Juan Cole: May 10, 2005 Part 3

Al-Qaeda in Kuwait

A Kuwaiti court sentenced 25 radical Muslim fundamentalists for plotting to go to Iraq to fight US troops, or to fund the effort. They were also accused of belonging to an illegal organization. Only as you read down the Reuters report does it gradually become apparent that the "forbidden organization" is . . . al-Qaeda! Diplomats in Kuwait City told Reuters that "sympathy for Saudi-born al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is on the rise among Kuwaiti youth."