As the War on Terror moves towards its fourth anniversary, and with no end in sight, it is likely that the call for western policymakers to re-evaluate their self-imposed taboo on “talking to terrorists” will gather momentum. Just last December, for example, Alistair Crooke, a former senior MI6 officer, who between 1997 and 2003 acted as the European Union’s official link to Islamist groups in the West Bank and Gaza called for the West to re-assess its approach to such groups and to create a framework for discussions with these and other Islamists in the Middle East. But though it is tempting to succumb to this view it is vital that we remember just exactly who, and what, we are dealing with. Islamist terrorists are not like their nationalist or social revolutionary predecessors who focused on the attainment of territorial or political objectives, and whose resort to violence was contingent on achieving specific and tangible grievances. Full Story
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