ABSTRACT
Over the past decade terrorism has, through the emergence of al-Qaeda and related groups, attained a transnational dimension which has elevated it in some eyes to the status of a global strategic threat. Until 2001 the US response to the emergence of al-Qaeda had been to treat it as a problem to be dealt with through intelligence work and law enforcement. Progress against the organisation generally referred to as al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia (AQM) has been one of the more encouraging features of the US campaign against al-Qaeda. Since al-Qaeda's attack on the United States and the subsequent US-led invasion of Afghanistan, there has been much debate amongst Western intelligence officers and analysts about al-Qaeda's likely future direction and the degree to which the organisation might be seeking to implement a coherent long-term strategy. European countries are generally well placed in terms of energy security, defined as adequate supply at affordable prices.
