Experts are weighing in on Monday evening’s historic news that under the direction of President Joe Biden Americans have killed the top leader of al-Qaeda, the top terrorist who succeeded Osama bin Laden and was a top architect of the 9/11 terror attacks.
“A CIA drone strike has killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Afghanistan, according to five people familiar with the matter,” the Associated Press reports. “Current and former officials began hearing Sunday afternoon that al-Zawahri had been killed in a drone strike, but the administration delayed releasing the information until his death could be confirmed, according to one person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.”
The killing of the top terrorist is said to validate President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, which he received tremendous criticism for more than one year ago.
“To kill Americans and their allies — civilian and military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in every country in which it is possible to do it,” The Washington Post reports “Zawahiri wrote in a 1998 manifesto.”
“Three years later, he would put words into action by helping to plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.”
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“My first reaction: tears of relief,” said counterterrorism expert, former Republican, and former Trump administration DHS official Elizabeth Neumann. “Justice for 9/11 families and all of the many men and women that have been fighting since to keep us safe at home and abroad. The threat remains. But tonight we can be soberly grateful for justice.”
Neumann served in several roles at the Trump DHS including as Deputy Chief of Staff to DHS Secretary John Kelly and Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke, and DHS Assistant Secretary for Threat Prevention and Security Policy to their successors.
National security attorney Bradley Moss tweeted, “Trump was taking Saudi blood money to host a golf outing this weekend. Biden was killing terrorists.”
Former DOJ spokesperson under Eric Holder and special advisor to the National Security Council at the Biden White House, and MSNBC analyst Matthew Miller wrote, “Build Back Better is alive and Ayman al-Zawahiri is dead.”
“This is a success,” says CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security who has an extensive background on terrorism and national security, “both because of the target, al-Zawahiri, but also because the Biden Administration had claimed that leaving Afghanistan would not impact counterterrorism efforts. They still would have ‘over the horizon’ capability. That appears to be true.”
SiriusXM Progress host Dean Obeidallah, an attorney, journalist, and contributor to CNN and MSNBC writes, “”Most people who get Covid quarantine quietly by watching TV or reading books. President Biden spent his Covid quarantine killing the leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri!”
This is a breaking news and developing story.