration Was Visible When His Anti-Elon Musk Talking Points Got...
Trump Kicking The Associated Press To The Curb Reinforces That America’s ‘New Golden...
The Biden Economic Hangover
What's 'Unprecedented' and 'Extraordinary' About El Salvador's Offer to Take Deportees
It's Only a 'Crisis' When Republicans Try to Restrain Government
If You Really Support Immigration, Stop Excusing Chaos
Rubio Has it Right
The DOGE Bait and Switch
Half-Trans, Half-Free: Blue States Defy Trump
Those Were the Days
Suspending USAID Is the right Thing To Do
Tipsheet

Al Qaeda Leader Calls for Attacks on US: "We Should Bleed America Economically"

In an audio tape released to jihadi forums the day after 9/11, al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri laid out a strategy for future attacks. Zawahiri called for ‘a few of the brothers’ to commit small-scale, ‘sporadic blows’ in America. These types of attacks would “keep the U.S. in a constant state of heightened security,” he reasoned, which would in turn have a deleterious effect on the U.S. economy—a strategy al Qaeda has pursued for quite some time.

Advertisement

“We should bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security, for the weak point of America is its economy, which has already begun to stagger due to the military and security expenditure," he said.

An example of the strategy, which some refer to as ‘death by a thousand cuts,’ can be seen in the October 2010 ink cartridge bomb plot. In a special issue of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s online magazine, Inspire, the group boasts about the disparity between the cost of the plot to the terrorists and what it cost the United States. Via the Long War Journal (emphasis mine):

The cover of Inspire features "$4,200" in big, bold characters. AQAP's terrorists say this is the sum they spent on the operation. AQAP claims that for this small amount it has forced the West to spend billions of dollars in additional security, thereby making the operation effective even though no one was killed. […]

AQAP has dubbed the bomb plot "Operation Hemorrhage," with the idea being that al Qaeda and like-minded jihadists should launch numerous smaller attacks in order to force the West to spend exorbitant sums on additional layers of security.

In a separate piece, a cleric identified as Yahya Ibrahim lays out AQAP's strategy. "What has passed is the first of a multiphased operation," Ibrahim writes.

Advertisement

Although he stressed the importance of smaller attacks, Zawahiri said Muslims should not miss an opportunity for a major strike, even if they must wait years. So while the al Qaeda leader's message is nothing new, it's clear the group will continue to be a threat for decades to come


Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement