The end of al-Qaeda?

Some high-profile defections have experts wondering if the terrorist group is losing its grip ...

....“The fact that a challenge has been issued to al-Qaeda’s core leadership doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to lose the argument,” says Jonathan Stevenson, a professor of strategic studies at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island. "Bin Laden and al Zawahiri still have persuasive arguments that are not really inherently weaker than the arguments of their challengers, at least in theological terms. The appeal of radical Islam and extreme forms of terrorism that takes mass casualties is still pretty high.”