“Al Qaeda central has suffered one blow after another this year. Besides the death of Osama bin Laden, drone strikes have taken out several top al Qaeda commanders in Pakistan, most recently Atiyah al Rahman, al Qaeda’s chief of operations [on August 22, 2011]. A senior U.S. counter-terrorism official told CNN that from an operational standpoint the death of al Rahman was a more severe blow to the terrorist organization even than the death of bin Laden.”
– Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister, “Al Qaeda 2.0: What the Next 10 Years will Bring,” CNN, Sep. 12, 2011