Al Qaeda's reach grows, with help from Web

"All of these people who fought before are related directly to Al Qaeda," he says. Others are members of Islamic groups who act independently, but may have "wedded" themselves to Al Qaeda after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

"The Islamist movement here is trying to rejuvenate themselves through new terrorist acts, and at the moment they can get help from Al Qaeda," says Prof. Nilufer Narli, a political sociologist at Kadin Has University.

"There is no evidence that directly links this to Al Qaeda, but Al Qaeda is a loose network," Professor Narli says. "It's like a spider web. The planning of the actual attack is very local, but it is clear that the concept and some assistance is international. Some of the assistance can come in the form of intelligence as well."

From Turkey to Iraq and beyond, there are signs that Al Qaeda has become extremely proficient at getting its message out - through television, newspapers, and the Internet, officials say.

Websites continue to crop up more quickly than the CIA can shut them down. The sites are used as vehicles for recruitment - often showing videos of what Al Qaeda members say depict US abuse of Muslims in Iraq, among other places, at the behest of Israel.

On websites this past weekend, for example, two different militant groups claimed responsibility for the attacks in Turkey and warned of other attacks in the works against the US and its allies. Moreover, an Arab language newspaper based in London published a statement purported to be from the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigrades, affiliated with Al Qaeda. The group claimed responsibility for the attacks in Turkey and went on to threaten the US and its allies.

Indeed, what bin Laden is doing quite well in the Muslim world, officials and experts say, is constantly casting the US as exploiting and repressing Muslims.

Take the situation in Iraq. "Look at it from bin Laden's point of view," says Robert Baer, a former CIA undercover operative who spent many years in the region. Bin Laden's assumption was that the US used Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction as an excuse to invade Iraq. Now that none have been found, he is exploiting that and the fact that US officials now say Hussein was evil and he had to be removed. "They're using that argument to say the US wants to occupy the Middle East on behalf of Israel."

Baer adds that the current operation in Iraq - Iron Hammer - only further strengthens bin Laden's position.

"Now that the US is using F-15s to again bomb civilian neighborhoods, [bin Laden and his associates] immediately point to what [Israeli Prime Minister] Ariel Sharon is doing to the Palestinians and says there's no difference between that and what is happening in Iraq."

A senior intelligence official agrees. "Iraq is an unexpected gift for Al Qaeda," he says. "I think you have the world series of jihad going on now in Iraq."

This is one reason Germany appointed a commissioner for dialogue with Islamic countries. "We need a serious dialogue to close the credibility gap if we want to win the battle for hearts and minds in future generations," says Gunter Mulack, Germany's ambassador to the Islamic world. "Iraq has become an example of occupation and not liberty to [many] Muslims."

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