The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Michael Stone (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This eye-opening investigation into anti-American terrorist activities would have been even more shocking if information hadn't already started to dribble out about the inadequacies of the FBI and CIA in tracking and preventing such activities. But every page of this information-packed report seems to announce ineffectual actions, missed opportunities and frustrated agents on the ground blocked by the FBI hierarchy, turf battles and political lack of will. Even by the mid-1990s, when al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were well known to U.S. authorities, strong action wasn't taken because, one State Department official says here, their acts hadn't exceeded an "acceptable level of terrorism." The 1998 African embassy bombings, for instance, could likely have been prevented, according to the authors. The plot is tangled, but through it Miller, Stone and Mitchell follow two threads from 1990 up to September 11, 2001: first, "the cell," actually a series of terrorist cells, beginning with the one responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing a cell that, in one of their most illuminating revelations, the authors trace directly back to El Sayyid Nosair, convicted of murdering Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1990. The second thread is the Joint Terrorist Task Force, an FBI/NYPD squad whose sharp and dedicated members are the heroes of this tale, doggedly investigating the cells and their connections when not blocked by higher-ups. Miller, now coanchor of ABC TV's 20/20, scored an interview in 1998 with bin Laden, whose chilling words he repeats here ("You will leave [Saudi Arabia] when the youth send you in wooden boxes and coffins"). Miller, Stone (a noted criminal investigative journalist) and Mitchell (a senior editor at The Week) connect a lot of dots in this frightening and important book.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

9/11 The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon crystallized for Americans a reality already well known in other parts of the world: terrorism exists. This book, authored primarily by Miller, an investigative reporter and coanchor of ABC's 20/20, along with reporter Stone and Mitchell, a senior editor at Week, is a sprightly account of how various American law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the CIA, and New York City's Joint Terrorism Task Force, struggled to identify and prosecute the shadowy band of international terrorists operating within our borders. It is a cloak-and-dagger tale of missed opportunities, turf wars, and confusion that begins with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and culminates in a detailed look at the last months of the hijackers, led by the inscrutable Mohamed el Amir Atta. The authors have interviewed dozens of participants on both sides of this interminable struggle and have produced a useful chronicle of the events that led up to the horrendous attacks. It will take years for all the evidence to come out about how the United States coped with international terrorism at the end of the 20th century. This work represents a good place to start learning about what happened. Recommended for most collections.
Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (August 14, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786869003
• ISBN-13: 978-0786869008
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #767,322 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars eye-opening but frightening saga, August 18, 2002

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Up front let me apologize for being emotional in this review, as this true account is appalling in what should have been. The book describes the evolution of the 1990s through 9/11 of Bin Laden and the Al Queda that will haunt readers forever. The authors tie events together that show the magnitude of the failure of anti-terrorism efforts under three administrations including the present one. The authors claim several opportunities to stop the terrorists were available, but not acted on, as the threat had not incredulously surpassed the "acceptable level of terrorism". That is the frightening thought that especially Clinton and Bush II (even in his first year) could have done more and saved lives. Official inactivity and incompetence (the Attorney General cut the anti-terrorism funding) and missed opportunities led to irate agents unable to overcome politics as usual under presidents from both political parties.

This book is not for those still raw, as it is quite an eye-opening saga. As the country's powers debate homeland security and claim the high ground, they should read this book first so they cannot sleep better at night. While the President vacations; the Attorney General cries security wolf; the Congress posters to gain reelection; and Clinton rewrites his place in history, perhaps each will finally understand the real goal: no future American should suffer like those who seemed to have died for no reason except politics and incompetence.

Harriet Klausner

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gritty, Fast Paced, Street-Level Account Of The Events Which Led Up To The 911 Attacks., January 21, 2006

By	WAYNE YUNGHANS "WORDMAN" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At the time it was written, the book was a welcome departure from the hurried, slipshod, poorly written works that appeared immediately following 911 (some of them, seemingly written in a bid to benefit from the rising tide of interest engendered by the events of that day...). In any case: this is not one of those books...

This is a well researched and readable account of a complex and multifaceted story.
Not a mere compilation and derivation of others' writings, this story represents the original reporting of three first rate journalists. It arises from first hand interviews / conversations with the NYPD Detectives, FBI Agents and others who were there for the events of 911, some of whom were working the UBL project before that day and several of whom were still working it at the time of writing. It is a testament to the authors' skill that the book flows as well as it does. I found it cogent, interestingly written and informative. It maintained my interest without effort from chapter to chapter as a good detective novel would.

Reading The Cell gives one a good overall understanding of 911 - probably the best available during the period before the 911 Commission Report. I have recommended it to several people and do so via this medium to anyone who looks at 911 and asks the question "How could this happen?" It's an easy, informative read and well worth both the time and money invested.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cell..., September 22, 2002

By	James F. Anderson III (Hudson, WI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book expertly tells the story of why the FBI and the CIA failed to stop the 9/11 terrorist attacks before they occurred. Basically, even though they possessed information that could have led them on the trail to the discovery of the plot, the author asserts that political correctness and careerism at both agencies, coupled with an entrenched beauracracy, made the FBI and the CIA practically unable to decode the clues that a major plot was unfolding. In addition to these disturbing assertions, the author shows just how well entrenched various al-Qaeda cells are in this country and other Western nations, and just how difficult it will be to stop them. Truly a terrifying book, especially considering the implications it has for the future.