Atiyah Abd al-Rahman Killed

Of course, the big news just before we lost cable and internet on Saturday was the report that on Monday the 22nd a CIA drone killed Atiyah Abd-al Rahman, the Libyan who became al-Qa'ida's number two with bin Laden's death and Zawahiri's ascension to the top of the terror network. 

Those who read David Ignatius' piece on al-Qa'ida last week will recall that al-Rahman was bin Laden's primary conduit to the rest of the organization.  This raises the interesting question as to whether al-Rahman was targeted based upon information recovered during the SEALs' Abbottabad raid, or whether it was through the usual process that has allowed the United States to enjoy tremendous success in targeting al-Qa'ida's chief operational officers, who must remain active in order for the terror network to have any coherence. 

Ignatius, for his part, says that the Abbottabad cache provided little in the way of targeting information, but notes that because al-Rahman was a hub connecting the remaining senior leadership of al-Qa'ida in Pakistan, his death is particularly damaging to the network.  (CNN quotes a U.S. official as saying it is a "major blow" to the organization).

Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, now room temperature.