[Telegraph-UK] Simon Scott Plummer - In a paper for the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Professor Audrey Kurth Cronin encourages Western nations to focus on the "plentiful weaknesses" of al-Qaeda, which she defines as "indiscriminate killing in the service of a largely fictitious narrative without a shred of hopeful vision." Bin Laden has been weakened by allied military action in Afghanistan and tighter surveillance of international money transfers. More significant in the longer term is the criticism voiced within radical Islamic circles about the morality of what he is doing. Cronin argues that the best counter-terrorist policies are "those consciously synergistic with a group's natural tendency to implode." A government's top priority should be "not to win people's hearts and minds, but rather to amplify the natural tendency of violent groups to lose them." The eclipse of al-Qaeda does not mean that it is no longer a threat. Nevertheless, opinion polls show that the Islamic world is turning against it.
2008-09-29 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive