The Narrative Monopoly

#21 - Tom Joscelyn, al-Qaeda & Jihad

Episode Summary

A conversation with Tom Joscelyn on al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Jihad

Episode Notes

Bio

Thomas Joscelyn is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and is senior editor of FDD’s Long War Journal, a widely read publication on counterterrorism and related issues. His main focus is on jihadism and how al-Qaeda and the Islamic State operate around the globe. 

He has served as a consultant for the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and has testified before Congress on more than twenty times.

He has constructed dossiers on hundreds of terrorists during the course of his work. He’s been described as one of “the most trusted authorities on the al-Qaeda network because of his encyclopedic knowledge of terrorist biographies.” 

In 2017, as a result of Thomas’s efforts, the CIA declassified and released the vast majority of the files captured in Osama bin Laden’s compound.

Times

• 1:00 - Intro to Tom
• 2:00 - Bin Laden files & al-Qaeda intro
• 7:15 - What was Bin Laden working on at the end?
• 9:45 - The narrative that Bin Laden was “retired”
• 15:30 - What is al-Qaeda?
• 19:15 - Rationale for 9/11
• 22:00 - Abdul Azzam
• 23:15 - Ayman al-Zawahiri’s role and is he still active?
• 27:00 - Media exposure of Zawahiri
• 31:00 - Day to day operations of al-Qaeda & Its history w/ ISIS
• 37:00 - Would al-Qaeda leave us alone if we got out of the Middle East?
• 43:00 - Congressional authorization of war
• 48:45 - What would the world have looked like if we got Bin Laden at Tora Bora?
• 51:15 - Challenging the narrative of “2001 invasion of Afghanistan was a success”
• 52:45 - The Taliban in Afghanistan
• 57:00 - Does the Taliban have the appetite to sponsor another Bin Laden?
• 60:45 - What’s the goal of al-Qaeda?
• 1:02:30 - Final recap of narratives
• 1:06:30 - American elites & leadership

Links

Tom's Long War Journal

Tom's twitter

Jeff's twitter

narrativemonopoly.com