— Shows how we must engage with Al Qaeda to defeat terrorism — "Mohamedou provides a much-needed secular understanding of Al Qaeda. Unlike most writers, [he] insists on understanding the changing significance of [Al Qaeda’s] discourse against a historical backdrop."Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Columbia University and author of ‘Good Muslim, Bad Muslim’"This sober and sobering analysis is essential reading for Americans and Europeans, and opinion leaders everywhere."Abdullahi An-Naim, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, Emory University Why does Al Qaeda attack the West? What are they trying to achieve?This incisive book argues that it’s essential for the West to take a new approach to dealing with Al Qaeda. The ‘war on terror’ is failing, and only serves to recruit more terrorists to Al Qaeda’s cause. Offering a cogent analysis of Al Qaeda’s development, starting with its creation almost twenty years ago, Mohamedou explains that there is a clear strategy to Al Qaeda’s actions — and how best the international community can deal with this new kind of warfare.There is a great deal of resistance to a scientific, dispassionate understanding of Al Qaeda. This is the first book to examine the central tenets of the organisation and its demands and — most importantly — how it may be possible to achieve a peaceful future.