Policy Forum 

# The War on Terrorism: A War within Islam? 

Date and Time 

April 30, 2004 11 AM - 12:30 PM EDT 

Location 

1st floor/Wintergarden 

Share This Event 

##### Featuring 

Featuring **Husain Haqqani,** Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; **Salam Al-Marayati,** Executive Director, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC); **Charles V. Peña,** Cato Institute; and **Michael Vlahos,** Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. 

In the United States it is commonly accepted that al Qaeda declared war against America—even before 9/11—and that the war on terrorism is a struggle between the United States and al Qaeda. But is it only between the United States and al Qaeda? Or are al Qaeda’s attacks representative of a phenomenon and movement separate from the United States? What does al Qaeda’s radical brand of Islam represent within the Muslim world? How does that affect what the United States can—and cannot—do in the war on terrorism? Do we truly understand what the war on terrorism is all about? And if we don’t, how can we hope to prevail?

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).