It is an irony of the war with Iraq that we seem to have lost track of the threat of states that sponsor terrorism. Whatever view one takes of its necessity, this highly contentious war has been shoddily presented, haphazardly planned, and grossly mismanaged. Many of us believe we have lost sight of the main goal in the war on terrorism: to defeat the terrorists. In pursuit of this goal we should be wary of letting the threat posed by non-state actors such as al-Qaeda Hezbollah, Hamas, and others, blind us to the fact that state backing, whether active (actual aiding and abetting) or passive (essentially turning the other way with full awareness of what is going on) remains a key factor in the success or failure of terrorist organisations. Daniel Byman’s Deadly Connections is thus an important contribution to the growing literature on terrorism.