An understandably chilly welcome: Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday the U.S. will waste no time in hunting down Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s new top dog. Mullen said, “As we did both seek to capture and kill–and succeed in killing–bin Laden, we certainly will do the same with Zawahiri.” Though he is considered intelligent, U.S. officials say that Zawahiri “has nowhere near the credentials that [Osama bin Laden] had.” Still, there is a $25 million bounty on Zawahiri’s head and he recently warned that bin Laden would continue to “terrify” the U.S. even after his death. He is believed to be hiding in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.
