'Don't feed the fundamentalists'
Fareed Zakaria from October 28, 2002:
Last week George Tenet warned us that Al Qaeda is armed and dangerous. He pointed to the series of threats and attacks around the world--from Kuwait to Yemen to Bali--as evidence that the organization is rejuvenated and in the "execution phase." One has to take Tenet's warning very seriously, and yet the recent episodes of terrorism can be interpreted differently. Consider the two major "successes," the bombing of a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen and the explosions in Bali. In both cases Al Qaeda--or groups inspired by it--went after non-American targets, and relatively easy-to-hit ones at that. For the past decade Al Qaeda's chief objective has been to attack major symbols of American power--military, political and economic. It bombed embassies, naval vessels and, of course, the World Trade Center. But since 9-11, with the exception of the recent killing of a soldier in Kuwait, it has not been able to hit America. Also, look at where it struck. In Yemen, Al Qaeda has deep connections; in Indonesia, it is exploiting a weak and unstable country and government.
In case you haven't (or won't, since this will appear more in the future) noticed, Mr. Zakaria is one of my favorite Newsweek columnists. More on him later.