Terrorism and Political Violence July-August 2011
Therese Delpesh. Iran and the Bomb: The Abdication of International Responsibility. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. 148 pp, $19.50 paper. ISBN: 978-0-231-70006-1.
The author, a director of strategic studies at the French Atomic Energy Commission and commissioner with the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission, is well placed to independently assess this subject. She succeeds admirably.
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This article first appeared in the 3 May 2011 edition of The Irish Times and is reproduced here with their kind permission.
ANALYSIS: The death of the figurehead leader of al-Qaeda does not presage the end of the worldwide campaign of terror he inspired
OSAMA BIN Laden’s legacy is that the ideology of al-Qaeda will endure. Al-Qaeda is a group of like-minded people, not a global military structure directed from a notional centre. In fact, the “Arab spring” we are witnessing is a much greater threat to al-Qaeda than the loss of its figurehead, iconic though he may have been.
To understand the significance of bin Laden’s death, we need to take a few steps back.