MEET THE NEW BOSS...SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

Nasir al Wuhayshi

New vision of al Qaida rises from U.S. Embassy closings

The rise in prominence of Nasir al Wuhayshi, the Yemeni head of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, underscores the transformation of al Qaida from a relatively small group led by one charismatic man into a diffuse global organization with many branches that pursue local objectives but follow a single ideology, according to counterterrorism analysts and officials.

The change has undermined the Obama administration's boast that U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan have "decimated" what's been called core al Qaida, according to veteran al Qaida watchers. Instead, the organization, no longer dependent on the leadership of a single personality, is growing, with authority now spread among leaders not just in Yemen but also in Iraq, Somalia, Syria and Egypt's Sinai. The branches that operate in those regions aren't affiliates, the experts say, they ARE al Qaida.

And the new face of al Qaida is Wuhayshi.  As a teenager he left his native Yemen and went to Afghanistan to train in an al Qaida camp.  He eventually became a close aide and confidante of Osama bin Laden.

Wuhayshi was arrested by the Iranians in 2001 and handed over to Yemeni authorities, who dumped him into a maximum-security prison in Sanaa.  In 2006, he and 22 other prisoners tunneled to freedom in a headline-grabbing jailbreak. Three years later, he reappeared as the head of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the result of a merger between jihadists in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

He is said to enjoy the deep respect of his foot soldiers, drawing legitimacy from his successful jailbreak from Yemen's toughest prison, his many narrow escapes from U.S. drone strikes as well as his status as a protege of bin Laden.

So Osama bin Laden is dead?  That's so 2011.  Al Qaida is very much alive and getting stronger.  Meanwhile, Obama doesn't know what to do...except to keep lying about it.