"The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country..."

"The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem] and the holy mosque [in Makka] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah'."

Just thought it worth reminding people of the aims of Al Qaeda. The above are the words issued on February 23, 1998 by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, along with three other Islamist leaders. This is their fatwa (binding religious edict) calling on Muslims to kill Americans and their allies where they can, when they can.

Let nobody say that we weren't warned...