Al Qaeda: Organization or Ideology? | WBUR and NPR

TODAY IS SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2010

Tuesday, November 25, 2003 at 10:00 AM EST

Al Qaeda: Organization or Ideology?

As terror attacks on soft targets increase, Al Qaeda is blamed. But does Al Qaeda organize these attacks? Or has the original target of the war on terror inspired copycats? What ideology does the original al Qaeda share with its descendants?

Click the “Listen” link to hear some of the answers.

Guests:

Jason Burke, author of “Al Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror”, and reporter for The Observer newspaper of London

Steven Simon, Senior Analyst at the RAND Institute and co-author of “The Age of Sacred Terror”

Josh Meyer, reporter covering terrorism for the Los Angeles Times

Comments are closed.

After ‘No Child Left Behind’
Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Obama administration wants to rewrite No Child Left Behind. We’ll ask what’s coming for American education.

Comments [48]

The U.S.-Israel Blowup
Thursday, March 18, 2010

Top Pentagon brass complain the Israel-Palestinian impasse is undermining American interests. We’ll look at the US-Israel moment of crisis.

Comments [160]

Sonny Rollins on Race and Jazz’s Future

Jazz legend Sonny Rollins joined us to reflect on his storied career and give us his thoughts on the future of music. To celebrate his 80th birthday, the hugely influential tenor saxophonist is embarking on yet another national tour.

IED’s in Afghanistan: Hard Numbers

The Department of Defense provided On Point with some statistics about IED attacks in Afghanistan, where there has been an increase in the use of such weapons over the past 14 months. It’s striking to see the spike in numbers — from 2,677 IED incidents in 2007 to 8,159 last year.

More » | Comments [2]

Christopher Hill: U.S. Troop Withdrawal ‘On Schedule’

U.S. Ambassaor to Iraq Christopher Hill spoke with On Point live from Baghdad today as early voting gets underway, part of the run-up to Sunday’s elections. “So far so good,” Hill said, despite scattered violence. Hill said that the plan to withdraw U.S. combat troops by Sept. 1, and to leave only a residual advisory force of 50,000 or fewer, remains “very much on schedule.” Observers worry that a spike in violence could derail that timeline.