Customer Reviews

Who Killed Daniel Pearl?

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(10)

 

 

What Bernard Henri Levy does so well is to combine his interior monologue, his diaristic stream of consciousness, the appreciation of small details, little perceptions, with a larger journalistic expose, a "j'accuse" directed against the powers that be, and in the end, a very personal posthumous tribute to someone he never met--someone who BHL mythologizes, in fact, to give meaning to a life lost young.

It is indeed possible that Daniel Pearl was not investigating what BHL has exposed in this book, that Pearl really was just an unwitting victim carelessly caught in a trap, and killed for who we was, rather than what he was doing.

But by "imagining" Pearl's story BHL has found the perfect device for travelling layer by layer through the various worlds, the circles within circles that make up international terrorism--for the book is really a portrait of his killer, Sheik Omar, not Pearl at all.

It is in a sense a perfectly wrought book, an immediate literary classic, penned by a genuine French man of letters, a philosophical provocation and a journalistic coup. It is several books in one, operating at numerous levels of meaning, perhaps the best book of 2003, certainly among the most important.

For some time I was planning to review this book but did not know how to go about doing it. Well let me start on its literary merits. The only other book of similar intensity that I have read is Garcia-Marquez' "News of a Kidnapping". But I find this book more disconcerting and chilling because the author was always in the danger of meeting the same fate as Daniel Pearl. Being a Jew, a journalist, an Indophile and also someone with a history of opposing Pakistani military can be extremely dangerous when you are investigating Muslim fundamentalists in a shadowy state where an arm of the federal government is a benefactor of these fanatics.

In the absence of Danny Pearl, BHL had to rely on his imagination to reconstruct Pearl's last days. Since he couldn't meet Omar Sheik again he had to rely on third person information to fathom the evil depths of this fanatic. While the reconstruction of Pearl's last days has been done with sufficient pathos, I am not particularly fond of the way he tried to sort out the character of Omar. Instead of treating him like the sinister scoundrel, BHL sometimes, much to his own anguish, portrays Omar as a tormented evil genius, a man bound to his beliefs however misguided they might be, making him more like an anti-hero than a villainous monster.

On a political scale it indicts the Pakistani government that is being overrun by fundamentalists, as the more moderate people (and I am sure there are many of them) stand back as mute spectators. From its president, who himself is an enigma, to its secret service that is as dangerous as it is mysterious, one cannot say who is responsible for the current state of affairs. It has been well documented that far from being a moderate Islamic state as it wishes to be, Pakistan of late is fast becoming a refuge for al-qaida, taliban and their ilk. This book exposes the link between elements within the government and these terrorist groups, that may or may not be taking place with the knowledge of its executive body. Read the chapter on the money trail, read the chapter on his investigation of the fundamentalist organizations and their spiritual leaders, his visit to Binori town mosque..it is a chilling and terrifying description of an unstable nation that is armed with nuclear weapons and is being overrun by fanatics.
When this book was first published in French, a leading Pakistani journalist Irfan Hussain wrote " Every country maintains a secret service, but few of them flout the laws of the land as freely as the ISI seems to do."

It is a terrifying read but a necessary one if someone wants to know what's going on in that part of the world.

I don't usually write reviews on here, but I'm very confused and surprised by another review that accuses this author of Pakistan-bashing and I have to come to his defense. Clearly, when Levy talks about Pakistan as a politically dangerous ally for the US, he is pointing toward verifiable evidence that officials in the Pakistani secret service have connections with Al Qaida and with nuclear arms trading. He isn't condemning the average hardworking Pakistani who wants to make a good life for his family . . . he is condemning the extreme Islamic fundamentalists who preach hatred not only of the West, but also of moderate, peace-loving Muslims.

BH Levy is one of today's most stimulating philosophers and it's shocking to me that he isn't more well known in this country. Europe has long recognized this great mind. Whether or not you agree with his conclusions about the Pearl murder, Levy's work must be taken seriously by policy makers and by anyone who actually cares about the future of our country. In this age of terrorsm, political alliances cannot be taken lightly.

This is the most unusual, moving and interesting book I've ever read. It seems to be part philosophy, part political discourse, and part -- a big part -- thriller. I truly couldn't put it down. This book details all kinds of stuff that's been essentially unanalyzed and certainly uncontextualized in the American press -- namely, the rising of militant jihadism, starting with Bosnia. Levy manages to not only contextualize it, but make it fascinating and exciting stuff. I'm also filled with admiration for the author, who, like Pearl, put his life on the line to tell the moving story of a brave reporter. Early reports on this book make mention of its speculative aspects -- but what's wrong with speculation? The evidence, acquired at great personal risk, is here, and Levy only does what the best investigators or cops should do: He tries to piece together its potential meaning. It amounts to a number of theories and hypotheses, and doesn't make claims to simplistic, yes or no answers. In short, it makes you think. A marvel, and, right now, a necessary one at that.

