It was, in some sense, jealousy and drive that caused current Al Qaeda chief Ayman Zawahiri to betray bin Laden, with whom he was becoming increasingly estranged, Pfarrer argues.
“It’s been Zawahiri’s MO ever since he’s been a terrorist to push himself forward in every situation he’s ever been in," according to Pfarrer.
Mr. Zawahiri read fluently in English – and voraciously consumed anything written about 9/11, Pfarrer points out, adding that a number of 9/11 books talk about a courier that had been compromised in interrogations of Al Qaeda detainees. Pfarrer argues that for this reason, Zawahiri must have known that the courier bin Laden was using had been compromised.
“So why would he continue to use a blown courier? For 10 years, their tradecraft was so perfect that we couldn’t penetrate it. Zawahiri set up bin Laden," Pfarrer says.
He concedes: "Not everyone in the community agrees with me regarding Zawahiri. But I’d say about 65 percent of the people agree with me.”
The Pentagon has challenged many of Pfarrer's assertions. Click on to the final page to read what the Pentagon says Pfarrer got wrong.
