The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat: From 9/11 to Osama bin Laden’s Death

Description

Examining major terrorist acts and campaigns undertaken in the decade following September 11, 2001, internationally recognized scholars study the involvement of global terrorist leaders and organizations in these incidents and the planning, organization, execution, recruitment, and training that went into them. Their work captures the changing character of al-Qaeda and its affiliates since the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the sophisticated elements that, despite the West's best counterterrorism efforts, continue to exert substantial direction over jihadist terrorist operations. Through case studies of terrorist acts and offensives occurring both in and outside the West, the volume's contributors investigate al-Qaeda and other related entities as they adapted to the strategies of Operation Enduring Freedom and subsequent U.S.-led global counterterrorism programs. They explore whether Osama bin Laden was indeed reduced to a mere figurehead before his death or continued to influence al-Qaeda's global activities. Did al-Qaeda become a loose collection of individuals and ideas following its expulsion from Afghanistan, or was it reborn as a transnational terrorist structure powered by a well-articulated ideology? What is the preeminent terrorist threat we face today, and what will it look like in the future? This anthology pinpoints the critical patterns and strategies that will inform counterterrorism in the coming decades. Table of Contents ......Page 6 Introduction, by Bruce Hoffman and Fernando Reinares......Page 10 Part I. In the West ......Page 18 1. The Evolution of the Post-9/11 Threat to the U.S. Homeland, by Lorenzo Vidino ......Page 20 2. The 2004 Madrid Train Bombings, by Fernando Reinares ......Page 46 3. Operation Crevice in London, by Peter R. Neumann and Ryan Evans ......Page 78 4. Dhiren Barot and Operation Rhyme, by Lindsay Clutterbuck ......Page 98 5. The Van Gogh Murder and Beyond, by Beatrice de Graaf ......Page 118 6. Leadership and the Toronto 18, by Stewart Bell ......Page 160 7. Operation Pendennis in Australia, by Sally Neighbour ......Page 180 8. The 7 July 2005 London Bombings, by Bruce Hoffman ......Page 209 9. The 2006 Airline Plot, by Paul Cruickshank ......Page 241 10. The Foiled Attacks in Italy in 2006, by Javier Jordán ......Page 290 11. The German “Sauerland” Plot, Central Asia, and Turkey, by Guido Steinberg ......Page 306 12. The Danish Glasvej Case, by Michael Taarnby ......Page 329 13. The January 2008 Suicide Bomb Plot in Barcelona, by Fernando Reinares ......Page 351 14. Ansar al-Fatah and “Iraqi” Networks in France, by Jean-Pierre Filiu ......Page 370 Part II. Outside the West ......Page 390 15. Al-Qaeda Terrorism in Afghanistan, by Seth G. Jones ......Page 392 16. Attacks of al-Jemaah al-Islamiyah in Southeast Asia, by Rohan Gunaratna ......Page 417 17. The Mombassa Attacks of November 28, 2002, by Jonathan Fighel ......Page 432 18. The Origins of Sectarian Terrorism in Iraq, by Mohammed M. Hafez ......Page 453 19. The November 2003 Istanbul Bombings, by Guido Steinberg and Philipp Holtmann ......Page 478 20. The Sinai Terrorist Attacks, by Holly L. McCarthy and Ami Pedahzur ......Page 500 21. Comparing the 2003 and 2007 Incidents in Casablanca, by Jack Kalpakian ......Page 515 22. The 2007 Suicide Attacks in Algiers, by Anneli Botha ......Page 536 23. The 2003 Riyadh and 2008 Sanaa Bombings, by Thomas Hegghammer ......Page 562 24. The 2008 Mumbai Attack, by C. Christine Fair ......Page 588 25. The 2010 Suicide Attacks in Kampala, by Anneli Botha ......Page 617 Conclusion, by Bruce Hoffman and Fernando Reinares ......Page 635 List of Contributors ......Page 658 Index ......Page 662