Can al Qaeda survive bin Laden?
Hoffman: Yes. Osama bin Laden likely conceived and designed a movement that is deliberately designed to outlive him. An immense dedication has always attended all of the movement’s most important operations. What bin Laden has repeatedly told his followers is the two watchwords of “patience and steadfastness.” For example, bin Laden spent five years planning the 1998 East Africa embassy attacks; the attack on the USS Cole was more than two years in planning; the 9-11 attacks at least two and a half years in planning. Given bin Laden and al Qaeda’s immense patience and dedication to planning, it is unlikely that bin Laden would not have considered the fate of the movement he created beyond his own mortal existence. Indeed, on several occasions, bin Laden has spoken openly of his martyrdom and of the fact that he does not fear death, but welcomes it, since it would, in his words, “create thousands more Osamas.” Considering that al Qaeda has already shown itself to have a deeper “bench” t
