Customer Reviews

Triple Cross: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI--and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

While I was deciding how I should start a review of Peter Lance's new book - I remembered a quote from Monica Gabrielle, one of the 9/11 widows, in a documentary about 9/11: "The one thing that I personally was hoping for was another Woodward and Bernstein with regard to 9/11. Someone, anyone that was willing to put their teeth into this."

Well, we have found that person, and his name is Peter Lance. In his third book on the origins of the 9/11 plot and the failures of the FBI and others to stop the attack, Lance focuses on Ali Mohamed - yet another figure relegated to footnotes in the "9/11 Report" who Lance shows played a central role in Al Qaeda's plan of attack. Not only did he help create the "Brooklyn Cell" which supported the 9/11 hijackers, but he wrote the training manual for Al Qaeda and created training camps for hijackers, all while the FBI thought he was on their side as an informant!

The best part of Triple Cross is the way Lance weaves together the different strands of the 9/11 story and enhances them with his own original reporting on each. For example, the book quotes from numerous interviews Lance conducted with Tony Shaffer, Curt Weldon, and other members of the Able Danger team. While not a full history of Able Danger, it has by far the most complete version in any book published to date.

Some have expressed frustration at the delays in publication, but I can attest to the fact that Lance needed the extra time in order to include all of the latest details from the interviews National Geographic conducted for their documentary based on his book, and the latest developments in the Able Danger and Greg Scarpa Jr. scandals. It is a great read, and uncovers a lot of new information about the 9/11 plot.

...investigative journalist in the world...UN...BE...LIEVE...ABLE. If you have an interest in 911, or even America's national security, force yourself to order this book. This book goes beyond just education, and is rather a unique opportunity to see a master investigator at work. If you have a chance to hear Lance speak, I recommend that too, as he is engaging to say the least.

Lance simply checks out everyone's stories, interviews all the players from all over the world, connects the dots, and leaves nothing to heresay. Five years of investigation by Lance, who seems to be the master of investigative journalism. Lance meticulously collected about 150 volumes of records[see the full 2 hour CSPAN talk]. Lance's facts(which you can see summarized in his website's timeline[right top on [...]) are considerately buffered with valuable context(therefore the 600 pages!).

It sickens me to understand one self-financed journalist could do so much while the FBI did so little. Although Lance asserts there is no Oliver Stone parrallel government type conspiracy and chalks up all the FBI fiascos as incompetence and covering up their embarrassment; one has to question whether the possibility of a real conspiracy should be left open, considering the enormous breadth of the incompetence...and considering that rank-and-file FBI [and others] hollered so loudly while their superiors quieted them. Lance of course also connects the dots[and outlines how others in the government that connected the embarrassing dots were punished]. I originally was turned onto his book after seeing his two hour jaw dropping talk on CSPAN. This guy deserves a special medal higher than the Medal of Freedom for his service to Truth and people everywhere. I'd like to see Mel Gibson or some other independent produce this into a movie.

With out a Doubt the best single book on Terrorism in print. triple Cross by Peter Lance out paces the 9-11 commission report, the Looming Tower, and the Cell by a long shot (those sources all have value, But Lance shows us what they left out). Lance does an excellent investigated job hear (the book is well source and documented), of explaining the raise of OBL, and AlQuada, he shows us what the FBI knew and didn't know, what The Clinton Administration knew did not know and the Bush Administration as well. lance shows us the mistakes and outright incompetence in our government (especially the FBI). Lance names names and holds nothing back. The book is worth ten times the price for the 23 page timeline on terrorism alone. This is a must read for anyone wanted to know the whole story of 9-11 and beyond.

Well-documented narrative of events and people leading up to the terrorists attacks of 9/11/01. Follows through with research and background regarding the 9/11 commission report and what is NOT in it. Includes many little-known facts that shed a great deal of light on the history of terrorism in the US.

Peter Lance has done an excellent independent investigative report. Although hindsight is 20/20 if even a small percentage of what he reveals is true, even with mitigating factors, much reporting about the runup to 9/11 has been a whitewash. Politicians and government employees were more interested in CYA and career advancement (and political infighting) than in learning from their mistakes.

