We think of trouble spots while they think of global jihad.

He described the conflicting dialectics between local and global jihad.

They would have a sanctuary from which to launch their strategy of global jihad, a strategy that is directed first and foremost against us.

And set against the regular hecatombs of global jihad, much fictional violence seems almost pathetically modest.

"America badly needs an alternative vision - rooted in the liberal tradition - for fighting global jihad," he writes.

"And yet the liberalism emerging today denies that fighting global jihad should even be a priority."

This would include separating al-Shabaab from the concept of global jihad.

Unlike most of the organization's top leaders, its foot soldiers are primarily concerned with nationalist and clan-related affairs as opposed to the global jihad.

That's not to say that global jihad is dead.

Many went on to fight in Bosnia and Somalia for global jihad.