Book Review: Fighting Terrorism by Benjamin Netanyahu

First lines:  Organized crime has plagued all the democracies.  It has attacked business establishments, assaulted judges, corrupted police officials.  But the rise of terrorism in recent decades presents a new form of organized violence directed against democratic societies.  Making their appearance in the late 1960's, terrorist attacks have afflicted virtually each of the Western Countries in an unfailing sequence. 

Synopsis:  In this innovative and concise work, Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu offers a compelling approach to understanding and fighting the increase in domestic and international terrorism throughout the world. Citing diverse examples from around the globe, Netanyahu demonstrates that domestic terrorist groups are usually no match for an advanced technological society which can successfully roll back terror without any significant curtailment of civil liberties. But Netanyahu sees an even more potent threat from the new international terrorism which is increasingly the product of Islamic militants, who draw their inspiration and directives from Iran and its growing cadre of satellite states. The spread of fundamentalist Islamic terrorism, coupled with the possibility that Iran will acquire nuclear weapons, poses a more frightening threat from an adversary less rational and therefore less controllable than was Soviet Communism. How democracies can defend themselves against this new threat concludes this provocative book

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, first wrote this book in 1995 and updated it in 2001.    He covers the beginnings and backers of terrorists groups, the rise in terrorism over the decades, the question of civil liberties, Gaza, nuclear weapons and lastly, What can be done about terrorism.  James and I spent quite a bit of time discussing the ideas and material as we read and talked about all that has changed in the past 18 years.  Makes for an interesting and educational read and provokes much discussion.