ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an in-depth exploration of what the different approaches have to say about the nature of the threat al-Qaeda poses, its causes and the policies most likely to safeguard US interests. The role in understanding and fighting al-Qaeda will be assessed in the following sections. There is substantial evidence to argue that the Bush administration's escalating focus on Iraq in the early summer of 2002 sought to address the inevitable post-9/11 slide in polls. We must prevent the terrorists and regimes who seek chemical, biological or nuclear weapons from threatening the United States and the World'. The Wilsonian grand strategy of cooperative security sets itself apart by being the only one of the four outlined here that is informed by liberal thinking on international security. Each of the grand strategies presented here offered very specific assessments of the nature of the threat posed by al-Qaeda and the policies required to address it.
