Dr. Metz et al--I would like to add some comments and, ideally, grist for the collective mill with the below.

With regard to the "policy perspective vs ideological approach," both seemed in 2001 (and before) and now to miss the complex cultural and intercultural issues that are playing themselves out in the dynamic of al-Qa'ida (and similar Islamic extremist movements--there is a debate (some have characterized it as a civil war) in Islam and the Islamic world over the fundamental questions of "what is Islam?" What is "modernity" and the "modern world?" What is the proper role of a Muslim in a/the modern world? How will the "Islamic world" interact with and/or be influenced by the western and/or modern world?

This conflict (I would maintain) is symmetric in the sense that both sides can only resolve it by figuring out how to deal constructively with the other.

The asymmetric element is that al-Qa'ida's struggle is, at its root, one of political and economic issues (especially political disenfranchisement and economic powerlessness for the mass of the population) cloaked in Qur'anic language and images and in a religious dimension. If we look at it only (or largely) as a war of religions (or even as a "war of ideas") without addressing the underlying issues that helped to create the bin Ladins and Attas, we waste our energy--and in so doing help to MAKE this conflict asymmetrical.

I look forward to your comments and to reading your book.