Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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

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.

Just finished reading The Cell. If anyone wants to know what went wrong on 9/11 just read this book. To try and blame one person or organization, except for the terrorists, for the death and destruction on 9/11 would be foolish. If the Towers were brought down in 1993 and toppled over each other, the death count would have been well over 100,000. John Miller, Stone and Mitchell do an incredible story detailing the events leading up to 9/11. I don't know the party affliation with any of these men but the story they present is fascinating. The book is summed up the best on page 332; Terrorism is cyclical, left alone it always comes back, usually bolder and more lethal. Additionally the fight against terrorism can't be conducted from afar, it requires in your face old fashion investigation. No matter how many lasers we have, smart bombs, stealth fighters,etc. what we need is 100 Louie Napoli, Don Sadowy and John O'Neils. Book should be required reading for all high school students, never to forget or let your guard down.

Informative, yet entertaining...highlights mistakes in policy and intelligence without grinding a political axe. A must read.

I just finished reading "The Cell" last weekend, and the story just blew my mind! Many of the things recalled in the book were known to me already, based on what I had heard on the news and read in other media outlets, but to see just how easy it was for the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 to be carried out was frightening and very tragic; considering that there were warning signs everywhere. One of the things that came to me was the fact that many of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies responsible for averting what happened on 9/11were either bogged down in bureaucratic red tape or territorial conflicts that threatened to bruise fragile egos. This could be seen from the conflict with the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force with other special squads to the inability of the FBI, CIA, and other intelligence agencies to share vital information. What was so frightening and appaling was how easy it was for terrorists to enter this country, purchase weapons and even learn how to fly planes.

The book also gives us the disturbing fact that two adminstrations--one bogged down in partisan politics and a power hungry special counsel trying to pry into the president's sex life, the other somewhat oblivious to what was handed to them by their predecessors (no one still wants to admit that the Clinton adminstration, whom many right wingers still want to pin this tragedy on urged the Bush administration to immediately put in place the action to take out Bin Laden and they didn't, nor the fact that Attorney General Ashcroft refused to grant the request of the FBI to add more funding for antiterrorism)--were totally unprepared for what would happen.

If there was to be a tragic hero in this book it would have to be John O'Neill; the former FBI special agent who headed up the antiterrorist division and eventually due to politics was forced out of the loop. O'Neill came very close to cracking the case and discovering Bin Laden's nefarious plans. The irony of it all was that after he retired, he went to be the head of security at the World Trade Center, where he died shortly after taking the position on September 11.

The book is so relevant considering that we are still recovering from the wounds of 9/11, and the disturbing fact that even after the development of the Homeland Security Administration and the reforms called on by the 9/11commission, we are no safer now than we were before the tragedy took place. I hope that this book will be a reminder and a wake up call to the fact the post Cold-War society we live in is even more dangerous than ever.

The authors have performed a tremendous public service with this autopsy of 9/11. I detected no bias. They did a great job correctly weighing systemic failures to individual failures. Certain individuals merit condemnation - but the failure of our society (which is all of us, after all) was much greater.

Oddly, the book left me with the feeling that it cannot happen again. Mohammed Atta was running around with a blinking red light over his head screaming, "I am CRAZY! I am CRAZY!" Imagine someone on a mission that big risking it all to fight a woman over a seat cushion WHILE ALOFT during a flying lesson! Or leaving a stolen plane on a runway at Miami's airport! It seems impossible that we could miss those multiple warning signs in the future. If we do, we deserve what we get.

This stimulating and disturbing book is full of terrific reporting and makes clear that September 11th did not simply come out of the blue. It had deep roots in prior events such as the 1993 bombing of the WTC, the embassy bombings in Africa, the counter attacks in Somalia, and, of course, the attack on our warship The Cole.

In fact, according to the book, it goes back even further. But I won't go into the books entire thesis here. I will tell you that I think you will get a lot from this book. While I certainly am not one of those who is interested in the blame game for 9/11 or thinking that we should be able to guarantee protection from any other possible attacks in the future, I do think this book demonstrates clearly how bureaucratic group think, inter-agency turf wars, and the cross-purposes of the diplomatic corps, the justice apparatus, and intelligence gathering can create exploitable vulnerabilities.

The writing is pretty good and at times compelling. I think it could have used a bit more editing to smooth things out a bit, but that isn't a significant weakness. The reason I gave this book four stars instead of five is that the only picture of the relevant people we get is a fuzzy shot on the dust jacket. The book would be twice as valuable with a few pictures of the main players in the story. Especially since there are a lot of names to keep straight. But the book is valuable enough without them. I recommend it highly and encourage everyone to read and think about it.

Feel free to email me with your thoughts on the book after you have read it. I think you will find it stimulating and disturbing, and will make more clear for you what is going on within our government to create more alignment of purpose and the tearing down of bureaucratic fences. At least, if we don't get that done, you will understand why we are still in big trouble!

This is an excellent book for tackling the history of these attacks and the motivations of those that would commit them. I don't know of many books like this so it is a great contribution. However, this book would have greatly benefited from an index and perhaps some graphical representations. For a book so detailed, the lack of these is quite surprising. In order to get a better timeline and context, I found myself flipping through past pages to remind myself where this or that person fit into the picture. If the book had an index, I would continue to reference it when news articles mention names. The authors and publisher should consider reprinting this book in a more complete form.

What a great book this turned out to be. The authors take you through the many headed investigation into the Osama / 1st WTC bombing events that lead up to the 9-11 attack. The authors cover all the events that lead up to 9-11 and how the separate events and people lead to Osama and his Al Qaeda group. I found the details on what the Clinton administration tried to do and the reasons they did not arrest Oasma before the Cole bombing enlightening. It makes for some very interesting reading and raises some questions as to the power / competence of the American intelligence machine namely the FBI and CIA.

Like many people I have read a good deal on this topic and seen a number of TV shows, but this book pulled a number of different stories and facts together and put them in a nice order to make the reader really see how they all fit together. The authors were able to weave together a number of different story lines in a method that was very easy to grasp the big picture. Overall a wonderful effort that made the book read fast. I was concerned that with three authors the reader would get s somewhat disjointed and jumpy book with three different styles. The editor must have played a big role because the writing comes off in one voice and is very smooth.

This book is a sad commentary on our government's ability and willingness to deal with terrorist threats prior to 9/11, if the sheer extent of the beaurocratic delays, indifference, and incompentence of the various agencies and authorities that the authors extensively document is even close to accurate. The authors show how the 1998 African embassy bombings could probably have been prevented, after the 1993 WTC bombing and the murder of a Rabbi in NY in 1990 were traced back to a series of early al Qaeda cells, among many other threads of evidence left behind that were not investigated and followed up on.

Even worse, amazingly, there was even an informant, Max, who knew by early 2001 that there was a hijacking plot afoot, but again, the warnings were ignored and nothing was done about it. The authors show how agents on the ground were continually frustrated by everything from beaurocratic infighting to a budget cut of the Anti-Terrorism monies. Well, all I can say is that a few million more for that budget would probably have been cheaper than the several billion the destruction of the World Trade Center and all the other damage to New York cost, not to mention the incalculable loss of life. After reading this book, one can only hope that the situation, post-9/11, is radically different and that this sort of inexcusable long-term neglect by government agencies will never happen again. "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom." Jefferson's comment is all the more relevant today in our present circumstances.