Steven Tsang – författare

Facing the threats posed by dedicated suicide bombers who have access to modern technology for mass destruction and who intend to cause maximum human suffering and casualties, democratic governments have hard choices to make. On the one hand, they must uphold the basic values of democratic societies based on due process and human rights. On the other, they need to pre-empt the kind of destruction inflicted upon New York, Madrid, London, and Bali. The premise of this book is that for intelligence organizations to be able to face up to the challenges of global terrorism, they must think outside the box and utilize all of their resources effectively and creatively. To overcome the enemy, we must also secure the peace. Winning the hearts and minds of the terrorists' pool of potential recruits will be essential to cutting off the supply of suicide bombers. The support and cooperation of the people in countries where the terrorists strike must be sustained by ensuring they have confidence in the government and intelligence services. If a government and its intelligence services become so focused on pre-empting terrorist attacks that they infringe on the rights of their citizens and encroach on democratic norms, they unwittingly fall into a trap set by Al Qaeda and its kind. These organizations aim to destroy the democratic way of life so cherished in the West, and to incite the Muslim populations in democratic countries and their non-Muslim fellow citizens into a vicious circle of mutual hatred and violence.This book therefore addresses not only the question of how intelligence organizations can improve their efficacy in pre-empting terrorist outrages, but also the wider issue of removing the forces that sustain global terrorism as a scourge of the 21st century. The general public in the target countries and recruiting grounds must also be persuaded that—despite their rhetoric—the terrorists are not engaged in a holy war. Ultimately, the brand of global terrorism promoted by Osama bin Laden and his associates is meant to satisfy their own vanity and aspirations toward semi-divine status; the organization they have formed for this purpose is merely a global syndicate that commits serious crimes of a particularly heinous nature. Intelligence services of various countries need to find convincing evidence to prove this point. But it is up to governments, civil society, and the media in different parts of the world to work together if the evidence unearthed by national intelligence services is to be accepted by the general public. Unless the emotional or quasi-religious appeal of the global terrorists can be removed, the simple arrest of bin Laden and his close associates—or even the destruction of Al Qaeda as an organization—will not be sufficient to prevent others from rising to replace them.

An insightful collection of essays that explains why the global war on terror framework cannot work and how a new paradigm in countering transnational terrorism can be found.Are the negative effects of the Bush administration's "Global War on Terror" framework irrevocable? Is it too late to reorient our policy toward confronting global threats? Answering "no" to both questions, Steven Tsang's Combating Transnational Terrorism: Searching for a New Paradigm offers an expert critique of Bush's policy while proposing a new approach to fighting terrorism—one that advocates strengthening ties to traditional allies and countering Al Qaeda's appeal to people of the Islamic faith.Combating Transnational Terrorism brings together a panel of well-established experts to assess the overall effectiveness of the "Global War on Terror," showing just how counterproductive the Bush administration's approach has been. Throughout, they offer specific changes that together signify a transformative shift in American policy. What they propose is a new framework for combating terrorist threats based on wide-ranging international collaboration and energized efforts to win the hearts and minds of non-extremist Muslims—a framework that coincides in great measure with the approach the Obama administration is taking.