>Al Quaida may be irrelevant (or not), but the beliefs that drive them seem to be pretty prevelant in the fundamentalist Islamic world. Forget the messenger, listen to the message.

Agreed 100%. The resentments that drive Islamic fundamentalism have not abated. Israel has just done a wonderful job of inspiring a new generation of Islamic zealots. My only point was that Al Qaeda (however exactly it's spelled in English) seems a bit, well, impotent lately. Trying to hang on.

They certainly are not forgiven. Bring me the head of Osama bin Laden! We are in agreement that it won't fundamentally change things but it would still be nice to see.

PS -- as an ex military man, what is your theory about why we haven't captured Osama bin Laden yet? We have the most military might in the history of the planet, this guy directed the biggest catastrophe in our nation's history, and somehow we can't find him? We even know where he is, or claim to -- in the mountains along the Pakistani border. But somehow this is too big a mission for our troops to accomplish. What do you think we aren't being told?