As mentioned below, this book certainly doesn't paint a flattering portrait of the political and spiritual state of Pakistan, and not many of its neighbors sound so great either. I've never been to Pakistan, but if Levy's assessment is close to the mark, I hope the folks at the State Department, the CIA and the Pentagon are keeping a sharp lookout over their shoulders. The book's conclusions as to the threat posed to the non-Muslim world by these people are chilling.

While Levy's being described as "surprisingly pro-American for a Frenchman," he's not entirely complimentary about the US and in fact mildly derides the invasion of Iraq. Even while stating his support for Israel, he directs a few sensible criticisms at their policies as well. But boy does Pakistan sound like a living nightmare in this book! If there are, in fact, some well-intentioned Pakistanis out there (and I'm sure there are), if everything in this book is accurate, I beg you to have the good grace to be ashamed for your countrymen rather than to condemn writers like Pearl and Levy for their honesty.

Sometimes the book is a bit melodramatic in its approach, and Levy rarely affects an objective style. He admittedly interprets events from a personal perspective, which is part of why the book can be so absorbing, even if it sometimes seems a little messy and self-involved. It's nonetheless extremely informative, and if you can get past the unavoidably revolting description of Pearl's murder in the early pages, you'll be well rewarded if you take any serious interest in the current calamitous state of the world.

It's notable that the negative critics of this book are Pakistani; clearly, M. Levy has touched a nerve. It's notable, too, that the person who evaluates Levy's reporting as terrible is unable to correctly report the author's name, nor spell it correctly. It's "Levy," not "Henry-Levi." This also strikes me as indicative of the nature of the criticism of Levy -- he has so thoroughly made his case that there is nothing left to counter with but personal insult. It's the tactic used by Pakistani President Musharraf before the Canadian Parliament just a few days ago, when he commented angrily on the book. This amazing book is doing something no diplomat nor journalist has been able to do -- make people look at the frightening situation in Pakistan. Theories? Hypotheses? Yes, this book abounds in them. What in the world is wrong with that? This is the world's leading philosopher, after all, and his hypotheses are fascinating, intelligent, and backed by powerful evidence gathered at great risk. And note: Part of the very point of the book is that proof of the facts isn't always available to Westerners. Look at what happened to the last journalist who went after them: Daniel Pearl.

BHL, as we like to call him in France, or Bernard-Henri Levy, is not only a great thinker, but a very articulate and precise writer. His book, Qui as tue Daniel Pearl (Who killed Daniel Pearl?) creates a new genre: it's non-fiction yet reads like a thriller. The book itself is highly interesting, very well written, enticing and exciting, but most of all, enlightening when one realizes who the true enemy is (which would be the ISI, or the Paskistani Inter-Service Intelligence agency). I read this book very quickly, i just couldn't put it down, because it was so fascinating and the information given in this book is so compelling and groundbreaking. I'm a student of International Affairs, with a major in Middle Eastern studies, and i can tell you that this book will prove helpful to you to explain the relationships between the different terrorist organizations, and the fact that Pakistan is a time bomb waiting to explode. I highly recommend this book to anyone who's either a fan of BHL, wnats to know about Middle Eastern politics, or is intrigued by the murder of Daniel Pearl. And as always, BHL has delivered us a great book (for those of you who like this book by BHL, check out his other books, he's written almost 30 and they're all really interesting).

The story of the death of Daniel Pearl, so shocking when it happened, is quite an amazing story on it's own, and would have been enough to read, but, the devotion of Bernard Levy taking a year out of his life to try and follow questions he had in his heart, is an amazing parrellel, story. I was very moved by how both of these men walked towards fear and kept asking difficult questions, when most of us would have turned (or more likely run) away.

Levy's book is unique in that we are not sure if we are reading fiction or non-fiction, almost in the tradition of Truman Capote and others. Once you've delved into this book, you cannot stop reading; you become engulfed in the drama of the tragic and real experiences of Pearl. We all had theories about the motives for the murder of Pearl; this book presents other realities about the dangers lurking in that part of the world.

I learned of this book from an article about French thinkers who are both "liberal" and "anti-anti-American." What intrigued me was that this author had figured out that it was Pakistan, not Iraq, that provides Al Qaeda with nuclear materials WMD). The book really should be required reading for all Americans. It tells how a privileged English boy ended up as the evil mastermind of Islamic terror. I became sick of the sentimental and worshipful chapters on Pearl himself. Sorry, but my cousin's life (she's in the 101st Airborne) is worth every bit as much in God's eyes. But hang in there, you can almost skip the Pearl worship because the story we all need to learn is that the Islamic jihadists control the Pakistani secret police and nuclear industry, and they work constantly with terrorists outside Pakistan. There is so much to think about here and I cannot overemphasize how well and intelligently written the book is.