Confronting Terror

After the September 11, 2001 attacks the United States went to war. With thousands of Americans killed, billions of dollars in damage, and aggressive military and security measures in response, we are still living with the war a decade later. A change of presidential administration has not dulled controversy over the most fundamental objectives, strategies and tactics of the war, or whether it is even a war. This book clears the air over the meaning of 9/11, and sets the stage for a reasoned, clear, and considered discussion of the future with a collection of essays commemorating the 10th anniversary of the attacks. The contributors include supporters and critics of the war on terrorism, policymakers and commentators, insiders and outsiders, and some of the leading voices inside and outside government.

Presents new essays dealing with the September 2001 terror attacks and the subsequent anti-terror laws and policies, featuring authors with a wide variety of viewpoints on the matter.

"Ophir Falk and Henry Morgenstern have compiled a book that should be read by anyone who is serious about winning the war on terror. By painstakingly analyzing the empirical data, they help us better understand the nature of our enemies and why they employ these barbaric tactics. Most crucially, they offer important insights on how terrorism can be effectively confronted and ultimately defeated. In so doing, they have performed an invaluable service for all those who are committed to winning this crucial battle."—Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel FIRSTHAND ACCOUNTS AND ANALYSES FROM FRONTLINE PERSONNEL AND EXPERTS IN THE WAR AGAINST TERROR Based on U.S. and Israeli experiences and detailed interviews with frontline personnel, Suicide Terror enables policymakers, first responders, and students of homeland security to understand and deal with the growing threat of suicide terror. It analyzes recent suicide attacks as well as our current vulnerabilities and high-risk scenarios for future attacks. Following the expert authors' advice, readers learn possible measures to prevent an attack. Moreover, they learn how to prepare for and implement an effective and quick response to minimize casualties and losses in the event of an attack. Following an overview and historical review of suicide terror, the book covers: Global jihad Israel's confrontation with suicide terrorism America's experience with suicide bombings Internationalization of suicide terrorism High-risk scenarios and future trends Methods for confronting suicide terror Medical management of suicide terrorism Using eyewitness accounts, the text re-creates the look and feel of actual terrorism incidents. Detailed case studies help readers get into the minds of suicide terrorists in order to understand how to best prevent and confront these very dangerous threats. This book is a definitive study of suicide terror, synthesizing the experience of well-known Israeli and American experts who have dealt with it firsthand. Anyone responsible for understanding, preventing, and confronting this devastating threat should read this book and consider its recommendations with all seriousness.

Confronting Fear addresses the question, "How did we get here?" The events of September 11, 2001, had their origins in both the recent history of the Middle East and in events that took place hundreds of years ago in Europe and elsewhere. The writing collected in Confronting Fear provides the broadest possible basis to probe and understand these horribly destructive acts—whose purpose and rationale is complex and sometimes even contradictory—by offering both a perceptive and comprehensive long view. It gets into the mind of the terrorist, from those who present terrorism as a tool against the status quo to those who see it as a tool to bolster the status quo to those who insist terrorism is a purely ideological act. Confronting Fear includes portraits from a global rogue's gallery of terrorism, including Robespierre, Lawrence of Arabia, Abu Nidal, Carlos the Jackal, The Red Army, Theodore Kaczynski, Aum Shinrikyo, and Osama bin Laden. There are also discussions of movements that are or have been based in Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Ireland, Algeria, the United States, Afghanistan, Israel, and Palestine, with writings by experts and literary figures ranging from Simon Schama, T. E. Lawrence, and Joseph Conrad to Menachem Begin and V.S. Naipaul.

This study draws upon declassified government documents, NGO reports and extremist literature to provide a thought-provoking account of the extreme right challenge in America. It will provide an invaluable resource to students of terrorism, political violence and right-wing extremism, as well as appealing to the general reader with an interest in contemporary American politics."--Jacket.

The attacks on Mumbai on 26 November 2008 brought home to Indians the full horror of terrorism. It also brought home, quite literally, the change in the contemporary face of war. War today is no longer confined to battle fields; it is right here. How is India equipped to deal with this menace which has been described as an 'ultramodern, and a very traditional, conspiracy'? In this collection of essays, nine eminent experts-strategic analysts and military historians-examine, among other issues, the capacity of India's police and paramilitary forces to deal with well-equipped, meticulously planned terror attacks, the army's ability to transform its 'reactive mode' to a more proactive approach and the complex dynamics of the nuclear terror threat. And, the big question, if elements within the Pakistani establishment are involved in the threat to India, what is the most effective way for the Indian state to respond? This collection illuminates one of the most burning issues facing Indians today.

Many negative stereotypes of Muslims can be traced to the clashes between the Ottoman Empire and Christian Europe in the Middle Ages. Paula Sutter Fichtner explores here the particular dynamics between the Ottoman and Austrian Habsburg empires and chronicles the evolution of a political relationship that shifted from hatred to understanding. In the fourteenth century, Ottoman armies swept westward across the Danube Valley before confronting the Habsburgs, who ruled central and eastern Europe, and in Terror and Toleration, Fichtner charts the religious and political conflicts that fueled 300 years of war. She reveals how ruling powers in Vienna and the church spread propaganda about Muslims that still lingers today. But the Habsburgs dramatically reversed their attitudes toward Muslims in the seventeenth century, and through this story, Fichtner explains how one can recognize an enemy while adjusting one’s views about them. A fascinating read, Terror and Toleration sheds new light on the deep roots of the often contentious relationship between Islam and the West.

This book brings together and subjects to critical scrutiny the core controversies connected to the so-called "War on Terror": When is it legitimate and prudent to use force? Is torture ever justified? Do we need to suspend human rights in order to fight terrorism? Is multi-culturalism the answer to communal conflict? Is Israel's treatment of the Palestinians illegal and immoral, an accelerator of terrorism, or legitimately defensive and largely irrelevant to the terrorism problem? Are terrorists responding to concrete U.S. policies or do they simply hate and wish to destroy Western societies? Liberal intellectuals and political leaders have been slow to articulate a grand strategy informed by liberal values for confronting these issues surrounding global terrorism. The book outlines the framework of a liberal strategy, and exposes the costs of the neo-conservative alternative that has driven US foreign policy since 9/11.