Head of U.N. Al Qaeda Monitoring Unit Outlines Vulnerabilities of Al Qaeda and Taliban;...

Head of U.N. Al Qaeda Monitoring Unit Outlines Vulnerabilities of Al Qaeda and
Taliban; Offers Counter-Terror Measures in New Analysis
Penn Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response Hosts Richard
Barrett

NEW YORK, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Richard Barrett, the highest
ranking U.N. official responsible for monitoring the activities of Al Qaeda,
said the group continues to degrade seven years after September 11, 2001,
hampered by fragmented leadership, widely tarnished credibility, a struggle
for relevance, and a chronic inability to live up to its propaganda.
Barrett, a former British intelligence officer who heads the United
Nations Al Qaeda and Taliban Monitoring Team, presented his status report in
Seven Years After 9/11: Al-Qaida's Strengths and Vulnerabilities, last week at
the University of Pennsylvania Club here sponsored by the International Centre
for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (www.icsr.info). Penn's
Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis & Response (ISTAR), directed by
Professor Harvey Rubin, is one of four founding members of ICSR and the only
U.S. member. Barrett's report represents his personal views and are not
necessarily shared by the United Nations.
"We need to play to the weaknesses not the strengths of Al Qaeda," he told
the Penn Club audience that included ICSR members and supporters, diplomats
and journalists. Barrett characterized Al Qaeda as a "parasitical
organization that latches onto events around world and through them gives
itself strength."
Noting Al Qaeda's inability to live up to its ominous, internet-delivered
pronouncements, he offered, "Perhaps their greatest strength is their
propaganda machine." He added that the leadership has been forced to fixate on
security, live a precarious existence along the grueling Afghan-Pakistan
border, trusting very few and forced to rely on a tenuous communication's
system of couriers.
Barrett, who reports directly to the Security Council, said Osama Bin
Laden's mythical status, fueled by Western media, is greatly over-rated. This,
he added, works to Al Qaeda's advantage because it "exaggerates the threat"
and the constant caution demonstrated by governments worldwide increases
public anxiety.
While Barrett said Osama Bin Laden is now largely "a face on a T-shirt,"
the group's leadership cannot be taken lightly, stating, "They are limited but
clearly both determined and resilient."
As for the future, Barrett says anti-terror forces must keep Al Qaeda on
the defensive and limit its connections to the outside world. "The best way to
prevent this is to keep the leaders concerned about their own security and to
keep them pinned down in the remote areas of the Afghan/Pakistan border and
allow them to suffer the fate of all other outsiders who have attempted to
establish themselves in the region."
Dr. Rubin, who introduced Barrett as one of the world's most respected
voices on countering terrorism, lauded the new study as "a remarkably timely
tool for all those in the field and an eye-opening essay for the world
community."
www.istar.upenn.edu
SOURCE Penn's Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis & Response (ISTAR)

Dr. Harvey Rubin, +1-215-662-6475, rubinh@mail.med.upenn.edu; or Steph
Rosenfeld, +1-215-514-4101, steph@idadvisors.com