Al Qaeda's future

The Washington Post has a good article on the likely future of Al Qaeda. The prediction is that Al Qaeda will develop a "political arm" that runs for office and/or provides social services. I find this argument very compelling:

Following the historical pattern of terrorist movements everywhere -- from Russia's Bolsheviks to the Irish Republican Army to Palestine's Hamas -- we can expect that within a decade al Qaeda will open one, or possibly several, political fronts in predominantly Islamic states, transforming itself from a deadly but diffuse terrorist movement into implacably hostile governmental factions throughout the Middle East that will pose critical geostrategic challenges to America and our allies.