AIIA VIC The World of Terrorism 10 Years after 9/11, Prof. Greg Barton, Dr Pete Lentini and Dr Natal

Thursday 8 September, 2011 5.30pm – 7.30pm Dyason House 124 Jolimont Road, East Melbourne Terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, launched the ill-named global war on terror and profoundly altered the course of international politics.  Subsequent military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost several trillion dollars and countless tens of thousands of lives.  Increased global direct spending on counter-terrorism costs billions of dollars a year. Costs aside, what has been achieved in the last 10 years?  Major terrorist attacks in the West largely have been thwarted as intelligence agencies and police have demonstrated a remarkable capacity to interrupt terrorist plots.  Al Qaeda’s central leadership and organisational core have been curtailed and loosely affiliated groups in South-East Asia have been forced to disengage from large-scale violence.  In particular, the recent death of Osama bin Laden is seen as a milestone. Nevertheless, terrorism movements in general and jihadi Islamist movements in particular remain potent, with South Asia, East Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia facing threats from insidiously complex and resilient terrorist networks.  Weak and failing states such as Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Philippines remain particularly vulnerable.  So, while the threat posed by terrorism is often understood in ways that are distorted and exaggerated, terrorism remains a very real threat and shows no signs of disappearing. Prof. Greg Barton is the Director, Centre for Islam and the Modern World, at Monash University.  Dr Pete Lentini is the Director, Global Terrorism Research Centre.  Dr Natalie Doyle is the Deputy Director, Monash European and EU Studies Centre.  Mr Chris Heffelfinger is a former FBI Fellow at the Combatting Terrorism Centre, West Point, in the US.  Dr Barton and Dr Lentini are conducting a research project to examine radicalisation in Australia and around the world.  This involves a partnership of Monash University, Victoria Police, the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, Corrections Victoria, and the Australian Federal Police.  Mr Heffelfinger is contributing.  Interim findings from the radicalization project were presented at a recent conference entitled Globalisation, Illiberalism, the West and Islam: European and Australian Perspectives organised by Dr Doyle and held in conjunction with MEEUC at Monash University’s Prato Campus in Italy.  It brought together specialists from Australia, Europe, Canada and Turkey to examine the impact of Muslim minorities in European countries.