Has Al Qaeda advanced its goals since 9/11?

In bin Laden's likely view: "We, have survived the infidels mightiest blows with our top leadership intact, which is evidence of divine protection ... by decentralizing, there are now many mini Al Qaedas, self-radicalizing cells, and the center is still in business which continues to carry out, plan, and execute operations at a higher pace since 9/11."

3. Arab and Muslim anger over the conflict among the Israelis and Palestinians has grown. "Their narrative portrays us, the West, as the aggressors, and sometimes we give them the recruiting posters with incidents like Abu Ghraib. Now, they are using recent events in Lebanon. Everything is used to try to show an implacable, relentless crusade against Muslims. Acceptance of that view has spread."

4. "This is not a military but a missionary enterprise. In their view the task of bin Laden is to incite and inspire. On 9/11, there was a handful of websites that talked about jihad as he sees it. Now, there are hundreds."

5. Bin Laden would probably say, "We have no timetables. We don't measure progress. Our task is to keep fighting to prove ourselves worthy. By our mere struggle we achieve our goals. If it's willed we will win, we will win. If it's willed that we should die, then we go to heaven."

CEO of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a counterterrorism and intelligence think-tank in London.

1. "Al Qaeda hasn't been able to deliver on its goals, but in terms of their agenda, they don't care if it takes 10, 20, 100 years, whereas we in the West are looking for quick solutions. The fact is that since 9/11 we have seen more attacks in more countries than in the world ever before. There is unfortunately a very large pool of sympathizers. They may not be terrorists, but a large pool of people are being drawn into the Al Qaeda ideology of perceived grievances...."

2. Osama bin Laden's "ideology was out there before the Afghanistan and Iraq wars took place, so it's nonsense to suggest these wars have created the problem. But, yes, it's true that the Iraq war has not progressed as hoped for... and it's true that any kind of failure in foreign policy will be used to their benefit...."

3. Mr. Gohel doubts that this conflict is important, "because their ultimate goal is the overthrow of the entire secular and Western world. This is not just a military battle, it's a battle of ideologies.... We need figures within the Islamic world, who are both respected within the Islamic world and outside. We need somebody like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. who can counter Al Qaeda."

4. The larger problem is a lack of democracy. "People in these countries only have a choice of autocratic regimes or listening to the mullahs in the mosques. The media spews out anti-Western propaganda, even in those countries that are technically Western allies like Saudi Arabia.... What is needed is reform to ... bring about something more tolerant.

5. "They're happy to wait 100 years. They see it as a war of attrition, to wear down our resistance. Too many people are buying into the fiction that the West is against Islam.... This is a battle of ideologies and the West can't win this battle on its own. The Islamic countries have to come on board wholeheartedly.... Until they do, it will be impossible for this message of global jihad and caliphates to be countered, because it isn't being attacked by moderates."

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