Here's an excerpt:
"The principal goal of terrorism -- to seize power in Muslim countries
through mobilization of populations galvanized by jihad's sheer audacity --
has not been realized," Kepel writes. In fact, bin Laden's followers are
losing ground: The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has been toppled; the
fence-sitting semi-Islamist regime in Saudi Arabia has taken sides more
strongly with the West; Islamists in Sudan and Libya are in retreat; and the
plight of the Palestinians has never been more dire. And Baghdad, the
traditional seat of the Muslim caliphs, is under foreign occupation. Not
what you would call a successful jihad.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004Sep27.html