Al Qaeda, along with the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, and Hezbollah, knows full well that it cannot defeat America and the West in head-to-head warfare, and it will not attempt that yet. These radical fundamentalists have a short-range goal and a long-range one, and the West is on the long-range list. The immediate goal is to seize control of their own nations, beginning with the moderate Arab states such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, and Kuwait. They want to control those states with the same strength Qadhafi has in Libya, Hussein in Iraq, and the Assad family in Syria. Only after that can they turn their full attention to an outright confrontation with the King of the North. Their attacks on the West come first from hatred, and second from a desire to break Western will to support the moderate Arab states. The object of terrorism is to create fear, instability, and uncertainty, freezing the West into confused inaction. Terrorism also wins favor with the man on the street in Islamic nations, those sitting on the fence, who may be pushed toward radical fundamentalism. This is part of a thousand-year war between Islam and the West, which is now rising again and is the beginning stage of the end-time prophecy of Daniel 11:40.