WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

According to the American counterterrorism establishment, al Qaeda is on the brink of collapse. Officials suggest that with a small number of additional blows, the U.S. can effectively extinguish the Pakistan-based organization that executed the September 11th attacks.

Al Qaeda has degenerated into a fractured, marginal body that is kept alive largely by the anti-terrorist bureaucracy it helped to spawn, says Fawaz Gerges, a professor at the London School of Economics. He discusses his new book The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda.

In the decade since 9/11, the U.S. has dramatically altered its counterterrorism strategy. Focus on Al Qaeda's as an existential threat to our society has waned.

Last Friday, U.S. forces killed Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in a drone attack in Yemen, along with U.S.-born propagandist Samir Khan.

Last night President Obama announced that al Qaeda’s founder, Osama bin Laden, was found and killed by American special forces about an hour’s drive north of Islamabad, Pakistan.

A prominent international-security expert says the killing of Osama bin Laden creates an opening for the U.S.