While millennialistic cults can be powerful, they are not usually widely supported. UBL isn’t really seeking an end-state on earth, but one in heaven.

There are those who support UBL’s program, no doubt. But the numbers are small and shrinking. Al-Qaeda has done itself serious damage in both Saudi Arabia and Jordan, places where he once had massive followers (at least on a rhetorical level). Through his wanton killing of Muslims, though his use of takfir, he has alienated a large part of his base.

While the KSA has sometimes been called “Taleban lite,” most Saudis are not interested in going for the “real thing.”

‘I think Brzezinski is working under the assumption that UBL is working more toward the political goal of overthrowing a particular regime. Thus, if he were to abandon his stated political objectives, he would lose his financial/other support from powerful Muslims, and thus would be left with a “fragmented and limited movement.”

But it seems unwise for Brzezinski to underestimate the ideological element of UBL’s movement in such a way. I’m thinking of the 1979 Grand Mosque incident. At least in the kingdom, it seems that there is a powerful strain of the population that would like a reintroduction of the type of Islamic vision espoused by UBL. Thus it is not so certain that in the case that UBL would lose support if he shifted his political objectives.

Would you say that the reincorporation Cold War rhetoric is necessary?

At face, the war on terror seems like a very different battle.

Then again, I guess rhetoric is usually a means to garner increased funding, in which case…’

Afghanistan v Soviets (1,000,000), Taliban v. everybody else (600,000), Somalia(550,000), Sudan (1,000,000), Iraq insurgency (100,000 ?) – he’s been a key player in them all. His bodycount has to hitting 6 figures by now.