What al-Qaida Really Wants

The English adition of SPIEGEL has a critque of a book, "al Zarqawi, al-Qaida's Second Generatin" by Jordanian journalist, Fouad Hussein that outlines a seven step plan by al-Qaida to bring about an earth dominated by an Islamic caliphate. The seventh step and last phase is scheduled to take place in 2020. The book claims that al-Qaida is now in its second phase"

The Second Phase "Opening Eyes" is, according to Hussein's definition, the period we are now in and should last until 2006. Hussein says the terrorists hope to make the western conspiracy aware of the "Islamic community." Hussein believes this is a phase in which al-Qaida wants an organization to develop into a movement. The network is banking on recruiting young men during this period. Iraq should become the center for all global operations, with an "army" set up there and bases established in other Arabic states.

Hussein may or may not be correct. He is still apparently alive and walking the streets of Jordanian cities and that is not generally the way militant Islam deals with authors who reveal secrets or write things about Islam that the mullahs do not appreciate. This could be a dis-information propaganda piece from al-Qaida, but then again it isn't actually critical of al-Qaida, it just reveals the plan.

Bush told us in the beginning that the war against the Islamic terrorists was going to be a long and difficult one and we would only know we had won when there were no more terrorist acts. If Hussein's book is true we are only just beginning the fight.