"What was really going on the weeks immediately following is people were taking advantage of the opportunity to reconnect with communities and people, to share the experience of grief, " religious scholar William Lawrence said.

CNN: Americans turn to religion after attacks

Against this backdrop of blurred identities and complex motives, William Lawrence of International Crisis Group warned against heavy-handed, indiscriminate intervention to counter the perceived Islamist threat, which might be encouraged by thinking of the Sahel as a "new Afghanistan".

BBC: Why the Sahara is not the 'new Afghanistan'

In a recent study of pre- and post-Fed performance, economists George Selgin, William Lastrapes, and Lawrence H.

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