terrorism has taken on a highly optical character in the
early twenty-frst century. Tis development can partly be attributed to the immediacy
of 24-hour television and to global access to the Internet and other networked
information technology over the past decade. It can also be linked to al-Qaeda’s
historic attack on the United States on 11 September 2001. Tat perfectly timed,
early-morning kamikaze assault on New York and Washington DC was a brilliantly
choreographed, visually spectacular made-for-media ‘performance’.