RECRUITING PROBLEMS: For Al Qaeda: “The sharp drop in suicide bombings in Iraq is partly due to the decline in foreign al Qaeda volunteers coming into Iraq. The recruiting, mostly in Saudi Arabia and North Africa, preys on the unique social conditions in those areas. . . . The main reason for this is bad news, and some survivors, coming back from Iraq. Not many of these losers make it back, but the word gets on to the Internet, and this has caused quite a commotion on pro-terrorist web sites and message boards. There’s also been a sharp drop in pro-terrorist combat videos coming out of Iraq. This is largely due to the death or capture of the people responsible for getting those videos onto the Internet. . . . For most of the last four years, the al Qaeda volunteers would go to Iraq and ‘die a glorious death.’ Now the trip tends to end in despair and humiliation. The word is getting around, and the recruiters don’t like it.”
Of course, they did manage some attacks today. Is this the start of the Terrorist Tet that some people have been predicting?