Worst job in the world: Al-Qaeda leader
Many of my friends are young/uneducated enough so that they still work (miserably) at fast food restaurants or other low-paying unrewarding locations. But today, after reading that yet another top-ranking al Qaeda official has been arrested, I think I’ve decided what the world’s worst job is.
I’m sure that Abu Ayyub al-Masri was very proud of his prestigious position within the ranks of a right-wing religious group. But I wonder what went through his head when he found out that he was about to become the head of the organization. He knew that this meant an automatic place at the top of the FBI’s Most Wanted list, and he knew that his fate was unlikely to be much different from that of Abu Zubaydah (captured in 2002), Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (captured in 2003), Abu Faraj al-Libbi (captured in 2005), and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (killed in 2006). I can’t imagine how depressing it must be to constantly have to look over your shoulder until, one day, you end up just being caught. We actually heard reports about his possible death about a year ago… how do you think it would feel to have people rejoicing at your death? Is he proud? Is he depressed?
He must have known what was coming to him, as did everybody around him. I wonder if, knowing what the future holds, anybody ever turns down positions like this one. Was al-Masri the top candidate or did he just get the job because some other guy didn’t want to deal with the stress? Now that he’s caught, does that mean that others will be “applying” for the job or will somebody be forced to become a de facto leader? And, most importantly, now that coalition forces have caught another top-ranking al-Qaeda leader, does this mean that the war might finally be ending?
Interestingly enough, today is also the 5th anniversary of Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech.
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Never underestimate the power of the ego.
Or self delusion.
He probably felt selected.
Well, I think it was probably a patriotic feeling of doing a service to a higher power. I’m just curious as to what the accompanying feelings might have been…
I have trouble imaging anything about him. You can be sure of one thing he didn’t sit down and wonder how it must have felt to have a plane smash into your office and be forced to jump to your death or be burned to death. No I don’t care to walk a mile in his shoes. I know one thing that I’d like to see go through his mind though, a bullet.
Sure, the bounty on the leader’s head is the highest, but plenty of regular Al-Qaeda members have been killed. Just being a part of the group probably increases your chances of death/capture by a few orders of magnitude. They are probably all used to the imminent threat of attack and manage to deal with it, otherwise they might have to try to escape or something. If 4 of the previous leaders have been captured/killed, I’m sure several hundred normal members have met the same fate. My guess is the increase is power and fame is greater than the the increase in chance of death/capture.
I don’t think the war on terror with the Islamic radicals will end any time soon. To me, it seems like there is just way too much anti-US sentiment, which gets passed on from generation to generation, among them.
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