“The Western media had ignored [al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-] Zawahiri for the most part until 9/11, but after he appeared seated next to Bin Laden…on a videotape…on October 7, 2001…analysts realized that even if Bin Laden was the charismatic figure and the symbol of Qaedat al-Jihad, Zawahiri was its unofficial spokesman, chief polemicist, and principal ideologue.”
– Gilles Kepel and Jean-Pierre Milelli, eds., Al Qaeda In Its Own Words, Pages 160-161