have to ask, in that case, what led these men to join a radical cause and become its leaders? The question is not only important in understanding these particular leaders. It may be even more important in understanding the movement that they lead.
The problem of understanding al-Qaeda is vital to both the West and the Islamic world. The concern of Americans and others in the West about the threat from al-Qaeda is obvious. However, the concern is also very serious for Muslims. Al-Qaeda creates two different, serious threats in the Islamic world.
One is that its ideology believes in unavoidable war between Islam and the West. In response, this same belief is sometimes heard from extremist voices in the West. If this belief were allowed to grow, it could become a "self-fulfilling prophesy." When enough people on both sides think that a war is certain to happen, often a war really will happen. People start to view everything as a threat. They take measures they think will protect them, but t
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