Al-Qaida’s Smart Bombs

In spite of US counterterrorism efforts since 9/11, al-Qaida has killed over 700 people in at least 17 bombings in the last four years. An overwhelming majority of terrorists who sacrificed their lives in its attacks were citizens of Persian Gulf countries in which the US has stationed combat troops. Furthermore, most of the other suicide bombers came from Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Morocco – close US allies in the Muslim world. Three months before the bombings in Madrid, in fact, a radical Islamic website precisely noted before that it would be more efficient to attack America's European allies – Britain, Poland, and Spain in particular – than the US itself. It seems clear, writes commentator Robert A. Pape, that last week's bombings in London were a part of al-Qaida's newly coordinated strategy. The London attacks, says Robert A. Pape, will only encourage Osama bin Laden and his followers in the belief that they will succeed in their aim of forcing the United States and its allies out of the Muslim world. –YaleGlobal