The New Terrorism

This study defines the nature of the war on terrorism by assessing the changing nature of terrorism itself and develops an analytical framework within which to assess the strategies of terrorist groups. It compares the strategies of old terrorist groups-Red Army Faction, Palestinian Liberation Organization, and Irish Republican Army-to the new terrorism, the militant Islamic movement. This study concludes that there is 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 counterstrategy but not necessarily the war that the United States is trying to fight. This study develops guidelines for military strategy against the insurgents by using the same analytical framework to assess the insurgents' strategy.