So where to start? Despite al-Qaida’s reputation for ferocity, plenty of wannabes wind up dropping out from it and its affiliates. Consider the September 11, 2001, plot. Even in Osama bin Laden’s greatest triumph, not all of his recruiting efforts paid off. Two Saudis who were selected, Mushabib al-Hamlan and Saud al-Rashid, decided not to participate in the attacks after leaving the training camps in Afghanistan. And in the summer of 2001, Ziad Samir Jarrah, who became the hijacker pilot on United 93, agonised about whether to withdraw from the operation.

Key members have turned against the al-Qaida from its earliest days. These include Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl, a Sudanese radical who was one of the group’s first members and helped work (unsuccessfully) in the early 1990s to procure uranium for the organisation; Essam al-Ridi, an Egyptian veteran of the 1980s jihad against the Soviets who later purchased an airplane in the United States to help ship Stinger missiles from Pakistan to Sudan; and L’Houssaine Kherchtou, a Moroccan who trained to serve as bin Laden’s personal pilot. All three became prosecution witnesses in the trial of the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998.

Looking at al-Qaida dropouts, some clear patterns emerge. Some left after becoming disillusioned with the group’s tactics and strategy. Probably the unkindest cut from any former member was delivered by bin Laden’s fourth son, Omar bin Laden, who had spent nearly five years living in Afghan training camps. After 9/11, Omar quit al-Qaida, calling the attacks “craziness”, according to the journalist Peter Bergen. “Those guys are dummies,” bin Laden’s son said. “They have destroyed everything, and for nothing. What did we get from September 11?”

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