A course about al-Qaida and the rise of international terrorism was one of the most popular last terms at Harvard's elite Kennedy school of government. The international students crowding into the school's largest auditorium for the twice-weekly classes were a cross-section of Americans, Europeans and Middle Easterners, and current members of the U.S. army and intelligence community on sabbatical leave. Simply attending it gave me a sense of where tomorrow's Western and Westernized elites stand vis-à-vis "the long war."

The growing number of messages released by Osama Bin Laden suggests that he is trying to reclaim control of Al Qaeda, the New York Daily News has reported.

Since the Al Qaeda linked Website Al Ansar was shut down earlier this month, and its British-based operator imprisoned for his role in a bomb plot, terrorists have switched to a site called Al Hesbah, a US magazine has reported.

Bruce Hoffman is vice-president of the RAND Corporation and a leading US expert on internationalism terrorism and counter-insurgency. He spoke with United Press International's National Security Correspondent Martin Sieff.

President Bush's unprecedented inclusion in his weekend radio address of a direct reference to a letter that he said was written by Al Qaeda's number two, Ayman Al Zawahiri, highlights the fascinating insights that it appears to offer into the inne