The Martyr's Oath: The Apprenticeship of a Homegrown Terrorist [Hardcover]

Stewart Bell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2005

"In The Martyr's Oath, Stewart Bell, Canada's most respected journalist covering terrorism, tells how Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a teenaged Canadian, was selected by the Al Qaeda leadership to coordinate a powerful attack in Southeast Asia that would have led to more destruction than 9/11. There is no better way to understand how Western youth are being drawn to terrorism than to read this story of the rise of a new generation of terrorist."
— Rohan Gunaratna, Author of Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror (Columbia University Press)

"The Martyr's Oath provides a unique vignette into the recruitment, training and operational deployment of young Canadian Muslims by Al Qaeda terrorists. it couples a biographical account of their personal and family experiences, culminating in capture, interrogation, and death, with some extraordinarily detailed accounts of counter-terrorism operations across the Middle East, Southeast Asia and North America. This will be a must-read for anyone and everyone interested in the challenges of international terrorism in our times."
— Dr. Martin Rudner, Director, Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies, The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Ottawa, ON

Acclaim for Stewart Bell's first book, Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around the World

"an arresting look at the reality of terrorism"
—The Gazette (Montreal)

Every responsible citizen of Canada, the US, the UK and other Western Countries should read this book."
— Christopher Ondaatje, Times Higher Education Supplement

"Cold Terror will shock the conscience of the nation... This book is not just an exposé it is an urgent call to action."
—David Frum, Author of The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush

"The most important Canadian book of 2004."
—Western Standard

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

In the summer of 2001, a young Canadian sat with  Osama bin Laden near Kandahar and swore an oath: He would die for Al Qaeda. His name was Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, and he was 19 years old. The Martyr's Oath tells the remarkable true story of how the son of middle-class immigrants from Kuwait was radicalized, recruited and trained to be an Al Qaeda terrorist.

After meeting Jabarah's distraught parents at their suburban home, awards-winning investigative journalist Stewart Bell set out to answer the question at the heart of today's global threat: how does someone become a terrorist? Bell retraces Mohammed's path from a small town near Niagara Falls, Ontario to Kuwait, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia and, Finally a prison cell in Manhattan.

Along the way, he guides readers through the world of Muslim militancy, a world inhabited by firebrand preachers, terrorist recruiters, training-camp instructors, clandestine operatives and the intelligence agents on their trail. It was a world that Jabarah had known since the age of 14, when he decided to become an Islamic holy warrior. By 18, he was training in Afghanistan, and a year later, he was in Southeast Asia plotting to blow up American and Israeli embassies.

As he pieces together Jabarah's life from interviews and top-secret documents, and revels for the first time the inside details of the international intelligence operation that6 ended his Al Qaeda apprenticeship, Bell sheds light on one of the most disturbing trends in modern terrorism: the growing number of youths in North America and Europe who are being drawn into violent radical groups.

From the Back Cover

"In The Martyr's Oath, Stewart Bell, Canada's most respected journalist covering terrorism, tells how Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a teenaged Canadian, was selected by the Al Qaeda leadership to coordinate a powerful attack in Southeast Asia that would have led to more destruction than 9/11. There is no better way to understand how Western youth are being drawn to terrorism than to read this story of the rise of a new generation of terrorist." - Rohan Gunaratna, Author of Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror (Columbia University Press)

"The Martyr's Oath Provides a unique vignette into the recruitment, training and operational deployment of young Canadian Muslims by Al Qaeda terrorists. it couples a biographical account of their personal and family experiences, culminating in capture, interrogation, and death, with some extraordinarily detailed accounts of counter-terrorism operations across the Middle East, Southeast Asia and North America. This will be a must-read for anyone and everyone interested in the challenges of international terrorism in our times." - Dr. Martin Rudner, Director, Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies, The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Ottawa, ON

Acclaim for Stewart Bell's first book, Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around the World

"an arresting look at the reality of terrorism" - The Gazette (Montreal)

Every responsible citizen of Canada, the US, the UK and other Western Countries should read this book." - Christopher Ondaatje, Times Higher Education Supplement

"Cold Terror will shock the conscience of the nation... This book is not just an exposé; it is an urgent call to action." - David Frum, Author of the Right man: the Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush

"the most important Canadian book of 2004." - Western Standard

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470836830
• ISBN-13: 978-0470836835
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #609,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for those concerned about terrorism, November 2, 2005

By 

Martin Collacott - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Martyr's Oath: The Apprenticeship of a Homegrown Terrorist (Hardcover)

The Martyr's Oath is a thoroughly researched and highly readable account of how a young man who was raised and educated in Canada became a key organizer for al-Qaeda in Asia and played a major part in plans to kill large numbers of Westerners. A particularly interesting section of the book is Bell's description of how Mohammed Mansour Jabarah was "turned" by Canadian security authorities and induced to provide a wealth of valuable information on al-Qaeda and its operations.

While Bell does not claim to have all the answers to the complicated question of what goes into the making of a home-grown North American jihadi, he takes the reader through a fascinating review of the various contributing factors. The Martyr's oath is a must read for students of terrorism concerned about increasing efforts by al-Qaeda and related terrorist groups to recruit new members in Western countries.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Toronto 17 were not Canada's First Homegrown Terrorists, June 19, 2006

By 

Patrick Grady (Ottawa, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Martyr's Oath: The Apprenticeship of a Homegrown Terrorist (Hardcover)

If you didn't read Martyr's Oath last fall when it first came out, you're probably like most Canadians sitting there wondering how seventeen nice Muslim Canadian boys came to be arrested on terrorism charges in Toronto last week. Don't wait to be enlightened by the terminally politically-correct CBC. Instead check out Stewart Bell's book. Not only is it prescient in warning about the spread of the new phenomena of "homegrown" terrorism to Canada's tolerant shores, it is a very good read, conjuring images of Osama bin Laden wannabes wandering around in exotic Middle Eastern deserts, AK-47s in hand.

Stewart Bell thoroughly researched his book, dauntlessly tracking the Jabarah brothers, who swears the bayat or "martyr's oath" of loyalty to Osama bin Laden, from their middle class home in St. Catherines on the Niagara Peninsula to Kuwait, Pakistan, Afghanistan, South East Asia, and beyond. Although he never got access to either of the boys - one being in the Manhattan Detention Centre and the other already in Paradise enjoying his reward of seventy two virgins, he spent much time with the boys' alienated father Mansour whose own fundamentalism and anti-Western ways, as described by Bell, may have planted the seeds of the boys' own peculiarly Islamic spiritual quest.

As an experienced and award-winning investigative reporter on the national security beat for the National Post, Bell managed to get his hands on many intelligence reports and court documents. Bell's book just invites comparisons between the Jabarah brothers and the Toronto 17. It is also much harder to ignore in the light of what almost happened.