The Myth of Grass-Roots Terrorism - Why Osama bin Laden Still Matters
![handle is hein.journals/fora87 and id is 539 raw text is: Review Essay
The Myth of Grass-Roots Terrorism
Why Osama bin Laden Still Matters
Bruce Hoffman
Leaderlessfibad Terror Networks in the
Twenty-first Century. BY MARC
SAGEMAN. University of Pennsylvania
Press, 20o8, 208 pp. $24.95.
Since Rudy Giuliani's early exit from the
Republican presidential primary, the issue
of terrorism has barely been mentioned by
any of the candidates in either party. Given
its absence from this year's U.S. presidential
campaign, it is easy to forget how promi-
nent a role terrorism played in 2004. Many
observers believe that Osama bin Laden's
dramatically choreographed videotaped
appearance on October 29, 2004, may have
tipped the vote in President George W.
Bush's favor by reminding Americans
of the horrors of 9/u and instilling a fear of
future attacks. And although terrorism has
largely been ignored as a campaign issue
thus far, bin Laden and al Qaeda may
deliberately raise its visibility once again.
The publication of LeaderlessJihad is
therefore timely Its author, Marc Sageman,
brings unique credentials to the study of
terrorism. European-born but American-
educated, Sageman holds a doctorate in
political sociology and is a practicing
psychiatrist. He served in the U.S. Navy
as a flight surgeon before joining the CIA
in 1984. During the late 198os, Sageman
was based in Islamabad and worked closely
with the Afghan mujahideen forces that
were fighting the Soviets.
Sageman's first book, Understanding
Terror Networks, was an important work
that received little public attention when it
was published four years ago. It provoca-
tively challenged the conventional wisdom
that victory in the war on terrorism would
be achieved by killing and capturing bin
Laden, his main ideologue, Ayman
al-Zawahiri, and the rest of al Qaeda's
[133]
BRUCE HOFFMAN is a Professor at Georgetown University's School of
Foreign Service and a Senior Fellow at the U.S. Military Academy's Combating
Terrorism Center at West Point. He is the author of Inside Terrorism.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/fora87&div=46&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Myth of Grass-Roots Terrorism - Why Osama bin Laden Still Matters
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