Jihadis in New Jersey?

The FBI arrested six men Monday over a plot to attack Fort Dix Army base.

from the May 10, 2007 edition

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Serious mistakes at start

Al Qaeda, in its infancy, also made serious mistakes, points out Mike Scheuer, former head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit. For example, they blew up a hotel in Yemen in 1992, but American soldiers had already left. Yet Al Qaeda continued to try until it succeeded: the 1993 bombings of the World Trade Center, and then the 2001 attacks, which is of course the clearest example.

Mr. Scheuer, who is now an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, adds that what people forget is that Mr. bin Laden's long-stated mission is to instigate and inspire attacks such as the one these men in New Jersey allegedly planned. "This is clearly an example of that," he says.

Since the US ran bin Laden and his cohorts out of Afghanistan in late 2001, the organization has morphed into a much looser network. There is still Al Qaeda central, which consists of bin Laden and his top aides who are hiding somewhere along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, according to Scheuer and other experts. Then there are affiliated groups, such as those in Iraq and other Middle East countries that most likely receive some funding from Al Qaeda; affiliated individuals, such as Ahmed Ressam, who was caught coming across the US's northern border in late 1999 and was convicted of conspiracy to commit an international terrorist act; and finally the unconnected groups or individuals who don't receive direction or funding from Al Qaeda central but are clearly inspired by the group.

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