Assessing Al-Qa’eda

Remember 9/11?

Remember how horrible it was?

Remember all the even more horrible terrorist attacks that followed it?

You don’t?

Neither do I.

This raises a hopeful possibility: Maybe al-Qa’eda has spent its force.

Maybe we’ve neutralized so many of its leaders and footsoldiers that it isn’t able to project the force it did on 9/11.

Maybe it played its hand too early and didn’t have the accumulated strength needed to pull off similarly horrible attacks. (Maybe there just aren’t that many fanatical Muslims willing to kill themselves in the pursuit of jihad.)

Maybe it’s a combination of the these factors.

What I know is that, despite all its posturing, al-Qa’eda hasn’t (yet) been able to pull off a similarly horrible attack in the three years that have elapsed since 9/11.

What I’m sure of is that al-Qa’eda would have carried out a similarly horrible attack if it had been able to do so during most of that time.

What I’m worried about is that al-Qa’eda may have been able to accumulate enough resources to attempt such an attack before the U.S. election two months from now.

What I’m confident of is that al-Qa’eda is still a threat that must be taken with grave seriousness and vigorously pursued.

But as more time elapses without a catastrophic attack, the more evidence accumulates that al-Qa’eda is a spent force.

HERE’S SOMEONE WHO WILL PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER FOR YOU ON THAT HOPEFUL POSSIBILITY.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live." View all posts by Jimmy Akin