Al Qaida's Mistrust Of U.S. Jihadi Wannabes Both Good And Bad News

Among the interesting details emerging from the detention of the five Washington, D.C.-area men in Pakistan is this: they were unable to make their hoped-for connection with al Qaida because leaders in the terrorist group suspected the men might be Central Intelligence Agency spies.

As the Washington Post reported over the weekend:

But the men, all Muslims from the Alexandria area, failed to reach the remote tribal zone that is al-Qaeda's home because the terrorist network's commanders thought they were sent by the CIA to infiltrate al-Qaeda — and Saifullah could not convince them otherwise, a Pakistani intelligence official said Saturday.

"They were regarded as a sting operation. That's why they were rejected," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation. The five men disappeared just after Thanksgiving and were arrested near Lahore on Tuesday. They have not been charged with any crime.

This strikes me as good and bad news.

It's a welcome development because it shows just how much justified paranoia there is within the terrorist network which is constantly reminded that the U.S. and other governments are out to destroy it.

That lack of trust within jihadi circles could prove an important ally to Western counterterrorism efforts since it could keep terrorist groups from fully exploiting the possibilities presented them by young and willing men seeking to join, as may have happened in this case.

 

It means terrorists are looking over their shoulders and never quite sure if a willing recruit who says "I'm from America and I'm here to help you" is a sincere aspiring martyr or a double-agent. Any such doubt that be sown in terrorist organizations can only make them less efficient in their deadly intentions.

A related point is that this lack of trust, especially of terrorist wannabes from the U.S., means it will be that much harder for al Qaida and other terrorist groups to plant sleeper cells in the U.S. That is certainly positive news.

The downside, however, is that if what Pakistani authorities say is true about al Qaida's resistance to having the young men become part of its network, it points to the difficulties U.S. intelligence agencies will have in placing spies in such terrorist organizations, especially Americans.

Obtaining good, actionable intelligence about al Qaida has been a particularly difficult task for Western intelligence agencies. The terrorist group's unwillingness to trust that the young Americans were sincerely hell-bent for jihad suggests that problem remains a significant one.