Iraq War Becomes Cause For Next Generation Of Al-Qaida

On Web sites, in chat rooms and at radical mosques across the Muslim world, followers of al-Qaida and other jihad movements are using the war in Iraq to recruit and reconnect with cohorts committed to holy war against America. U.S. intelligence monitoring the chatter said it does not believe a terror strike is imminent though the United States remains on high alert. But experts say Muslim discontent over the war in Iraq could spawn the next generation of global terrorists. “The current al-Qaida leaders are all known now but the war is going to create new faces unknown to the rest of the world, and they will become tomorrow’s leaders of the groups that will never stop battling America,” said Mohammed Salah, a Cairo-based journalist who has covered Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and other militant groups for more than a decade for the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat. Salah said al-Qaida had a hard time recruiting after the war in Afghanistan ended and the organization was left scattered. Arrests of some top figures also hurt the network. Full Story