Gerges argues that Al-Qaeda has degenerated into a fractured, marginal body kept alive largely by the self-serving anti-terrorist bureaucracy it helped to spawn. He argues that the Western powers have become mired in a 'terrorism narrative', stemming from the mistaken belief that America is in danger of a devastating attack by a crippled al-Qaeda. To explain why it is no longer a threat, he provides a history of the organisation, showing its emergence from the disintegrating local jihadist movements of the mid-1990s in a desperate effort to rescue a sinking ship by altering its course.