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There's another dimension as well. I find it a little dubious that al Qaeda (correctly translated as "The Foundation" from what I understand- not "The Base") would have little hacker schools. I would think that really good hackers are people who have spent their entire lives connected to computers and not just that but who also had a very keen desire to learn to hack (I think back these many years gone by to the movie "War Games" with Matthew Broderick- seems so innocent now doesn't it?).

My concern had been that just as after 9/11 many groups and individuals who had supported Jihad withdrew their support out of disgust- so did the opposite happen- young people and groups who might otherwise not have supported bin Laden would've suddenly seen him as having an effective strategy and a just cause. I find it plausible that many young Muslims who have hacker/advanced computer skills who had been planning to have a nice career in the industry might have gone off and donated their services to "The Foundation" and its cause. Think about all those Muslims in Germany in the universities who might have been radicalized by the events and got on a plane bound for Pakistan and other points of call in the Islamic world- just as we know that many in Britain and America went to Pakistan to try to physically fight the coalition.

I think al Qaeda probably had no shortage of volunteers after 9/11 who just might have the skills to pull something like this off. These messages recently, allegedly from al Qaeda, that state "We will attack them where they do not expect it" certainly raise a few questions. They could've just been blowing hot air but I've been puzzling on that particular wording ever since. Where would be the perfect target that we least expect?

I find it plausible that many young Muslims who have hacker/advanced computer skills who had been planning to have a nice career in the industry might have gone off and donated their services to "The Foundation" and its cause.

I hope that it is as easy as you fear, because I don't have the slightest doubt that we're trying to put our folks into al-Qaida right now. No doubt whatsoever.

I can't think of a better way to defeat them than to infiltrate them.

Good points, all, PS. In the old days, technology with the potential to cause devastation, terror and panic were in the hands of nation-states, and, of course, we had James Bond. Today's world of reality makes even more powerful technology available to the barely organized terrorist groups, which makes it difficult for us to find a target to go after. Having nurtured the Taliban and Al Qaida for years, Pakistan is now selling the idea that it is itself a victim of terrorism, but wont let us in to wipe them out. Saudis are playing a similar game. Who do you go after, then?