The proliferation of groups pledging allegiance to Al Qaeda by naming their own after them has cause not only confusion in the counterterrorism community, but concern about the degree to which there are operational links among them. There is an Al Qaeda in Iraq, an Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and an Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, to name a few.

In some cases there are connections, often via individuals.

However, ties are often tenuous at best, and the naming represents more of an homage to al Qaeda's goals than the sign of an organized franchise.

Without taking the issue lightly, it may be worth remembering the example of the Black Panthers, the militant black nationalist group of the late 1960s. Once the exemplar of a deep and violent struggle between American white establishment and law enforcement and an oppressed minority coming to nationalist consciousness, via violence, the group now has a legendary sheen in part born of its spectacular theatricality, and prescient fashion savvy- members wore black berets, and black shirts and slacks. And, at the height of its popularity, the Black Panther party spawned such admiration that groups the world over began naming themselves after it:

• In Israel, Mizrahi Jews (Jews from Middle Eastern countries) formed "the Black Panthers" to protest discrimination by the dominant Ashkenazi (Western European) Jewish Israelis
• In New Zealand, the newly formed Polynesian Panther Party plotted revolutionary overthrow of the New Zealand government in the mid-1970s;
• In India, a group of "untouchables" (a caste level among Hindus) dubbed themselves Panthers and wrote angry literature about their oppressed status;
• In the United States, a white revolutionary group called itself the White Panthers;
• Also in the United States, urban Puerto Rican groups calling themselves the Young Lords announced their affiliation with the Black Panthers.