Never mind, we'll do it ourselves

States they killed Abu Muhammad al-Masri in November of 2001. Pg 262-70.

They really mean the military commander Abu Hafs al-Masri. (Atef)

“ […] On the night of November 15, 2001 coalition missiles hit the home of al-Qa’ida’s military chief, Abu Hafs al-Masri, crumpling it into a pile of stones at the bottom of a deep crater. While most al-Qa’ida commanders had evacuated, Abu Hafs had been unable to do so because of a slipped disk in his back. He was crushed beneath the concrete of his own house.185 Nearby lay the corpse of another erstwhile colleague of Saif al-`Adl’s—the Tunisian who had shot down a Black Hawk helicopter over Mogadishu eight years before.186” (https://ctc.usma.edu/al-qaidas-soon-to-be-third-emir-a-profile-of-saif-al-adl/)

Abu Muhammad al-Masri was just recently killed by Israelis in Tehran, Iran (7 August 2020). https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/world/middleeast/al-masri-abdullah-qaeda-dead.html

For further clarification.

First in Line Understanding Abu Muhammad is important because as the United Nations Sanctions Coordinator recently noted, he and Saif al-‘Adl are “next in line” to take over the al-Qa’ida leadership from a potentially ailing Ayman al-Zawahiri. In fact, as this article will make clear, of all living jihadis, Abu Muhammad al-Masri has the strongest claim to succeed Ayman al-Zawahiri as emir of al-Qa’ida. In early 2001, al-Qa’ida and Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) merged after a long courtship. Usama bin Ladin named EIJ’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, as his deputy and successor, much to the chagrin of some in al-Qa’ida who saw the Egyptian as an interloper. Beneath al-Zawahiri in the hierarchy stood the group’s military chief, Mohammed Atef (also known as Abu Hafs al-Masri and not to be confused with lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta). Underneath Atef was a trio of fellow Egyptians: Saif al-‘Adl and Abu Muhammad al-Masri, both of whom had been with al-Qa`ida since its inception, and Abu al-Khair al-Masri, who came with al-Zawahiri from EIJ. https://ctc.usma.edu/next-line-lead-al-qaida-profile-abu-muhammad-al-masri/

The incompetence of this blows my mind. The CIA held this book up for publication for about 4 years and could not even bother to get their facts straight. Even his own Wikipedia page gets it right.

The other fun fact of this book indirectly mentions British Colonial Air Control. Mark Cooter mentions in his acknowledgments his wife Colonel Angelina Maguinness. She wrote an interesting short article on air power and counterinsurgency.[1] (Just an aside I found interesting.)

The book title can be found here. Other than that it’s an interesting book. Gives some extra deets on early Predator stuff. Depicts a much greater synergy between Air Force and CIA. Leaves out much of the bureaucratic over its budget and control of the program. I find it a useful text for OSINT stuff on drones.

[1] Angelina M Maguinness, “Counterinsurgency: Is ‘Air Control’ the Answer?,” 2009, 9. https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/coin-is-air-control-the-answer