PREVIEW: SPECIAL EDITION - What happened to al-Qaeda? Will Kaback interviews American journalist Graeme Wood.
TangleShow Notes
It’s been nearly 25 years since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Virtually all of the leadership of al-Qaeda that planned and orchestrated the attacks have now been killed, but the group remains intact today. But if you talk to national security and terrorism experts, they’ll offer wildly different assessments of how strong — and how much of a threat — it still poses.
Graeme Wood is a journalist and staff writer at The Atlantic who covers the Middle East, terrorism, and political Islam. Earlier this month, he published a piece in The Atlantic with a simple, provocative title: What happened to al-Qaeda?
In it, Wood explores competing views of whether the organization was strategically brilliant, catastrophically incompetent, quietly resurgent, or simply no longer the force it once was. In this episode, Senior Editor Will Kaback explores this question with him — and dives into his thoughts on what al-Qaeda’s trajectory reveals about America’s response to terrorism, the unintended consequences of U.S. foreign policy, and the difficulty of knowing when a seemingly diminished threat is genuinely gone.
Ad-free podcasts are here! Get 20% off your first year of ad-free episodes, exclusive interviews, and deep dives with Tangle’s podcast membership!
Should billionaires exist? In Friday’s members-only post, Isaac explored the question of whether billionaires should exist — and dove into generalizations about them all being evil. The piece has already garnered over 600 comments, a strong indication that you have your own opinions. You can read it (and join the conversation) here.
You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here.
Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.
This podcast hosted by: Will Kaback and audio engineered and edited by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75 and Jon Lall.
Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Bailey Saul, Audrey Moorehead, and Carina Pacheco. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Tangle
I spent five months tracking every Trump corruption story. Here’s what I found.
On Tuesday, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s (R) campaign released an advertisement featuring his opponent Amy Acton’s (D) mother, Donna Arthur, accusing her daughter of lying about her childhood and urging Ohioans to vote against her. The ad has generated backlash after Acton’s campaign and news outlets highlighted that Acton’s stepfather, whom Arthur remained married to until his death, was charged with sexually assaulting Acton when she was 12.
In today's episode of Suspension of the rules, Isaac, Ari, and Kmele discuss a controversial Ohio campaign ad, the prospect of a Democratic midterm wave, riots in France, and the challenges of separating political narratives from facts. Last but not least, our grievances. Its a good one!
This is the debut edition of “A Grain of Saul,” a fresh newsletter from me, Isaac Saul, within the Tangle ecosystem. It’ll come out every week or two, and I’ll use it to explore controversial ideas, hot debates, trending stories, and some political-adjacent issues that don’t make it into Tangle. We’re giving these first few editions away for free, then it’ll be going behind a paywall as a perk for paying members only. Enjoy!
On Wednesday, October 14, Ukrainian officials reported that its access to the services it uses to coordinate drone missions was hampered, signaling a potential shift in U.S. policy toward the country amid its war with Russia. The disruption came on the heels of a deal to buy Russian diesel, an executive order lifting sanctions passed by Congress in September, and comments from President Donald Trump accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of not wanting to end the war.