The September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States has highlighted the threat of terrorism from the Middle East. Incidentally, this has become the country's major national security concern in the post-cold war world. In addition to Osama Bin Laden’s underground Al-Qaeda movement, Washington considers Iran, Sudan and Syria to be the primary sources of state-sponsored terrorism. The U.S. has embarked on an ambitious policy to isolate these regimes in the international community. Syria's status as a supporter of terrorism has flowed not so much from an objective measure of its links to terrorist groups, as from an assessment of their willingness to cooperate with U.S. policy interests. Clearly, this assessment indicates just how politicized "terrorist" designations can be.

Responding to terrorist threats through large-scale military action has been counter-productive. In 1998, the U.S. bombed a civilian pharmaceutical plant in Sudan under the apparently mistaken belief that it was developing chemical weapons that could be used by these terrorist networks. Consequently, this led to a wave of anti-Americanism and strengthened that country’s fundamentalist dictatorship. The 1986 bombing of two Libyan cities in response to Libyan support for terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in Europe, resulted in Libyan agents blowing up a Pan Am airliner over Scotland in retaliation. Military responses generally perpetuate a cycle of violence and revenge. Furthermore, failure to recognize the underlying grievances against U.S. Middle East policy will make it difficult to stop terrorism.

While very few Muslims support terrorism, recognizing it as contrary to the values of Islam, the concerns articulated by Bin Laden and others about the U.S. role in the region have widespread resonance. One which will likely result in new recruits for terrorist networks, unless the U.S. changes its policies towards the Middle East. The way America's leaders are running the nation's foreign policy, is not creating peace or security at home or stability abroad. The reverse is the case, it's interventions have been counterproductive.

Defense experts believe that the greatest threat to the United States from proliferating weapons of mass destruction is posed by terrorist groups, because--unlike nations--they may not have a “return address” to which disproportionate retaliation could be directed. If terrorists obtain weapons of mass destruction, it will be difficult for the U.S. government to deter, prevent, or mitigate such an attack. The best defense against such attacks is to lower the profile of the United States as a target. This goal can best be accomplished by intervening in the affairs of other nations only in rare instances when U.S. vital interests are at stake.