Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda's Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia [Hardcover]

Maria Ressa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2003

For anyone wishing to understand the next, post-9/11 generation of al-Qaeda planning, leadership, and tactics, there is only one place to begin: Southeast Asia. In fact, such countries as the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia have been crucial nodes in the al-Qaeda network since long before the strikes on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, but when the allies overran Afghanistan, the new camps in Southeast Asia became the key training grounds for the future. It is in the Muslim strongholds in the Philippines and Indonesia that the next generation of al-Qaeda can be found. In this powerful, eye-opening work, Maria Ressa casts the most illuminating light ever on this fascinating but little-known "terrorist HQ."

Every major al-Qaeda attack since 1993 has had a connection to the Philippines, and Maria Ressa, CNN's lead investigative reporter for Asia and a Filipino-American who has lived in the region since 1986, has broken story after story about them. From the early, failed attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II and Bill Clinton to the planning of the 9/11 strikes and the "48 Hours of Terror," in which eleven American jetliners were to be blown up over the Pacific, she has interviewed the terrorists, their neighbors and families, and the investigators from six different countries who have tracked them down. After the Bali bombing, al-Qaeda's worst strike since 9/11, which killed more than two hundred, Ressa broke major revelations about how it was planned, why it was a Plan B substitute for an even more ambitious scheme aimed at Singapore, and why the suicide bomber recruited to deliver the explosives almost caused the whole plan to fall apart when he admitted he could barely drive a car.

Above all, Ressa has seen how al-Qaeda's tactics are shifting under the pressures of the war on terror. Rather than depending upon its own core membership (estimated at three to four thousand at its peak), the network is now enmeshing itself in local conflicts, co-opting Muslim independence movements wherever they can be found, and helping local "revolutionaries" to fund, plan, and execute sinister attacks against their neighbors and the West.

If history is any guide, al-Qaeda revisits its plans over and over until they can succeed -- and many of those plans have already been discovered and are here revealed, thanks to classified investigative documents uncovered by Ressa.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

While the Middle East receives much scrutiny as the home of extremist Muslim terrorists, Maria Ressa offers a closer look at Southeast Asia as a hotspot where Al-Qaeda forces and other organizations are continually growing larger and more powerful. Ressa, the CNN bureau chief in Jakarta, has been based in the region for most of her career and provides a highly unsettling inside perspective to the people and events of that region. Islamist terrorist networks are, by nature, shadowy and complex, especially to Westerners who might have difficulty understanding the cultures from which they spring, but Ressa adroitly explains the various people and factions in ways that are highly compelling and deeply disturbing. Although Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and other Middle Eastern Al-Qaeda figures are featured here, Ressa also recalls personal interviews she conducted with Abu Bakar Ba'Asyir, the so-called "Asian Osama bin Laden," who denies any connection with terrorist organizations and acts despite voluminous evidence to the contrary. And personal experiences such as that are what make Seeds of Terror such an engrossing work of non-fiction. Tensions are consistently high in the region, especially for a western woman trying to learn the truth about what various groups are up to, and one comes to admire Ressa's persistence in trying to get the story even while repeatedly putting herself in mortal danger. Highlights included an explanation of how a failed Al-Qaeda plot in Singapore gave way to a successful attack in Bali, the career trajectory of an Al-Qaeda operative whose training begins in adolescence, and a look at the very real threat of ninja attacks. There are numerous books that provide investigations of terrorist networks but Ressa's unique point of view combined with how relatively under-publicized the Southeast Asian terrorist threat has been make this a must-read for anyone trying to understand how terrorism grows and spreads. --John Moe

From Publishers Weekly

Ressa, CNN's Jakarta bureau chief since 1995, offers a firsthand account of the recent terrorist attacks throughout Southeast Asia, as well as an overview of how local Muslims were groomed to be terrorists by al-Qaida and other extremist groups. Her position as one of the most prominent reporters in the region offers her access to documents and people not afforded to the average journalist. She is especially good at explaining the shadowy links among the various organizations and demonstrates how al-Qaida operates in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore as a loose network of groups-some rural and poor, others urban and wealthy-each with its own agenda, but all linked by the principle "if one Muslim hurts, we all hurt." The main group is Jemaah Islamiyah, headed by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, whom Ressa dubs "the Asian Osama bin Laden." She thoroughly documents al-Qaida's failed plan A, to attack U.S. soldiers in Singapore, and successful plan B, the bombing of the Kuta nightclub on Bali. What emerges is a picture of a volatile region where terrorists work with impunity, assured that unstable governments are unable to intervene. Ressa also indicts the U.S. and its allies for exacerbating the region's problems through ignorance, insensitivity and an unwillingness to cooperate. The picture should serve as a warning to our government to pay close attention to a part of the world that only seems remote and is serving as the second most important hotbed of Islamic terrorism outside the Middle East. Ressa's book makes for one of the best primers on the issues and people involved.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; First Edition edition (December 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743251334
• ISBN-13: 978-0743251334
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #519,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Seeds Of Terror - Maria A. Ressa January 12, 2004

By John Dos Santos

Format:Hardcover

I currently work as a security professional for an international firm in Asia. I was also a former military counterintelligence officer engaged in force protection in Southeast Asia(and East Africa). I have read many books on the subject of international terrorism and terrorism in the Asia Pacific region. I remain vitally interested in this subject and the threat terrorism poses to US commercial interests in the region. I found "Seeds Of Terror" to be one of the most complete, thoroughly researched and informative books that I have read on the terrorist threat in Southeast Asia. It is clear to me from this book that the region was, and remains, a key battleground in the West's war on terror. Ms. Ressa's literary work in "Seeds Of Terror" is as outstanding as her television journalism on the same subject. The only reason I did not give this 5 stars (you don't have 4.5 ratings) is because I thought the material in the book would have been enchanced with photographs and perhaps charts that graphically portrayed the Jemaah Islamiah organization. Perhaps in later editions. Bravo Ms. Ressa!!!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not bad - but "CNN-style" rather than academic May 8, 2004

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

Maria's book is well researched (although at times highly questionable ; as in her assertion that the OKC bombing may have been linked to Al Qaeda). Her style is a little too much a reflection of her work at CNN - lots of hyperbole and drama and use of the first person. On the whole a fast read that offers some insights amid a lot of self-back patting.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Ignore this Book! February 8, 2004

By David

Format:Hardcover

CNN Reporter Maria Ressa has written a wonderful first hand look at the links between Al Qaeda and the home grown Muslim Insurgency Movements in Southeast. Anyone who is interested in this region or wishes to know more about terror networks should read this book. In a rather short book (221 readable pages), Ressa provides a succinct and fact based treatise on the origin of fundamentalist terror networks in Southeast Asia and their links to Al Qaeda. Anyone who doesn't think that such links exist, will most definitely change their minds after reading this book.

While the book does not provide an in depth historical view, it does bring to light the development of these networks in the 1990's and how they were coopted by Al Qaeda. To Ressa's credit, she does not write the book as if she were reporting from the front lines and the occasional references to her own experiences in the area only serve to reinforce her points. Unfortunately, at the end of the book, Ressa does tend to get a little preachy and gets caught up in the anti-U.S. sentiment regarding the current war in Iraq. While her points are well-taken and may be even proven correct eventually, they detract from the overall thesis she presents, which is that terror networks in Southeast Asia are the next battleground in the war on terror and one that will be much harder to displace then they were in Afghanistan or Somalia.

Most of all, Ressa, a Filipina-American, has been able to bridge the gap between these two cultures and enable all of us outside of this region to more fully appreciate its complexities and problems. I would also recommend this book to anyone who will be traveling to this region.