A net assessment of the Middle East

(Second of two parts)

THE result was al Qaeda and its campaign to force the United States to launch a crusade in the Islamic world. Al Qaeda wanted to do this by carrying out actions that demonstrated American vulnerability and compelled US action. If the US did not act, it would enhance the image of American weakness; if it did act, it would demonstrate it was a crusader hostile to Islam. The US action would, in turn, spark uprisings against corrupt and hypocritical Muslim states, sweep aside European-imposed borders and set the stage for uprisings. The key was to demonstrate the weakness of the regimes and their complicity with the Americans.