My Written Evidence before the Parliamentary 'Prevent' Inquiry
In around september 2009, the House of Commons Select Committee for Communities and Local Government was soliciting written evidence as part of its inquiry into the 'Preventing Violent Extremism' programme. I decided to offer my own written submissions for the inquiry. All the submissions have now gone up, including mine - the good news is they've put up effectively two versions of my filings.My main submission is here:http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmcomloc/memo/previoex/uc1902.htmThis one is within the 3,000 word limit,

Our Terrorists, bigger and better version
New Internationalist have just put up an extended footnoted version of my piece on the post-Cold War Western sponsorship of al-Qaeda here. It's a bit meatier, and murkier.

Our Terrorists - New Internationalist feature
Apologies for the delay in posting this - it's been online for a while, but haven't had a chance to post. Here's the link to the full online version of my New Internationalist piece "on the spooky complicity between Western intelligence agencies and Islamist extremism."For those familiar with my work most of this material won't be new, but its presentation in this way is certainly a step forward, providing a concise summary of the 'deep politics' of the 'War on Terror' that covers quite a lot of ground and should provoke people into asking more probin

The Radicalization Conundrum: notes on the 'Prevent' fiasco
Arun Kundnani from the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has this excellent comment on the fiasco that has emerged relating to the government's Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) funding programme due to the Guardian's recent spate of reporting on the issue. Kundnani is the author of an IRR report based largely on interviews with officials involved in implementation of Prevent funding and policies.Some initial caveats, though:1) The response from Muslim communiti

Exclusive - 'Our Terrorists' in New Internationalist
The Sept-Oct edition of the popular progressive magazine, The New Internationalist, is a special issue on Political Islam, carrying an exclusive feature article by me called "Our Terrorists", which summarises some of my work on Western military intelligence cooptation of al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist networks after the Cold War.You can't read the piece online, so I'd encourage getting hold of the hard copy, and perhaps encouraging friends/colleagues to read it too as a way of raising awareness. The NI coverage is definitely a breakthrough into the mainstream for a 'deep political' perspective on the emerge