In an article posted on the reformist websites www.metatransparent.com and www.elaph.com, reformist author Dr. Shaker Al-Nabulsi predicts a victory by the Arab reformists over the Islamists. Al-Nabulsi argues that the recent attacks by the "fundamentalist terrorist movements" on the reformists reveal that the Islamists are in distress and that their defeat is imminent, and presents several examples to support this assessment. [1]

The following are highlights from his article:

"[These Death Threats] Reveal the Bankruptcy of Terrorist Religious Fundamentalism"

On the death threats received by reformists, Al-Nablusi says: "[These threats] reveal the bankruptcy of terrorist religious fundamentalism, [which cannot] counter arguments with arguments [...], and a word with a [different] word, but instead deals with words by means of the sword [...], and with life through death."

Al-Nabulsi discusses the audio tapes recently published by four prominent Al-Qaeda members: Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Muhammad Al-Qahtani, and Osama bin Laden. About Al-Zarqawi's tape, he says: "Yesterday, Al-Zarqawi emerged from his hiding place like an 'American Rambo' [...] making death threats against the (rafidite) Shi'ites, the (secular) Kurds and the (apostate) Sunnis [...] This reveals that the fragments of the terrorist fundamentalist religious army [are suffering from] bankruptcy, and that their defeat is near. Would Al-Zarqawi need to show his strong muscles on the satellite channels, like some highway robber, if victory were on his side? [...] Where has he been for the last three years? [...]"

"The Forces of Oppression and Darkness Draw Back Every Day, While the Forces of Light and Enlightenment Advance"

Ayman Al-Zawahiri's statements predicting the imminent collapse of the new Iraqi government are, according to Al-Nabulsi, "Al-Zawahiri's last dying gasps and moans, as he sees his defeat approaching on the horizon like the burning August sun [...]

"Muhammad Al-Qahtani [2] calls on veteran terrorists (the 'terrorist reserves') to join the regular terrorist forces in order to drive the Americans out of Afghanistan." Al-Nabulsi asks: "When do countries call in the reserves [...], if not when they feel the approach of a possible defeat?"

Bin Laden's explicit threat, in his recent audio tape, to murder freethinkers and secularists in the Arab world is further proof that "the forces of oppression and darkness are drawing back every day, while the forces of light and enlightenment are advancing every day, albeit slowly."