Al-Qaida Claims Killing of Egyptian Envoy

[JohnR]

Spence: Most importantly I think it's a mistake to assume this is an offensive war against the West for global Islamic domination

Originally Posted by Homerun04

Well said Spence.
I concur, with (1) exception.... I beleive in their minds it has already gotten to this point.

That might be the message of the guys pulling the strings are sending out to the islamic world but I'm willing to bet that most of the ringleaders are in it for the same reasons everyone else has used terrorism as a weapon:

Power: Many leaders of actions like this want the power and often the prestige of standing up to the west, particularly the US. Kaddafi & Sadam come to mind.

Waging war: It's there one primary form of attacking us, assymetrical warfare. They can't go to toe to toe with us conventionally so they go how they can, assymetrically thru terrorism. Worked for them in Beruit, Somalia, and they probably thought it would on September 11th. But it also partially worked in Madrid and likely influenced the election.