... who walked in the Valley of the Shadow of Death and didn't make it out...
in 1988.
His killing in a raid by US special forces in Pakistain in May, followed by the August death of number two Atiyah abd al-Rahman in a US drone strike, has whittled down the network's leadership ranks.
Just two men are left to be eliminated from Al-Qaeda's central command, the experts say -- current leader Ayman al-
Zawahiri... Second in command of al-Qaeda, occasionally described as
the real brainsof the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's
fatwaentitled
World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders.Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
and senior thug Abu Yahya al-Libi.
Disappear completely
"That's basically it. If they are killed, it's as close to over as it can ever be," said Brian Fishman of the New America Foundation and the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
"Al-Qaeda will never completely disappear," Fishman pointed out.
"There is always going to be somebody who is going to pick up a gun or try to build an IED in the name of Al-Qaeda," he told AFP.
"We'll have to learn to live with it, just like in the US we live with the fact that every once and a while a guy kills a police officer or a black and call himself a neo-Nazi."
Fishman predicted the group feared the world over in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on US soil will become a network of "lone wolves" -- meaning the wider group has failed.
Andrew Exum, who led a platoon of Army Rangers in Iraq and Afghanistan, predicted Al-Qaeda could disappear within the next year or 18 months.
Mortally maimed
"They already are mortally maimed -- the death of Al-Zawahiri would have a devastating effect," added Exum, of the Center for a New American Security.
The stakes are high for Washington, which has created a massive -- and costly -- anti-terrorism and national security apparatus since 9/11 that employs thousands of civilians and military officers.
While the decline of the threat posed by Al-Qaeda could lead to some budget reductions, no US official is likely to risk officially declaring victory over the much reviled group.