Bin Laden - Lost and Found!

Back in February, I had the opportunity to speak with Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA’s Bin Laden unit. At that time Scheuer made the case that Bin Laden was still relevant and that the US and its allies needed to continue to stay focused on pursing Bin Laden. Now that effort has been successful. Bin Laden is gone. Yet a story in today's New York Times states that Al Qaeda is unlikely to be handicapped by the killing of Bin Laden who, the Times says, has been long removed from managing terrorist operations and whose popularity in the Muslim world has plummeted. So is this effort, no matter how successful, only symbolic and how will it impact a Middle East in revolutionary transition?

To try and address all of this I once again spoke to Michael Scheuer. He was the chief of the CIA's Bin Laden unit from 1996 to 1999 and remained a counter-terrorism analyst until 2004. Most recently he wrote Osama Bin Laden

My conversation with Michael Scheuer:

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Is Osama Bin Laden still relevant?

It would seem that the remarkable events that are taking place in the Middle East may have finally placed 9/11 into some kind of historical context. The underpinnings of the Iraq war, the war in Afghanistan and the overall war on terror, may be morphing into a new, smarter and more careful use of American power. If this is true, then where does Osama Bin Laden fit into the equation? Is he still relevant, does his presence still matter and should he even be a focus of American and Western efforts? Michael Scheuer, counterterrorism analyst and former chief of the CIA's bin Laden Unit thinks he still does matter.

My conversation with Michael Scheuer: