The New Terrorism

This study defines the nature of the War on Terrorism by assessing the changing nature of terrorism itself. The author develops an analytical framework within which to assess the strategies of terrorist groups. He then goes on to compare the strategies of "old" terrorist groups, namely the Red Army Faction, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and the Irish Republican Army, to the "new" terrorism, which he calls the militant Islamic movement. The conclusion is that there is indeed a "new terrorism" that is not merely terrorism but a global insurgency. The strategy of this new movement requires an aggressive war on terrorism as a counter-strategy, but not necessarily the war that the United States is trying to fight. The writer develops guidelines for military strategy against the insurgents, using the same analytical framework he used to assess the insurgents' strategy.