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Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7002256.ece
Al-Qaeda Is Losing. Prepare for a Daring Hit
(Times-UK) Col. Richard Kemp - Osama bin Laden - or someone purporting to be him - broadcast a message on al-Jazeera over the weekend claiming that the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up an airliner was comparable to 9/11. His broadcast was aimed at Muslims - hence its focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a cause that has never been important to the leader of al-Qaeda. Bin Laden knows well the powerful emotion inspired around the globe by the Palestinians' plight. By feigning support for them, he hopes to regain some of al-Qaeda's dramatically diminished popularity. Former sympathizers have become disillusioned by the death toll inflicted by bin Laden's terrorists in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan; they have killed many more Muslims than non-Muslims since 9/11. The Combating Terrorism Center in the U.S. concludes that only 15% of the 3,010 victims killed by al-Qaeda between 2004 and 2008 were Westerners.