Forget the doom-sayers. The French leftist are so sure that Al Qaeda is losing that they are suggesting that they change tactics and stop emphasizing Islam! That is the suggestion of Roy Oliver in his"pessimistic" article Al-Qaida Brand Name Ready for Franchise: The Business of Terror

It ends thus:"Al-Qaida undoubtedly stands a better chance of survival if it devotes less energy to defending Islam and concentrates on joining the vanguard of movements contesting established order and US domination." Roy would clearly be sad to see Al Qaeda fail.

His sentiments fit in very neatly with the analysis of his fellow countryman Gilles Kepel who argues that"Rather than waging a successful jihad against the West, the followers of Osama bin Laden have created chaos and destruction in the house of Islam. This internal crisis is known in Arabic as fitna:"It has an opposite and negative connotation from jihad," explains Kepel."It signifies sedition, war in the heart of Islam, a centrifugal force that threatens the faithful with community fragmentation, disintegration and ruin."

It also fits David Horowitz' argument abbot Leftists' Radical Islam Connection

Unfortunately, amongst the French, preference of Al Qaeda success is rather broad- how else can one explain this -"Add to this the recent bizarre phrase from French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The head of the Figaro press group went to see him about the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq; Raffarin assured him they would soon be freed, reportedly saying,"The Iraqi insurgents are our best allies." For the rest do read Amir Taheri's article.