The first war of the twenty-first century. That is how President George W. Bush described that start of a war against terror signaled by the catastrophic terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., on September 11. In reality, though, this conflict began during the presidency of Bill Clinton in August 1998 when the US responded to the Islamist terrorists’ bombing of American embassies in Nairobi and Dar as Salaam. This book provides the historical and political context to explain these acts of terror and the West’s response. After providing a brief history of Islam as a religion and as a socio-political ideology, Dilip Hiro outlines the Islamist movements that have thrived in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, and their changing relationship with America. It is within this framework that he describes the rising menace of Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaida network. Hiro examines the Pentagon’s amazingly swift victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan. He then discusses the implications of the Bush doctrine, encapsulated in his declaration, "So long as anybody is terrorizing established governments, there needs to be a war" – a recipe for war without end.
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