Battleland

Is al Qaeda History?

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As an unprecedented sirocco sweeps across North Africa and the Middle East, something amazing is happening: al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden are being left behind in the dust. Neither Islamic fundamentalism nor hatred of Israel or the United States is generating this force. Young people, linked as never before by technology that didn’t exist a decade ago, are in the driver’s seat. They want education and good jobs, and seem to have no desire to oppress their mothers, sisters and wives, or impose sharia law.  It’s too early to feel giddy. But what’s hatching in that part of the world has a lot to do with nascent democracy, and little to do with the brand of Islam peddled by bin Laden. Scott Shane elaborates in today’s New York Times.