This monograph proposes that actions, policies, and deeds of the U.S. Government and of al-Qaeda be leveraged as a means of delegitimizing al-Qaeda terrorist propaganda. Two chief fronts—changing deeds and challenging deeds—are proposed. Changing deeds requires that the United States carefully and systematically examine its own foreign and military policies and their specific consequences for the Arab and Muslim world. Challenging deeds comprises systematically countering with evidence and fact al-Qaeda’s two greatest propagandistic fabrications: that the United States is a crusader at war with Islam, and that al-Qaeda is the vanguard defender of a besieged and oppressed Muslim Umma. Provocative at times, and even controversial in its willingness to reconsider long-standing U.S. Government policies, this monograph is adamant that it is not spin, empty platitudes, and “lipstick on pigs,” but actual deeds, that are our surest bet for defeating this ignoble adversary.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAUL KAMOLNICK is full professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, East Tennessee State University, USA. He teaches courses in classical and contemporary social theory, and the sociology of global terrorism. His primary research focus is developing theory and methods for countering radicalization and recruitment to Al-Qaeda Senior Leadership Endorsed (AQSLE) Anti-American terrorism.  He is the author of Delegitimizing Al-Qaeda: A Jihad-Realist Approach (Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, March 2012), and has published counterterrorism-related articles and reviews in Terrorism and Political Violence, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Perspectives on Terrorism, and the Small Wars Journal. Dr. Kamolnick holds a Ph.D. from Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida.

Goodreads 5 star review by Kyle Cirkl -- May 28, 2015