American Thinker Is al Qaeda trying to influence the American presidential election? Former counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke recently suggested that al Qaeda may be trying to do so. After describing al Qaeda's recent attacks in the Middle East (Yemen, Pakistan), Clarke stated that these strikes may have been primarily geared at aggrandizing al-Qaeda's capabilities … [Read more...]

What Does al-Qaeda Want? Jihad Watch I recently wrote something of a lengthy exposition regarding ex CIA analyst Michael Scheuer's continuous characterizations of Osama bin Laden as at once Robin Hood, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Thomas Jefferson—that is, a man fighting oppression and tyranny, that and nothing more. Mr. Scheuer was kind enough to respond here. Now, it is … [Read more...]

Jihad Watch The Palestinian-Israeli question has been a thorn in the world's side for some time now. And clearly, many people—not just Arabs—sympathize with the uprooted Palestinians. The argument, in a nutshell, is that Israel was forcefully and artificially created and populated by people who, unlike the Arabs, are not trulyindigenous to the land of Palestine. Moreover, the … [Read more...]

What's in a Name? Middle East Strategy at Harvard During the eulogy of the eight slain students of the March 6 terrorist attack at Mercaz HaRav yeshiva school in West Jerusalem, highly-respected Rabbi Ya'akov Shapira made, for the average gentile, a rather elusive allusion regarding the attack: "The murderer did not want to kill these people in particular, but everyone living … [Read more...]