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| Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century | 
| Author: Marc Sageman
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $13.99
You Save: $10.96 (44%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (8 reviews)
Sales Rank: 49125
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1
ISBN: 0812240650
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.325
EAN: 9780812240658
ASIN: 0812240650
Publication Date: January 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-8 of 8 | | « PREV | | |
 Somebody who gets it March 19, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Marc Sageman gets it. He explains in detail how the third wave of terrorists are more apt to adopt their extremist views through social discourse and the need to fit in. Many people believe that this war is ideologically based i.e. people are driven out of religious doctrine. This may hold true for the al-Qaeda leadership, who wish to return to the 6 and 700s , but for the vast majority of new internet "terrorists", they just want to be cool; they essentially want to be fearless ninjas.
That being said, I would disagree slightly with Mr. Sageman about US policy. It is true that this war can't be continually fought with guns and tanks, but given the time-frame context of 9/11 something had to be done to wipe out training camps, safe havens, and the upper echelon leadership. Now that this has essentially (with the obvious and unfortunate exclusion of the two top tier guys) been done, it's time to engage the Middle East with evolving tactics. Opinion polls show that folks in the Muslim Ummah admired the West for its technology and freedoms, including the right to choose leaders, but they fear western domination. It is incumbent upon our leaders to show that while extremely difficult, in the end the US as a whole are friends with Iraq and Afghanistan and we are there now to help them and to rid them of terrorist strongholds for everybody's mutual benefit. Despite all the turmoil and destruction, roughly 50% of Iraqis feel that the US did the right thing. That is saying something considering the numbers are lower in the US and much lower in Europe; places where people have never had to really endure such hardship in the past 50 years, but are free nevertheless.
Fighting a Vacuum March 17, 2008
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
Since the appalling events of 9/11, Forensic psychiatrist Marc Sageman has applied his social scientist skills to develop a largely accurate understanding of the terrorist phenomena associated with Osama bin Laden. This book is a logical follow-on to his earlier book, "Understanding Terror Networks" (2004, Amazon.com). Sageman provides his readers with what can and should be called target knowledge of a very particular type of Islamic terrorism. In doing so he also ventures into the more ambiguous realm of terrorist motivations.
In "Leaderless Jihad", Sageman argues that the bin Laden terrorist movement has operationally evolved from networked type of organization centered on the ideology of bin Laden and controlled by what he calls "al Qaeda Central". According to Sageman, bin Laden's leadership role been marginalized and al Qaeda has been transformed into a social movement. Essentially he maintains that what was always a very loosely wrapped organization has now become even more dispersed into virtually independent cells or nodes of socially connected individuals with only a vague adherence to bin Laden's ideology of Jihad against the "Far Enemy" in common. If this description is accurate, and it certainly appears to be, fighting the bin Laden phenomenon is much more of an ideological war than a shooting war.
Now Sageman argues that to win this kind of war it is vital to understand what the social and psychological factors are that are driving the participants in the terrorist movement. As his study makes clear they are not driven by poverty (except vicarious poverty) or by a longing for democracy as understood in the West. Sageman suggests that, as is usually the case, they are motivated by a variety of factors with the desire for justice for real or imagined transgression by the West against Islam being the most common.
Sageman in this book and in his earlier book, has done a good job of trying to build an accurate set of target knowledge about the real target of the largely bogus Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). As an additional book that will help explain the points Sageman is trying to make, this reviewer would recommend, "The Starfish and the Spider", sub-titled. "The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations" (Amazon.com). The three books together make sobering reading.
Critical for Understanding the Current Terrorist Threat February 16, 2008
33 out of 33 found this review helpful
The author once again provides an easily read and understood book about the current terrorist threat. He first provides us with a history of global terrorism and then explains how the current terrorist threat differs from terrorist threats that the world has seen in the past.
He then discusses the radicalization process that creates terrorists - this was incredibly interesting as was his explanation as to why there currently is a greater terrorist threat in Europe than the U.S. based on this radicalization process.
Further, he discusses how terrorists have been forced to use the internet as one of the primary ways to get around increased surveillance and border protection around the world. He then explains how this evolution in terrorist communication and interaction has created a "leaderless jihad" that we now face.
Finally, he concludes with well thought out recommendations concerning ways that the U.S. should consider moving forward to combat this evolving terrorist threat.
Overall - an outstanding book - a must read for anyone interested in the terrorist threat that the U.S and the world now faces.
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