Has radical Islam, stymed in its international apocalyptic agenda by the west, changed its target? Ahmed Taheri thinks so:

When the Taliban fell, two visions emerged within the Islamist terror movement.

One vision, identified with Osama bin Laden, wants the movement to continue targeting the West, especially the United States. The other, advocated by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2, wants the "holy war" concentrated in Muslim countries, especially Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

The events of the past year or so show that the al-Zawahiri vision is in the ascendancy.

Even more interesting to me is the Iraqi terrorists changing targets from Iraqi civilians to US soldiers. This is a fundamental mistake, since our soldiers can shoot back and they have much bigger guns with which to do so. The press plays up the co-ordination and organization exhibited by these attackers, and considering these "troops" tend to be little more than enthusiastic teenagers they are right to do so, but that still misses the larger picture. Yes, they co-ordinate their attacks; yes, they organize command; but they have lost, and badly, every single time they've launched one of their carefully planned attacks.

Combined with the visible setbacks that Islamic facists and fundamentalists have received in the past year, it's growing harder not to be at least a little optimistic.

Have we won yet? It's far too early to tell, especially while the heart of this lunacy still beats inside the Arabian desert. But only a fool or a fanatic would fail to see we are winning.