Loss of this al Qaeda # 2 more critical than others for the religious bigots

David Ignatius:

The death of Atiyah Abd al-Rahman in an Aug. 22 drone attack in Pakistan may appear to be just another in the revolving-door fatalities among al-Qaeda’s operations chiefs. But it was a crucial blow to the core group that once surrounded Osama bin Laden.

Rahman was bin Laden’s channel to the world. Their correspondence was the most important prize taken from bin Laden’s compound when he was killed May 2. They talked about everything: strategy, personnel, operations, political setbacks. Whatever thread still held al-Qaeda together passed from bin Laden through to Rahman.

The Libyan-born Rahman’s death blunts al-Qaeda’s ability to stage a new mega-attack against America; it brings the top leadership of the group closer to extinction; and it increases the likelihood that the organization’s center of gravity will shift from Pakistan’s tribal areas to one of the affiliates, such as the robust al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen.

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It is hopefully a crippling blow. I suspect the center of gravity was already shifting to Yemen because of the inability of al Qaeda to organize and train in Pakistan without fear of meeting Hell Fire missiles. We need to shift assets to the Middle east to target the al Qaeda operatives in Yemen and Somalia.