A forthcoming book by the former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency argues that the U.S. underestimated Al Qaeda’s ability to regain its former strength following the killing of Usama bin Laden in 2011.
According to The Washington Post, Michael Morell writes that the CIA compounded its failure to anticipate the Arab Spring movement in the Middle East and North Africa by predicting that the unrest would deal a devastating blow to the terror network.
“We thought and told policy-makers that this outburst of popular revolt would damage Al Qaeda by undermining the group’s narrative,” Morell writes in his book “The Great War of Our Time,” due out later this month.
The protests resulted in the overthrow of governments in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Tunisia. In Syria, demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad led to a bloody civil war that has spawned several terror groups. Most notoriously, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has overrun large parts of Syria and Iraq since last summer. As a result, the Post reports that U.S. officials expect regional conflicts exploited by extremists, like those roiling Syria, Libya and Yemen, to take at least a decade to resolve.
More at Fox News
Surprise
