Al-Qaeda: The Terror Network that Threatens the World (Nation Books) [Hardcover]

Jane Corbin (Author)

Book Description

Series: Nation Books | Publication Date: August 2002

Jane Corbin, Emmy nominee and the BBC’s award-winning senior correspondent specializing in the Middle East, has broken many stories on the growth of Al Qaeda over the past decade. Here she explores how one man with a medieval view of good and evil, living in a cave, brought the world’s only remaining superpower to its knees. Exploring the methodology of Al Qaeda (The Base), Corbin shows how they used the training instilled in them in the Afghan terror camps to stay below the radar of the world’s most sophisticated intelligence agency. Here, too, are descriptions of the parallel deadly plots to kill hundreds in Europe, only uncovered in their final stages. Further attacks are not only feared but also expected. Al Qaeda continues to grow. Bin Laden is still at large and has a growing if silent constituency now, not only among young and dispossessed Muslims but among a wider and more-educated audience in cities and suburbs. As Bush’s “war on terror” poses more questions than answers, Corbin examines the West’s response to September 11 and—eviction of the Taliban notwithstanding—declares it a failure. Corbin has conducted hundreds of interviews with key eyewitnesses, investigators, and intelligence officers around the world. She also has the advantage of reporting from an unmuzzled European perspective, unlike her American counterparts who are denied information from both State and Pentagon sources, and who are caught up in a patriotic “us vs. them” mentality.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

BBC correspondent Corbin has been pursuing bin Laden for a long time ("For three years he was my screen-saver"). The West's response to terrorism, she says provocatively, is characterized by "weakness and exploitation and a failure of imagination... not to mention political correctness...." She raises questions about, for instance, the failure of the siege at Tora Bora, but most of her background history and account of events up through the present, though compact and readable, will be familiar to American readers. Maps.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A comprehensive portrait ... a brilliant but frightening recreation of the terrorists' carefully planned attack on the U.S." -- David R. Richards, Indianapolis Star, September 7, 2002

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Nation Books (August 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560254262
• ISBN-13: 978-1560254263
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,397,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, One of the Most Up to Date, August 12, 2002

By 

John G. Hilliard (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Al-Qaeda: The Terror Network that Threatens the World (Nation Books) (Hardcover)

Like many people I have read a number of books and articles about Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda since September 11th and I must say that this has been the best one to date. The author is a reporter from the BBC and her book is very much like the high quality reports one expects from the BBC. There is not a lot of unnecessary emotional descriptions of the events, it is a "just the facts" type of book that is very interesting.

The author takes us through a description on how the al-Qaeda group was formed, the terrorist attacks the group performed in the 90s, and the September 11th event. The detail she gives us for the planning, set up, and actual attack on the 11th is wonderful. You really get a good understanding of the events the terrorists went through leading up to them getting on the planes. She also takes us through the many different items that have come out in the press talking about what the different U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies knew and when they knew it. ...

Overall the book is very good. She does not take sides in the issue of if the U.S. could have stopped the attacks, but she does point out some mistakes that could have prevented some of the attackers from entering the U.S. She also takes a hard look at the military operations in Afghanistan and does not come out of it with a glowing report of the American forces. It is a well written and easy to read book that you will find difficult to put down.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Confuses and misinforms, and author sounds authoritative, which makes it worse, January 29, 2009

By 

Ofer Inbar (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Al-Qaeda: In Search of the Terror Network that Threatens the World (Paperback)

I bought this book because I assumed the "BBC Senior Correspondent" tag under the author's name meant she knew something about the issue. Instead, I was treated to the confused, rambly storytelling of someone who appeared to have taken a surface-level crash course in the matter and then combined that with her faulty memory. The result is confused and misleading, with a number of errors I was able to spot simply through my own vague memory from other books and sources I'd read. I re-checked, of course, using such excellent sources as Ahmed Rashid's "Taliban" and Mary Anne Weaver's "A Portrait of Egypt", and found myself to be correct - and Jane Corbin incorrect - every time.

I worry that people who haven't read as much in depth about al-Quaeda, the Afghan Jihad, and the militant Islamist movements of recent decades, would not spot these inconsistencies and errors - though they may spot some of the spelling and grammatical errors. Nevertheless, they might think they're reading a solidly researched book, and mistaken notions would be ingrained in their heads.

Please, let nobody use this book as their introduction to the subject! It does more harm than good.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Corbin's "Al-Qeada" is a must read for the educated citizen., January 17, 2003

By 

David Bleakley (Howell, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Al-Qaeda: The Terror Network that Threatens the World (Nation Books) (Hardcover)

In "Al-Qaeda: The Terror Network that Threatens the World", Jane Corbin provides the reader with an extremely vivid, and thorough account of the evolution of Al-Qeada, and the events that led to the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers.
Corbin introduces the cast of characters in an orderly, and easy-to-follow fashion. What makes the accounts particularly interesting are the personal details that follow the growth, and transformation of the attackers from seemingly unremarkable Islamic adolescense, to an eventual jihadi adult "martyr". Corbin reveals the terrorists' use of Western education as a tool in their plot to murder Americans "infidels".
Accounts are supported by numerous interviews with the likes of western agents, military personnel, educators, Islamic fundamentalists, and peaceful Muslims. Discussion with westerners who had become aquainted with the "martyrs" reveal how effectively they had assimilated themselves into western life so as not to appear suspicious. Corbin reveals that even today, some of the westerners that crossed paths with the terrorists are still in denial regarding thier role in killing thousands.
The book provides the essential background knowledge on the history of Al-Qeada, and its development from Afghan patriot fighters, to multinational terrorist "corporation".
After the 11 September 2001 attack, Corbin analyzes the effectiveness of the military and diplomatic response of the western coalition. By the books end, it is clear that Corbin feels that western response has been futile, if not a complete failure.
Corbin's provocative book leaves the reader well educated and intrigued, yet, uncertain about future vulnerability to attack.