Thatcher, Margaret Al-Qaeda members placed bombs that killed hundreds in Nairobi, Kenya, and attacked a U.S military ship in Yemen On suicide missions al-Qaeda members skyjacked planes that crashed into the world trade center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on september 11, 2001 These were the most devastating terror attacks that the United States had ever experienced on its home territory The United States and coalition forces retaliated and successfully overthrew the pro–al-Qaeda Taliban regime in Afghanistan; however they failed to destroy either the Taliban or alQaeda Osama bin Laden managed to escape and continued to orchestrate terror attacks against U.S forces and supporters These included suicide bomb attacks on trains in Madrid, Spain, and the transit system in London, England Further reading: Barber, Benjamin R Jihad vs McWorld: Terrorism’s Challenge to Democracy New York: Ballantine, 1996; Gerges, Fawaz A The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005; Sinclair, Andrew An Anatomy of Terror: A History of Terrorism New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004; Whittaker, David J The Terrorism Reader London: Routledge, 2002 Janice J Terry Thatcher, Margaret baroness Thatcher of Kesteven (1925– ) British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first woman prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party, helped reverse the economic decline of her country Even her enemies grudgingly respected the strong-willed “iron lady.” She rejected the “consensus” politics that had characterized Britain since World War II in favor of polarizing “conviction” politics During her 10 years as the head of the British government, she created a successful free-market economy, but at a high price: deindustrialization of many old factory towns and, for several years, massive unemployment Strongly nationalistic, Thatcher fought for Britain within and sometimes against the european union She was lucky that the main body of the Labour Party moved to the left and Labour moderates broke away to form their own party; she defeated her divided opponents at general elections without 419 ever winning over a majority of the voters She also was lucky to have the opportunity to fight a short, successful, and very popular war with distant Argentina, whose brutal military dictatorship had seized a sparsely populated and almost unknown British colony, the Falkland Islands Labour eventually accepted her basic policies She succeeded in changing the language of political discourse Except for those from a few stubborn socialists, proposals for the nationalization of major industries disappeared from the debate over public policy In part because Thatcher was personally abrasive, she was controversial in her own Conservative Party It was a rebellion among her nominal supporters that ended her political career According to rumor, moreover, she did not get along with the other important woman in the British government, Queen Elizabeth II Intelligence and hard work, not family connections, explain Thatcher’s rise to power Her principles owed much to the middle-class values of her upbringing Thatcher was born Margaret Hilda Roberts on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, a small town in eastern England Her father was a grocer, and the family lived over his shop Active in civic affairs, her father served for many years on the city council and at one point held the title of mayor After attending local state schools Margaret Roberts studied chemistry at Somerville College, a women’s college that was part of Oxford University Already politically minded, she was elected president of Oxford’s student Conservative organization in 1946, the year after Labour had crushed her party in the general election that followed the defeat of Nazi Germany After university she worked for several years as a research chemist In addition, she stood for Parliament, always for seats that were hopeless for her party During her political campaigns she met Dennis Thatcher, a wealthy businessman, whom she married in 1951 She left her first career as a research chemist to study law In 1953 she gave birth to twins, Carol and Mark Thatcher was in her mid-30s when in 1959 she was elected to the House of Commons for the safe Conservative seat of Finchley in north London Two years later she was appointed to a junior position in the Harold Macmillan government as parliamentary secretary at the ministry of pensions and national service Thatcher’s first cabinet office came in the Edward Heath government In 1970 she was appointed minister for education As part of broader cuts in spending she eliminated free milk for