quote:
If the jihadi army operated like other organizations, it also displayed much of the usual internal bickering. Recruits complained about their instructors. "Thank God for the opportunity to take this course," a recruit named Rami wrote in what appeared to be an evaluation of one of his classes. But then he pointed out that "I'm not sure about the requirements of this course, since the trainer pressures the trainees and stresses their nerves."
Commanders griped about their bosses. In an Aug. 27, 2001, letter, a commander named Abd al-Hadi al-Ansari commiserated with a colleague, Abd al-Wakil, about how their superior did not support them. He said he had noticed a recent loss of morale in Mr. Wakil and counseled him on how to navigate the frustrations of the bureaucracy.
"Don't let anyone put pressure on you. Don't accept an assignment you cannot implement," he wrote. "Whenever you are given a new assignment, try to create your own team and never choose brothers that are older than you."
Even the big bosses carped.
"I think that there are no more people who truly trust in good any more," said a memo dated June 15, 1998, from a Qaeda house. "Everyone has trained his followers so that they are only concerned about their own status, name and rank, that they have forgotten everything about following orders and respecting their main leader."
It was signed "the servant of Islam Mullah Muhammad Omar."