The death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden will only spell a moral victory for the anti-terror forces, but the “Jihadi” ideology is spreading and evolving, with the Philippines and Southeast Asia in the center of it.
In an interview on Monday with ANC’s Dateline Philippines, Maria Ressa Journalist and Terrorism Analyst said the death of the Al Qaeda leader is “a great moral victory…but it may not mean more than that.”
Ressa, is Current Affairs Department chief and former ABS-CBN News and now the author-in-residence of the Singapore-based International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, said Osama has been “out of the loop” from the group for a long time now, having been considered a “persona non grata” in many nations.
However, the deep-seated ideology, which Ressa calls “Jihadi virus,” has become “vital, virulent and spreading.”
And the same ideology has produced small rogue groups that continue to recruit of the same mentality even from moderate Islamic communities, she said.
“Regardless of the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the plots have continued; it’s not Osama who inspired them, it’s the perceived injustice against the Moslems,” she added.
“Terrorist network continues morphing and evolving as you get rid one of its leader, someone comes up,” Ressa said.
Example, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader Zulkifli bin Hir (a.k.a. Marwan) who is said to be hiding in the Philippines and is the subject of a m(–foul word(s) removed–)ive manhunt, cited Ressa.
After the cl(–foul word(s) removed–)ified documents from Wikileaks were issued, the Southeast Asia connection was made stronger.
Around 800 documents showed there was a Southeast Asian component to the 9/11 attacks that Osama had masterminded, Ressa explained.
The United States has already “understand the enemy they are fighting,” but it has been hard for authorities to “neutralize the message.”
Presently, most of the terrorist group are now using social media network to spread their propaganda referring to a recent posting of the extremist al-Faloja forum that they could use even Facebook for their invasion.