Briefing reporters on the details of Osama bin Laden’s killing in Pakistan, the White House’s Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan remarked optimistically that “bin Laden’s dead. The al-Qaeda narrative’s becoming increasingly bankrupt.”
Financially, al-Qaeda may be heading for bankruptcy too. The terrorist network has been hit by a double whammy: the death of its charismatic leader and the Arab Spring, the popular and democratic uprising against cutthroat despots. No longer can al-Qaeda and its offspring sell itself to Muslims as the sole alternative to tyrannical regimes.
