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But that is only partly good news for the USA.
The objective of al Qaeda has never been secret: it is to establish a pan-Muslim dictatorship as a world power. The strategy was, by means of terrorism, to provoke the west (US mostly) into attacks on Muslim nations that would force the Muslim nations to unite in self-defense -- under bin Laden's leadership, of course. Despite everything George*W*Bush could do to help them, they have abandoned that objective.
(I don't mean W* is a traitor conspirator -- my theory is he really is a numbskull. But he helped them by 1) declaring "war on terrorism," thus recognizing them as belligerents, a quasi-state position that is at the top of any rebel group's diplomatic wish list, 2) declaring the war on terror is a crusade, and 3) widening the war by invading Iraq. Each of these supported their main objective.)
However, despite all that help, they must no longer see that pan-Muslim war as a real possibility, because the recent strikes are pretty clearly aimed at a different objective: a civil war between Shia and Sunni Muslims. But such an inter-Muslim war contradicts the pan-Muslim objectives of al Qaeda. The most that it could acheive would be a Sanafi dictatorship over other Muslims. But such a dictatorship would be so weaked by its internal conflicts that it would have little impact on the world balance of power and it probably would not last long. And it probably is not attainable, since the Sunni regions are divided by a solid bloc of Shiites in Iran and southern Iraq. Pogroms against Shia where they are vulnerable would lead to war among Muslim nations -- perhaps to a nuclear war between Shiite-nuclear Iran and Sunni-nuclear Pakistan. Saudi Arabia would probably be completely disrupted. This is all bad news for the USA -- and everybody else! -- but it would divide and weaken, not unite and strengthen, Islam. It might lead the Muslim center to assert itself, as it has not done to date, and that is about the best we can hope for.
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