Al-Qaeda keeps on keeping on. It sells its brand of terrorism to the younger generation, which sees its involvement as leading to glory in the next world. The U.S. military surge in Iraq has greatly reduced the group's effectiveness, so it's apparently headed elsewhere to spread terrorism.

An Associated Press report, citing U.S. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, noted that "Al-Qaida, increasingly tamped down in Iraq, is establishing cells in other countries as Osama bin Laden's organization uses Pakistan's tribal region to train for attacks in Afghanistan, the Middle East, Africa and the United States" (Feb. 5, 2008).

More than six years after the 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, "Al-Qaida remains the pre-eminent threat against the United States," said Admiral McConnell (ibid.).

Bible prophecy foretells that "at the time of the end," a "king of the South" (Daniel 11:40), apparently a leader from the Muslim world, will initiate a great conflict with the "king of the North," leader of a European-based superpower. Constant agitation and increasing terror threats from Islamic extremists could be the catalyst that sets such a chain of events in motion. In fact, some Islamic leaders speak openly of just such a scenario. Keep your eyes on the Middle East. (Source: Associated Press.)