Citation

Nacos BL. Stud. Conflict Terrorism 2003; 26(1): 1-16.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10576100390145134

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Terrorists commit lethal acts of violence in order to realize their goals and advance their causes. They have a mixed record of success. This article explores the question whether the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside of Washington, D.C. were successful from the perspective of bin Laden and the Al Qaeda group. Although stunningly triumphant in exploiting the news media for their publicity goals and partially successful in advancing some of their short-term political objectives, the architects of the kamikaze attacks of 9-11 did not realize, and perhaps not even further, their ultimate desire to provoke a cataclysmic clash between Muslims and what bin Laden calls the "Zionist-Crusader" alliance. The argument here is nevertheless that from the terrorist perspective the suicide terror of 9-11 was successful in many respects and could well become an attractive model for future terrorism. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Language: en