I'd suggest a look at (from pp.14-15 pdf):
Ayman al-Zawahiri, A Mythic Figure or Fringe Leader within the Islamist Political Movement: Highlighting the 2006 Writings of Egyptian Journalist Gamal Abdal-Rahim (by LCDR Youssef Aboul-Enein, MSC, USN 2006) (15 pages pdf).Another vulnerability of Zawahiri is his attacks and abject hatred of the Muslim Brotherhood, that found its ultimate expression in a 1994 book “Bitter Harvest.” Zawahiri attacks the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hizballah for working with the government and participating in electoral politics. This only serves to further isolate al-Qaida and Zawahiri from the wider Islamist movement.
This is a book review, not a scholarly thesis; but it points up the links and disputes that now-target #1 had with the various factions and affiliated groups of the Egyptian MB.
While collateral to Zawahiri's relationship to EGB, I think this comment by LCDR Aboul-Enein (pp.13-14 pdf) is worth some present thought (emphasis added):
The wider "base-foundation" concept is somewhat similar to our (US) concept of a special operations base, which can have more than one geographic location so long as the functional components are networked.Another disagreement I have with the book is the insistence that the term al-Qaida was derived from the string of five Afghan bases (Farouk, Badr, Jalalabad, al-Siddiq and Jihad), it is most likely the name was derived from Azzam’s many speeches and writings calling for the establishment of al-Qaida al-Sulba (firm foundation). The language of Islamist militants is important, as base and foundation are two different entities, with a foundation connoting flexibility that ranges from base to a transnational world of global logistical support.
I'd hope that the above is useful for educational, not argumentative, purposes.
Regards
Mike
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