The war against the West – which was brought to America on September 11, 2001, and has continued throughout the world with attacks in Spain and London – has been referred to by leading Arab writers as “a chapter in World War III.” Terrorists have beheaded and slit the throats of Westerners and blown up planes, trains, and buses in purposefully brutal acts intended to spread fear. One notable example includes the suicide car bombing of a crowd of children receiving candy from America soldiers in Iraq, killing 24 of them on July 14, 2005.

As the fourth anniversary of September 11 approaches, it is worth reviewing what President Bush told the American people on September 15, 2001: “This is a conflict without battlefields … a conflict with opponents who believe they are invisible … Victory against terrorism will not take place in a single battle, but in a series of decisive actions … You will be asked for your patience, for the conflict will not be short … You will be asked for your strength, because the course to victory may be long.”

It is also important to remember that the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center took a long time to plan and implement. Now Al Qaeda members have vowed that more attacks are on the way. A tape from Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was broadcast on Al-Jazeera on August 4, “Oh, Americans, what you have seen in New York and Washington … are nothing but the casualties of the initial clashes.”

Other Al Qaeda leaders have warned of future attacks. Islamist Web sites in June 2002 quoted the group’s spokesman at the time, Suleiman Abu Gheith, as saying that Al Qaeda will be “continuing our blows against the U.S.” and that “America must prepare itself … Allah willing, the blow will come from where they least expect it.” He warned: “We have the right to kill 4 million Americans – 2 million of them children – and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple hundreds of thousands.”

Several Islamist Web sites in November 2003 posted an interview with a close associate of bin Laden, Abu Salma al-Hijazi, in which he promised a “huge and very courageous strike” by Al Qaeda. He predicted the number of “infidels” killed would exceed 100,000, warning: “We are patient,” and “our patience will only end with the collapse of America and its agents.”

Mahfouz Walad al-Walid, otherwise known as Abu Hafs “the Mauritanian,” was interviewed on November 30, 2001, on Al-Jazeera. “One of the acts of grace of this generation was to kill the Americans, to incite to this killing, to fight in the jihad against them with full force. I and my brothers in the Al Qaeda organization … swore an oath to carry out the mission,” he said, adding, “In our opinion, America has entered the phase of the beginning of the end.”

Al Qaeda’s stance on the destruction of America is shared by many prominent Islamic scholars who are frequently quoted by the Arab press. A Saudi professor, Nasser Bin Suleiman al-Omar, spoke on Saudi-owned Al-Majd TV on June 13, 2004: “Today, America is defeated. I have no doubt, not even for a minute that America is on its way to destruction. But as Ibn Khaldoun said, just as it takes decades for nations to rise, it takes them decades to collapse. They don’t collapse overnight … It will be destroyed gradually. America will be destroyed. But we must be patient.”

The volume of calls for America’s collapse and the ongoing celebration of September 11, 2001, are rampant. Sheikh Mahmoud Al-Masri who appeared on Al-Majd TV on March 2, 2005, explained what it was like being in New York on that day to an Arab audience who laughed with him when he described “how beautiful” it was as the World Trade Center fell and the reaction of the “wretched” American people who quickly embraced Islam.

As the war on terror continues, action must be taken by Western governments. Supporting true Arab and Muslim reformists both here and abroad is crucial. To date, MEMRI’s work has introduced many reformists to the West, as well as led to shutting down Islamists Web sites hosted in North America; exposed extremist clerics who say one thing in English and another in Arabic, and led the way in banning Arab and Iranian TV channels such as Iran’s Sahar TV and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar throughout the West. There is much unfinished work to complete as the war on terror continues.

Mr. Stalinsky is the Executive Director of the Middle East Media Research Institute.