Al Qaeda's 9/11 Obsession

Every year since then al Qaeda has at least issued a lengthy statement remembering its 19 hijackers and encouraging its followers to keep fighting America on battlefields around the world. Sometimes these missives have included pre-taped video messages from one of the 9/11 terrorists. They always include a roundup of al Qaeda’s view of recent events in the global struggle with America; in effect, a state of the global jihad. Inevitably al Qaeda claims it is bleeding America economically and wearing down our will. This year it is sure to claim victory is close at hand in Iraq, with American forces scheduled to depart by year’s end, and that victory is coming in Afghanistan, with the first withdrawal of American and other NATO troops starting.