Political Manipulation and Weapons of Mass Destruction

Concerns about CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive, Nuclear) weapons have featured prominently in both political debates and media reporting about the ongoing threat from al Qaeda since 9/11. This book provides a chronological account of al Qaeda's efforts to acquire a CBRN weapon capability, and the evolution of the al Qaeda leadership's approach to actually using CBRN weapons, set against the context of the politicisation of the threat of CBRN terrorism in US security debates. Ben Cole explores how the inherently political nature of terrorist CBRN threats has helped to shape al Qaeda's approach to CBRN weapons, and shows how the heightened political sensitivities surrounding the threat have enabled some governments to manipulate it in order to generate domestic and international support for controversial policies, particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He assesses the relative success of the al Qaeda leadership's political approach to CBRN weapons, together with the relative success of efforts by the US, UK and Russian governments to exploit the al Qaeda CBRN threat for their wider political purposes. Shedding new light on al Qaeda's tactics and strategy, this book will be essential reading for scholars of terrorism and extremism studies.

Ben Cole is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool. He specialises in the process by which individuals become radicalised into violent extremism; terrorist decision making with regard to CBRN terrorism; and real-time monitoring and analysis of conflicts and terrorist movements using online media. He worked on the development of the PVE tool and guidance, and lectures regularly on CBRN terrorism. He is the author of The Changing Face of Terrorism (I.B.Tauris), co-author of Martyrdom: Radicalisation and Terrorist Violence Among British Muslims and editor of Conflict, Terrorism and the Media in Asia.

Abbreviations Introduction 1 Opportunism, 1994-6 2 The US and the Politics of CBRN Terrorism, 1995-9 3 Antecedents: Afghanistan, 1996-8 4 Project al Zabadi and the Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons 5 Al Qaeda's Strategy begins to Emerge, 1998-2001 6 Opting for Deterrence 1998-2001 7 The End of Project al Zabadi 8 Re-establishing a CBRN Weapon Capability, 2002-3 9 Al Qaeda Announces its Strategy 2002-3 10 Constraining the Threat, 2002-3 11 The Politics of CBRN Terrorism and the Invasion of Iraq 12 Western Uncertainty about the Threat, 2004-7 13 Losing Control of the Threat, 2004-7 14 Breakdown in Control, 2007-9 15 Influencing the New President, 2009-10 16 A New Threat Emerges, 2010-15 Conclusion Bibliography Index