Al Qaeda is evolving: Critic

Scheuer8217;s interview with The Times was his first since the CIA imposed stringent rules on his access to the news media. A CIA spokesman said on Sunday that Scheuer was not authorised to speak for the agency. Since the publication of his best-selling book 8212; Imperial Hubris 8212; in July, Scheuer has emerged as the CIA8217;s most vocal in-house critic and the agency has gone to great lengths to try to silence him.

Scheuer noted that President George W. Bush and others have repeatedly said that two-thirds of the Al Qaeda leadership have been been killed or captured. This figure is misleading, he said, because it referred to the leaders who were in place as of September 11, 2001.

Al Qaeda has replaced many of those dead or captured operatives and continues to thrive as a guiding force for Islamic extremists around the world. 8216;8216;I think Al Qaeda has suffered substantially since 9/11, and it may have slowed down its operations, but to take the two-thirds number as a yardstick is a fantasy,8217;8217; Scheuer said.

8216;8216;To say they have only one-third of their leadership left is a misunderstanding. That is looking at it from a law enforcement perspective. They pay a lot of attention to leadership succession and so one of the main tenets of Al Qaeda is to train people to succeed leaders who are captured or killed.8217;8217;