The Imperial Presidency, the War on Terrorism, and the Revolutions of Modernity

It is inherent in the concept of a terrorist act that it aims at an effect very much larger than the direct physical destruction it causes. Proponents of what used to be called the “propaganda of the deed” also believed that in the illuminating glare of terror the vulnerability of a corrupt order would be starkly revealed. Once corruption and oppression were stripped away, a sacred or natural order – the nation, the religious community, the people – would come into its own. The instigators of September 11 brought off a far more spectacular coup than any exponent of the propaganda of the deed: they threaten more than a dozen of the world’s most autocratic and corrupt rulers and aim to summon to arms a religious community of well over a billion people. The resources disposed of by this network transcend those traditionally associated with terrorism and are closer to those of a small state, but a state without boundaries whose headquarters hops from country to country. Given the extent of the destruction wrought by the September 11 attack it is sobering to realize that the effect aimed at was qualitatively larger, namely that of reordering world politics around a “clash of civilizations,” urging the Islamic world to free itself of all infidel trammels. Whether the strategic director of the Al Qaeda network was Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, or someone else, their aim from the outset was not only to provoke the US into a reaction that would alienate Muslim opinion, but also to expose the hereditary and autocratic rulers of the Muslim world and create conditions in which Islamic jihad could seize or manipulate power in one or another of the larger or more significant Muslim states. The new Caliphates at which they aim might appear a medieval fantasy, but are to be equipped with the military and financial power resources of modernity. They ask believers to consider the awesome power of Muslim leaders equipped with Islamic virtue, oil, and nuclear weapons. Given the frustrated or desperate condition of much of the Muslim world, this is a message that has great resonance even among Muslims who are uneasy at, or repelled by, terror actions. The message targets the military actions and dispositions of the US and Israel, especially as they are deemed to encroach on Muslim holy places, but it is also aimed at the existing governments of the Islamic world, easily portrayed as pawns of the West. Since Islamic jihad is indeed a network, the overthrow of the Taliban and the dispersal of Al Qaeda’s Afghan bases will not end the threat it poses. The US president responded to September 11 by proclaiming a global, US-led