ABSTRACT
The study of terrorism was too policy-oriented to be of serious academic significance. When experts warned of terrorism as a serious threat to America’s national security and suggested that it needed to be integrated into the national security strategy, they almost always thought of nightmare scenarios: Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the hands of terrorists. Presumably, the American public’s strong support for both wars was influenced by media opinion-makers who bought into the administration’s post-9/11 foreign policy and its “heavy dose of moralist opinion that condemned evil enemies and touted American virtues.” Neoconservative ideologues inside and outside the George W. Bush administration recognized immediately that the war against terrorism offered an ideal pretext to further their agenda, which listed the toppling of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as a priority. According to the Bush Doctrine, the United States and other democracies were seriously threatened by terrorist organizations and rogue states that sponsor political violence and could supply terrorists with WMD.
