Backfire

When al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawaheri issued an order for his terrorist squads to undertake "small-scale" attacks against the United States, little did he know that his plan could actually backfire and cause more harm to his group than to his intended targets.

By small-scale attacks, al Zawaheri meant terror operations such as that which targeted the Boston Marathon, carried out by one or two individuals rather than the large-scale initiatives like the massive September 11 attacks.

There is, of course, a reason for this shift in strategy. With security heightened worldwide against terror attacks, the chances of pulling off a large-scale operation are getting dimmer and more complicated.

The sheer logistics of planning and carrying out a big one and still hope reasonably for some good measure of success are no longer as reassuring as when jihadist terror operations were still in their height and everyone was in panic with almost no one knowing what to do about them.

But the targets cannot forever be inutile whipping boys. They eventually learn to cope with the threat and have grown better at the job by sheer force of conviction and necessity. There is almost no limit to what people can do in order to survive.

So al Qaeda is making the big shift by going small. And that is what makes these terrorists so terrifying. Because it is not the grandness in scale that appeals to them. It is simply and plainly the ability to strike.

For as long as a strike succeeds, it does not matter to these people if the body count is one or one hundred, for as long as there is a count. What is important is that there is no slack. The counting must continue, hence the strategy shift.

For it has been a while since Boston. Al Zawaheri must be fidgeting. While al Qaeda has involved itself in Syria, getting bogged down in an all-Muslim intramurals is not exactly the jihadist cup of tea.

Why, it might even sap its strength needlessly.

So al Zawaheri moved quickly to arrest the slide into potential irrelevance. He needs to replant the idea of terror back in the global consciousness. And the way to do that is to unleash quick little kicks against the shin of the mortal enemy the United States.

But by specifying a model such as the Boston bombing, al Zawaheri overlooked the fact that he could have called attention to all potential bombers -- individuals with a certain look or background, whether alone or in pairs.

Al Zawaheri could have inadvertently prodded Americans, and other westerners for that matter, to launch into unrestrained and random profiling of individuals. Any person with a certain look or sound to his name can become an immediate suspect.

Unless people knew better, there could ensue a massive witchhunt the likes of which no one has ever seen in this day and age. And that could set back all civilized behavior many years. And all because a terrible fear has been awakened.

To be sure, there are many frustrated and exasperated guardians of national security who have been waiting for just such an opportunity, for them to acquire the perfect alibi and give vent to long festering emotions.

We are moving into very dangerous times. Gone are the small comforts of being reassured that only big targets are in the crosshairs of terrorists. Now the situation has become every man for himself as one can no longer sit next to anybody without sizing him up first.