Al-Qaeda was, and is, a mere loose affiliation of criminal gangs with a violent cause, a hodgepodge of hate, and a drive for spectacular and showy crimes. This gang started its existence with a goal of overthrowing the Saudi regime. They could have not imagined a better publicist than the American government to elevate their criminal enterprise to a larger-than-life monster, supposedly capable of ending the ways of life in democracies and the end of the world as we know it. The leader of the gang was on television at all hours as the riddle occupied the airwaves. The trees stopped everything to see the jungle. It soon became an overblown enigma as politicians found the urgent need to attack a sovereign Iraq, if only to set up a ruse and an arena to throw down the gauntlet against “The Gang.” An asymmetric fight ensued for several years and a modern, powerful army with the latest technologies spent more than $2 billion a week to fend off the challenge of an ill-trained gang of criminals. A madman and a handful of cronies were promoted to the living version of all fictional villains in James Bond films and Batman cartoons. A few trillion dollars were spent to chase villains in Afghan or Pakistani caves; alas, the elusive targets still remain at large. (So, at the end of several years, should the stakeholders know how many caves are in that mountain range and the rough budget on a per cave basis?)

In the real world, however, al-Qaeda has gone down an unmistakable, self-defeating path. The subscriber base of this criminal gang simply did not grow with the scale of publicity afforded to it. Out of more than a billion Muslims, only a few thousand – and mostly disenchanted, marginalised and unemployed – youth ever bought the story of raw, aimless violence. The absurd “Jihad” recruiting slogan was a bust for al-Qaeda; alas, it proved to be a political bonanza for another lot of extremists and an opportunity to hijack mindset. It proved as a windfall chance to paint a simplistic, surreal picture of all Muslims around the world. News leaks were a-plenty about the “big bust” of al-Qaeda when a few confused and marginalised Pakistani immigrants were caught with some radical readings in, say, a suburb of a British town. Amateur criminals were mistaken for master politicians and a faction that was purportedly, if not laughably, a more potent band than the sum of evil communism, nasty fascism and The Crusades. In turn, the fight warranted the suspension of laws, respect for privacy and ban of investment by Arab sovereign funds. All were ordered to recall Ceausescu’s Romania and to report suspicious activity – if only for the cause! Panic now, think much later!

Given the end of the political cycle in America and the inflation-laced anti-war sentiments, it is not surprising to see early declarations of a deceptive victory over a misunderstood hoax mislabeled as a political movement. Al-Qaeda was, and remains, a criminal enterprise, largely funded with drug money from Afghanistan. It is likely to resurface with a new name and illicit deeds. But a sharp focus must lead logic from mistaking crime with political deeds. Otherwise it will prove to be self-defeating indeed and a lavish waste of credibility beyond repair.