A lesson in defeating a terrorist

It's been done successfully before - at least once, according to former intelligence officers. A terror group that had launched attacks in some 20 countries and killed nearly 1,000 people was destroyed.

By the late 1980s, CIA operatives had identified the top echelon of the Abu Nidal Organization. The spies had also discovered the terrorists' banking patterns. So they devised a novel, if nefarious, scheme.

Along with some cooperative foreign counterparts, the agents began moving money - electronically - from some of the top members' accounts into others, which made it look as though members were skimming from their leader.

The result: Abu Nidal himself had some 150 to 200 of his 500-member group killed. That created such chaos that the group eventually destroyed itself.

As the US formulates a comprehensive strategy to ending Al Qaeda's reign of terror, lessons learned from past experiences with terror groups can be helpful.

The Abu Nidal case shows how the breakthroughs against terrorism sometimes hinge on methods much more subtle than the CIA's dramatic recent assassination of Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen using a drone-fired missile.

To be sure, clandestine activities can create problems. And the Al Qaeda network is an organization very different from Abu Nidal's - it is a loosely affiliated network of several terror groups spread worldwide with a shared goal of attacking US interests.

Yet both government intelligence sources and outside experts say the US stands to benefit from employing the most creative strategies possible. Such steps include military might - like the help of US Special Forces in the Yemen operation. But they also include a variety of other activities aimed at tearing the group apart from within and dissuading new recruits from joining.

"America cannot defeat Al Qaeda with a pure military and intelligence effort," says Rohan Gunaratna, an expert on terror at St. Andrews University in Scotland. "You must do other things to cut off support for Al Qaeda - develop a project to counter the Al Qaeda ideology."

A key goal is to eliminate or delegitimize the leadership of Al Qaeda. "As long as the leadership is alive, they can give strategic and tactical direction to the organization," Dr. Gunaratna says.

The US has made gains. "We've disrupted their communications, sanctuary, fundraising, and ability to fund their attacks," says FBI head Robert Mueller. "But disrupt doesn't mean eliminate.... They have the ability to attack us."

Bruce Hoffman, a specialist on terrorism at the RAND Corp., agrees that a more comprehensive approach is needed. "We shouldn't be so blinded by retaliation that we don't pursue other creative possibilities - look at options that get at the moral and cohesive disintegration of the group, provide people with an alternative to violence."

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