It is tempting to dismiss these cosmic ruminations and historical lies as the irrelevant maunderings of a man who cannot use either the internet or a mobile phone, and whose once prodigious wealth has been spent or is frozen. They seem curiously detached from al-Qa’eda’s usual tones, more like an appeal to leading Western Leftists.
Perhaps this is having some effect: two of the recent suspects detained on the cusp of a terrorist attack were young German converts to Islam, who a generation ago might have joined a Baader-Meinhof gang whose moralising posturings against corporations are indistinguishable from bin Laden’s. [...]
Al-Qa’eda’s long-term aims have not changed, namely the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate on the ruins of existing states some time before 2020, if informed Arab commentators are to be credited. This will then wage the final apocalyptic battle against the West. In those terms, al-Qa’eda has singularly failed, since it has not succeeded in toppling a single Middle Eastern, North Africa or Asian regime, while the US has forces positioned not only to combat terrorists in Afghanistan or Iraq, but which significantly influence decision making in the wider neighbourhoods, too. No wonder bin Laden’s thoughts are turning to the droughts, rains and polar icecaps, since there is little to console him in the world of men.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=0KLLQAWFWYFYDQFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/opinion/2007/09/11/do1101.xml