Print

Introduction In 2007, I published The “New” Terrorism: Myths and Reality with a very spe- cific purpose in mind. The book aimed to debunk a popular myth. In the aftermath of 9/11, a bevy of newly minted experts loudly proclaimed the uniqueness of the al-Qaeda phenomenon and, along with the media, exag- gerated the threat it posed to the United States and its people. I sought to demonstrate how, contrary to popular belief, terrorism had been evolving over the preceding decades and to place it in a healthy perspective relative to other threats. I aimed to separate the new from the old characteristics of the phenomenon and to situate terrorism within the broad spectrum of security risks facing the United States. Above all, I wanted to dampen down the pervasive fear that had so many people convinced that they could become victims at any moment. Like its predecessor, this book also aims to debunk myths and to situate contemporary terrorism in the context of threats facing the United States. Over the past decade, the myths have changed, but the fear remains, inten- sified by a new populist political rhetoric that seeks scapegoats to blame for the country’s problems. This rhetoric exaggerates the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), encourages fear of immigrants, and creates an atmosphere of Islamophobia, which makes it easier for ISIS to recruit followers. Ironically, many of the same people who hype the Islamist threat tend to ignore or dismiss the more serious danger posed by domestic hate groups. Rather than see homegrown, racially motivated violence as terrorism, they discount it as the work of “lone wolves”— unstable individuals acting alone—rather than as part of a larger pattern of violence encouraged by the inflammatory rhetoric of a broad ideological