This is not a conspiracy theory book. Peter Lance does not appear to have an agenda, and admits the shortcomings of this type of after-the-fact report. However, much of what is in this book should have been in the 9/11 commission's report. There have been many mistakes and bad decisions, and Americans deserve to know the truth.

Read it!!!

TRIPLE CROSS: HOW BIN LADEN'S MASTER SPY PENETRATED THE CIA, THE GREEN BERETS, AND THE FBI - AND WHY PATRICK FITZGERALD FAILED TO STOP HIM is no light read: over 600 pages chart the evolution of one of the most dangerous men in history: a single agent of al Qaeda who compromised some of the top forces in U.S. intelligence. TRIPLE CROSS traces the untold story of al Qaeda's rise and the evolution of Ali Mohamed, who led a successful double life. In-depth chapters chart his espionage and pack in details missing in more general surveys of al Qaeda, making TRIPLE CROSS top pick for any library strong in either contemporary espionage in general or al Qaeda events in particular.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is the best of many books written in the aftermath of 9/11 because it ties up many loose ends of earlier books as more information has become available. Whether right or left, everyone should value this book, and no one will ever again wonder whether anyone in the government knew or should have known about it before it happened. Although no one should consider this a "hit" piece on the government, Lance provides compelling proof that multiple government officials were either grossly negligent in failing to uncover 9/11 or willfully chose not to investigate matters that would have led them to discover the plot, for their own selfish reasons, for example, to cover up other bad behavior.

The author details decades of widespread incompetence, conflict of interest, poor judgement, political infighting, three blind mice syndrome and other problems that allowed Ali Mohammed to roam the country, work with the Army Special Forces, make frequent overseas trips to meet with other Al Qaeda members and to play a significant role in supporting terrorists in the US. Part of this can be explained by Monday Morning Quarterbacking, however, too much is simply an example of the height of incompetence or something more sinister.

It is not a book for the faint of heart. After reading this you are bound to wonder how we missed so many chances to stop 9-11 and to follow up on the earlier bombing of the WTC.

One question I was left with was, could there be a relationship between some of the issues in the book and Sandy Berger's willingness to commit multiple felonies to get materials out of the NSC files and Richard Clark's non-indexed files. Perhaps one day we will know.

As an investigative resporter the author does a great job. I gave it only 4 stars as I thought it needed more effort at linking the pieces to the big picture.

Highly recommended.

Very well written account, alot of chronological events that were strung together without confusion. I highly reccomend this book

Peter Lance has produced a magnificent book. His work needs to be followed up by multiple congessional committees and numerous on air investigative reports. Patrick Fitzgerald, Jack Cloonan, Dietrick Snell, and other highranking DOJ and FBI officials must testify under oath in primetime on national television. Peter Lance should be the lead investigator for the hearing. Americans have no idea the scope of the war against alqaeda. this is much older than 9/11. We have been at war with them since 1989.

I-49, Alec Station and Able Danger need to throughly examined for their inability to connect the dots before 9/11. I-49 was the FBI-DOJ BinLaden taskforce run by Patrick Fitzgerald. Alec Station was the CIA's BinLaden group. Able Danger was the Pentagons data-mining operation that linked Ali Mohammed (top alqeada spy linked with all major cells in the world and the US), Mohammed Atta (lead hijacker on 9/11), Ramzi Yousef (1st WTC bomber and, airliner bombing plots), Egyptian Islamic Jihad Cleric Sheik Abdul Rahman, and Osama BinLaden.

This book proves that the FBI cannot fight terrorism
we need to copy the british domestic intelligence service, MI5.

WE NEED TO HAVE ANSWERS. THIS BOOK IS A GREAT FIRST STEP... MUCH MORE WORK NEEDS TO BE DONE. HIGH RANKING OFFICIALS HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO...

Everyone should read this excellent book. Peter Lance has provided a comprehensive review of the cover up. Lots of backup of this period of history. Also read "Cover Up" for more exciting reading.