Last Hurrah For Al-Qaida?

Amir Taheri has an interesting op-ed in tomorrow's Times in which he theorizes that the recent spate of terrorist attacks is an indication of desperation on the part of the terrorists. I tend to agree with the basic premise.

The pressure is mounting on the terrorists. They are losing their funding, their safe harbor, and much of their support. They are losing their relevance in the world.

Which is exactly why they have to prove themselves as being relevant. The more it appears to the Arab Street that the infidels are winning the war on terror, the less influence the nutcases will have.

The terrorists are the failures of their society. They are the people who cannot build, they can only destroy.

The Arab world is at a crossroads in its history. It can either build itself to the level of the West, or it can try to destroy the West down to the level of the Arab world.

The moderates, like Turkey and Jordan, want to build up a new Arab world. They have not been perfect, but they have been working on normalizing relations with the West. Through their relations with Israel they show more tolerance than their neighbors. They are trying to learn from and work with them West.

Hizbollah, Hamas, and al-Qaida want to destroy the West. They fear change so much that it is more palatable to drag the world back to the 7th century than it is for them to try to move into even the 19th century. The Enlightenment that their culture so desperately needs threatens the terrorist’s importance. So they resist.

The terrorists don't particularly believe in their religion. They use it as an excuse for their behavior. They don't believe in any particular cause. Infidels in Saudi Arabia, the Palestinians, economic sanctions - they are ever morphing excuses for cultural impotence.

The events of the last few days are nothing more than a cultural temper tantrum. They are a cry for relevance. They are proof that the war on terror is working.

But we are not out of the woods, yet. The war is still yet to be won.