Like Osama bin Laden, his predecessor as leader of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahri had the blood of thousands of innocents on his hands. His death, announced by the White House on Monday, should be welcomed not just in the United States but everywhere his terrorist organization has wrought havoc over the past decades.
Al-Zawahri’s killing was a feat of patient, effective intelligence work. U.S. spies tracked him through his family to Kabul earlier this year, then spent months confirming his presence and observing how he spent his days. That information allowed an American drone to target him while he was standing alone on his balcony; the two Hellfire missiles that took him out killed no one else, according to U.S. officials. In announcing the strike, President Joe Biden was right to pay tribute to the intelligence professionals who spent decades tracking down the Egyptian terrorist leader and who devised the plan to eliminate him.
There was no doubt he had it coming. In addition to helping plot the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — which he called a “victory” in 2002 — al-Zawahri had a hand in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 200 people; the 2000 attack against the USS Cole, which took the lives of 17 U.S. sailors; the 2005 London transit bombings, which killed 52 civilians; and numerous other atrocities. Few terrorists of his generation were responsible for more bloodshed.
