Even as the United States pursues the al-Qaeda across the world and kills off its top leaders, there is concern that it may be becoming a victim of its own success.
This perverse outcome is a result of the terror outfit's charismatic leadership inspiring nascent fundamentalists to follow in their footsteps once they attain “martyrdom”, and the latest example of this dangerous trend emerged this weekend in New York City.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Sunday that Jose Pimentel (27), a Dominican Republic-born U.S. citizen, had been arrested for planning a terror plot in NYC involving pipe bombs.
Apparently incensed by the killing of al-Qaeda-linked Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki by the CIA in a drone strike on September 30, Mr. Pimentel was said to have studied the Awlaki-inspired and now-infamous article, “How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.”
According to Mr. Bloomberg, Mr. Pimentel acted as a “lone wolf” though he reportedly told his friends he was planning to travel to Yemen before returning to New York to become “a martyr in the name of Jihad”. “He was not part of a larger conspiracy emanating from abroad,” said the Mayor.
The eloquent and Internet-savvy Awlaki, also a U.S. citizen, had inspired several of his countrymen including Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, the army officer who killed 13 people and wounded 29 others at a base; and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian “underwear bomber” who tried blow up an aircraft on Christmas Day, 2009.
In Mr. Pimentel's case, however, a wide range of targets may have been hit if the “al-Qaeda sympathiser” had not been arrested following an investigation lasting several years. According to Mr. Bloomberg, Mr. Pimentel's deadly attack would have struck police patrol cars, coastal facilities and targeted members of the U.S. armed forces returning from conflict zones such as Afghanistan.
It appeared that the police had been on to Mr. Pimentel over two years ago. NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Mr. Pimentel, then residing in Schenectady, New York, moved to Manhattan and planned to make three bombs. On Sunday afternoon, officers entered his apartment and arrested him.
