This timely book synthesizes the perspectives of Osama bin Laden and his fellow Salafi jihadists on how to wage war on their many enemies. A team of experts from the Institute for Defense Analyses working on the Terrorist Perspectives Project undertook the study in order to help U.S. military and civilian policymakers, planners, and educators better understand terrorists. In assembling strategic and operational perspectives of Al Qaida and Associated Movements (AQAM), they focused on the Salafi jihadists’ intellectual leadership and a sampling of their followers, who together comprise the vanguard of the global jihad and share a common enemy—the United States. This project is sponsored by the United States Joint Forces Command.