Well it seems clear to me that it is on the rise. But unclear as to whether this rise is a last throe or better coordination, networking, et cetera... Let’s hope it is not the latter. Remember, terrorism doesn’t depend on massive public support, democracy does. So a massive anti-terrorism protest doesn’t indicate to me that the terrorist ideology is receding.

Our actions/policies before 11 Sept. obviously contributed to the ideology of terrorism; as put forth by Michael Scheuer Imperial Hubris and mentioned here. Contributing actions or policies include

1) U.S. support for Israel that keeps Palestinians in the Israelis’ thrall.

2) U.S. and other Western troops on the Arabian Peninsula.

3) U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

4) Support for Russia, India, and China against their Muslim militants.

5) U.S. pressure on Arab energy producers to keep oil prices low.

6) U.S. support for apostate, corrupt, and tyrannical Muslim governments.

Not that any of this faults us and we should stop these policies, but some could be adjusted for positive gain worldwide in the fight against terrorism; particularly on the recruitment end. That's another argument.

I do not believe we should pick up and leave (although it is chaotic there and whether we are there or not, it still will be chaotic). I do not believe we should set up a time table for the exact same reason the president stated at Fort Bragg. But, like in Afghanistan with the Soviets, we are training the next wave of terrorists in Iraq; and we won't be able to kill them fast enough. In the vacuum after the fall of Baghdad we failed to secure unknown caches of munitions that, I’d say, could have been used in Egypt, Beirut, Saudi Arabia, et cetera… (not London IMO) and are certainly being used all over Iraq these days.

Iraq was a gift to UBL, he hated secular Saddam and our attack made previous statements by UBL (well before March 2003) true (WRT American aggression toward and imperialism into what UBL considered Islamic land). But the success against Saddam presents another problem; even if we are extremely successful in Iraq, we won’t leave it as a Greece, but as an Iranian style Islamic Republic or a Saudi Arabia and you can see a circular problem developing.

So, anyway, when I look at things nonethnocentricly, I can see how our foreign policy and domestic thirst for oil can be viewed as a threat to Islam. IMO, the greatest threat in the current Islamic ideology of terrorism is generating resentment and thus recruitment. Therefore our actions (not just the war on Iraq), IMO, have increased the threat, but this increase is necessary if this is the way we chose to fight terrorism; which I don’t agree with nor do I have an easier answer to other than the invent of a time machine or a massive policy shift (that would never happen in a Repub or Dem government). Even then the threat would still remain.