A Call for More Research on the Role of State-Sponsorship in Conflicts More Generally

Submitted by Alex (United States), Nov 5, 2007 at 00:18

After the idea that the Palestinians are the good guys and the Israelis the bad guys, the worst "Big Lie" prevailing in our political debate today is that "networks," rather than state sponsors, are responsible for the global jihadist terrorism that we currently face. This misconception seems like just another way of comforting ourselves about the effects of globalization.

I hope that these two books--which deal with state sponsorship other other smaller states--spur more research in the future as to any state sponsorship that may have been behind the 9/11 attacks, although this may be as far down the road as these two books are from 1967. I bet that someday someone will prove that almost all of the terrorist training camps of the Islamist era were not only run by state sponsors, but facilities that Western powers built in a vain effort to win third-world countries during the Cold War.

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