Paleopsychologist Howard Bloom characterized the current situation in America's ongoing War on Terror as a "battle between two cultures."

According to Bloom, Osama bin Laden's goal was to save unbelievers from corruption by converting them to Islam. Bloom believed it was important to understand that bin Laden did not recognize national boundaries, and rejected Western concepts of freedom, democracy and human rights. For bin Laden there was only one kind of world -- a world in complete submission to Allah. Those (like the United States) who did not submit, Bloom concluded, had been targeted for extermination.

Bloom imagined a future al-Qaeda attack on America involving nuclear weapons. He said the editor of a Pakistani newspaper has confirmed that al-Qaeda possessed suitcase nukes. Even more disturbing, Bloom reported that Pakistan had two French developed Agosta 90B stealth submarines, and is building a third. These subs were nearly impossible to detect and can deliver nuclear missile strikes on multiple targets. Bloom thought bin Laden would soon have access to the Pakistani Agosta 90B subs, and estimated a 50-60% chance of a nuclear attack on the United States being launched from them.