Arab world wants democracy, may upset Qaeda agenda
Source: Indian express For nearly two decades, the leaders of al-Qaeda have denounced the Arab world's dictators as heretics and puppets of the West and called for their downfall. Now, people in country after country have risen to topple their leaders and al-Qaeda has played absolutely no role. In fact, the motley opposition movements that have proved so powerful have shunned the two central tenets of the Qaeda credo: murderous violence and religious fanaticism. The demonstrators have used force defensively, treated Islam as an afterthought and embraced democracy, which is anathema to Osama bin Laden and his followers. So for al-Qaeda and perhaps no less for the US policies that have been built around its threat the democratic revolutions that have gripped the world's attention present a crossroads. Will the terrorist network shrivel slowly to irrelevance? Or will it find a way to exploit the chaos produced by upheaval? For many specialists on terrorism an