11.   A committed enemy of Israel, Azzam believed the Arab warriors should focus on creating an Islamic state in Afghanistan, a process that could take decades.

12.   A good number of restrictions imposed on Iran after it was transformed into an Islamic state have gradually been eased.

13.   After all, Munib notes, the Taliban held no monopoly on harsh rule in Central Asia and among Islamic states.

14.   All say Chechnya must become an Islamic state.

15.   But it remains a formidable military force, and in the past it has called for the toppling of gulf monarchies and for the establishment of more Islamic states.

16.   But his first act as president, he says, would be to declare Chechnya a fully independent, strictly Islamic state called Ichkeria.

17.   But Malaysia is already an Islamic state, Mahathir asserted recently.

18.   But its leaders no longer talk about driving Israel into the sea or establishing an Islamic state.

19.   But their real crime is religious fanaticism, of wanting an Islamic state.

20.   But these Afghan and Arab fighters see the Chechen conflict as an extension of their jihad to create radical Islamic states across Central Asia.