On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, Ken Brown wrote:
Ken McLeod posted the following to rec.arts.sf.fandom
Forwarded with permission from China Mieville, fantasy writer and student of international relations:
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My supervisor, an expert in the Middle East, told me about a rumour circulating about the name of Bin Laden's network. The term 'Al-Qaeda' seems to have no political precedent in Arabic, and has therefore been something of a conundrum to the experts, until someone pointed out that a very popular book in the Arab world, Arabs apparently being big readers of translated SF, is Asimov's _Foundation_, the title of which is translated as 'Al-Qaeda'.
*********** http://www.jerrykindall.com/2001/october.asp Apparently, "al-Qaeda" means "the base." Which will almost certainly lead to an obnoxious rash of "al your Qaeda are belong to U.S." sightings. *********** The name came into use when Osama used his cash to bankroll a series of bases in Pakistan to assist fighters on their way Afghanistan to fight the Commies. He used the opportunity to collect a rather valuable direct marketing list of somme 40,000 names and addresses of dedicated Musselman Warriors for future use. Wonder what dbase software he uses? DCF ---- "War is a great excuse to get out of the house and away from the wife and kids."