Iraq today is not at all as you see on television or read about in the newspapers. Yes, there is a great deal of violence and many Iraqis are losing their lives both as a result of attacks by the former regime and its allies and from American reprisals. But it is targeted violence. If you keep out of the protected zones where the occupying forces are based and out [...]

In his first video message after the attacks of 11 September 2001, Osama Bin Laden referred to "80 years of humiliation and disgrace". This resulted in much speculation about what precisely happened 80 years ago, although anyone who has followed the ideological statements of al-Qaeda or the writings of Sayyid Qutb, one of the most important influences on the movement, would know that Bin Laden was referring to the abolition [...]