From the streets of Madrid and Hamburg, to the tunnels of Waziristan, to the jungles of the Philippines, a secret and shadowy network called Al Qaeda is evolving into its next phase. Its disciples have weathered two years of war and billions of dollars in U.S. Defense expenditures since September 11th, but the global terrorists of the 21st century are still going strong.
And while the U.S. deploys 2,000 more Marines on the Pakistan border to help hunt down the organization’s leaders, many are wondering if the U.S.-led war on terror is making it more difficult for the group to recruit and organize, or whether it is making it easier. Inside Al Qaeda, looking for dots to connect between Iraq, Afghanistan, and Europe, and decoding the next generation of terrorists.
Guests:
David Rohde, New York Times reporter in Islamabad, Pakistan
Robert Young Pelton, journalist and author of the recent National Geographic article “In the Land of Bin Laden”;Tim Golden, New York Times reporter
Magnus Ranstorp, deputy director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St. Andrews