Al-Qaeda's ideologue, and second in command, Ayman Al-Zawahiri has a video tape out where he spells out the short and long term goals of Al-Qaeda.

Short term: the West

As I always thought: the goals are local to the Middle East, and does not target the West as a primary goal. Rather, he sees that Western governments are interfering with what is an internal struggle that Al-Qaeda (and other militant groups) would have won on their own against the despotic regimes in the region.

So, as a short term goal, he says that the West and Israel ("Crusaders and Jews") should be targeted, because they are an obstacle, propping up the regimes who oppress opposition (including militants).

Long Term: Egypt and Saudi Arabia

The long term goal is the governments and long time rulers in the Middle East, most importantly Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The background of both Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Osama Bin Laden includes clashes with regimes in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Al-Zawahiri was imprisoned after Egypt's president, Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981. Bin Laden was deprived of Saudi citizenship after his criticism of Saudi King Fahad after the Kuwait invasion.

Both fled to Sudan, then Afghanistan after these conflicts.

The rest is history ...