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a rift between western and Muslim cultures in order to position Islamism as a rallying point for the Muslim cause. This view is given credence when one views the symbolic nature of the targets of the 2001 attacks; The World Trade Centre, a symbol of western economic power; The Pentagon, a symbol of American military might; and the White House, a symbol of American political power. Refering to the power and symbolism of the 2001 attack German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen described it as the greatest work of art ever' (Shahid Alam, M. 2004, P. 127). Professor Michael Doran theorises thus: "Osama bin Laden's attacks on the United States were aimed at another audience: the entire Muslim world War with America was never his end; it was just a means to promote radical Islam." (Doran 2001, p.1) In addition to preventing terrorist attacks the war on terror' should also aim to minimise the chance of success of any previous or future terrorist attack.

Terrorists are insidious by their very nature and it is thus impossible to wage a war directly upon these individuals. The two largest recent terrorist attacks on the west, the 2005 London bombing and the 2001 American attacks, where carried out by a diverse range of people originating and operating from numerous locations. The London attackers included three young men aged 18, 22 and 30, all from West Yorkshire' (Campbell D. / Laville S. 2005). While these British terrorists were home-grown', those who carried out the 2001 attacks came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates with coordination coming from as far a field as Hamburg, Germany (FBI 2001). Terrorists can be motivated by religion, desperation or money. They can come from any class, have any level of education or come from any social background. International terrorism does not know national borders and can be organized from anywhere to attack anywhere. Successful terrorists can be almost impossible to identify and there is no profile for who is a likely' terrorist, other than he tends to be male (Gupta 2005, p. 16) (Freedman 2002, p. 27) (Lelyveld, J 2001). This perhaps explains that, despite significant expansions in their powers since 2001, federal US agencies have not discovered a single terrorist cell. There have, however, been many arrests and claims, yet all charges have been quietly dropped as they turned out to be baseless assumptions (Lustick 2006, p. 40). Without the possibility for a direct strike against actual purveyors and perpetrators

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