The mythical hydra could regenerate its heads. Terrorism expert Steven Simon believes the operative metaphor for Al Qaeda is a “deadly mold.”

Dear *|MERGE3|* *|MERGE2|*:

With the death of Osama bin Laden, will Al Qaeda wither away, or will it sprout a new head – regenerate itself – and continue to pursue terrorist activities?

Steven Simon of the Council on Foreign Relations examines the global jihad and observes the various metaphors associated with Al Qaeda:

“These zoomorphic images are very revealing about the way in which people deal with the situation,” Simon said. “If you don't believe Al Qaeda is like a snake, but more like a deadly mold, you might get a better sense of the difficulty in developing strategy to deal with it.”

Read the rest of this article on SageLaw.

Also, UCSB Professor Mark Juergensmeyer interviews religious extremists around the world to find out what motivates them. See the primer, “Getting Inside the Minds of Religious Militants.”

And see the Web Sage section on religion and the “clash of civilizations.”