Special briefing: How radical Islamists see the world

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20050802/ts_csm/aqaeda;_ylt=AvZg7fPptOJZt0Ag7.tq192s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY
Special briefing: How radical Islamists see the world


By Dan Murphy and Howard LaFranchi, Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor Tue Aug 2, 4:00 AM ET

Persistent suicide bombings in Iraq. Attacks on London subways. Explosions at an Egyptian resort.


Whether related or not, these recent incidents have heightened global concern about the spread of radical Islamist militancy. And they raise questions about the current reach of Al Qaeda and groups with similar ideology. Today and tomorrow, the Monitor examines the origins of Islamic terrorism and how it is evolving now.

What is Al Qaeda today compared to five years ago?

In some ways it is less like the Al Qaeda of 2001 than like the Al Qaeda of the mid-1990s, before it was able to build up organizationally with a base of operations in Afghanistan. It is best understood as a radical ideology loosely inspiring a disparate and very decentralized set of localized Islamist extremist organizations.......