Former No. 2 lacks charisma, may struggle to rebuild organization
(NEWSER) - Ayman al-Zawahiri's new gig as al-Qaeda's leader could actually spell trouble for the organization—most of all because he’s cantankerous. “He was arrogant, angry, and extreme in his ideas,” the son of Osama bin Laden's mentor, who met Zawahiri in the 1980s, tells the Washington Post . As Zawahiri rose to fame, “he fought with everyone, even those who agreed with him," says Huthaifa Azzam. The torture he endured decades ago in Egyptian prisons “affected his whole personality.” While he was respectful of Azzam's father in private, for example, the former surgeon derided him in public, says Azzam. More»
