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Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad [Hardcover]

Andrew C. Mccarthy
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

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Book Description

April 14, 2008
Andrew C. McCarthy takes readers back to the real beginning of the war on terror--not the atrocities of September 11, but the first bombing of the World Trade Center in February 1993 when radical Islamists effectively declared war on the United States. From his perch as a government prosecutor of the blind sheik and other jihadists responsible for the bombing, Andrew McCarthy takes readers inside the twisted world of Islamic terror.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this annotated retrospective, the prosecutor responsible for leading the investigation of Blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and others involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing dissects the miscues between federal agencies that led to that event while laying bare the challenges facing the war on terror today. The pre-1993 comedy of errors begins with the CIA's decision to funnel arms and money to Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war and continues with inexplicable lapses of communication between the State Department and immigration officials (despite having been placed on a State Department terror watchlist, the sheikh travels freely to the United States). The most enduring oversight, however, at least from McCarthy's perspective, is the refusal among academics and political leaders to confront fundamentalist Islamic tenets, the 800-pound gorilla that is somehow always in the middle of the room when terror strikes. The jihadist philosophy that guided the Blind Sheikh is traced through generations of Islamic thinkers to the Prophet Mohammed himself. Though McCarthy's language is at times cumbersome, his firsthand account of jihad's rise and the sheikh's trial of the century is an important contribution (and in some instances, counterpoint) to existing literature on the attack that foreshadowed disaster to come. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

From Publishers Weekly: In this annotated retrospective, the prosecutor responsible for leading the investigation of Blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and others involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing dissects the miscues between federal agencies that led to that event while laying bare the challenges facing the war on terror today. The pre-1993 comedy of errors begins with the CIA's decision to funnel arms and money to Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war and continues with inexplicable lapses of communication between the State Department and immigration officials (despite having been placed on a State Department terror watchlist, the sheikh travels freely to the United States). The most enduring oversight, however, at least from McCarthy's perspective, is the refusal among academics and political leaders to confront fundamentalist Islamic tenets, the 800-pound gorilla that is somehow always in the middle of the room when terror strikes. The jihadist philosophy that guided the Blind Sheikh is traced through generations of Islamic thinkers to the Prophet Mohammed himself. Though McCarthy's language is at times cumbersome, his firsthand account of jihad's rise and the sheikh's trial of the century is an important contribution (and in some instances, counterpoint) to existing literature on the attack that foreshadowed disaster to come. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

“Finally, from the legal front line, a devastating account of the peril we put our country in when we treat terrorist atrocities as if they were mere crimes. Andy McCarthy was there when the jihad began. Read this book and you’ll understand why this war is a war, and why we have no choice but to fight it and win it.” - Rush Limbaugh

“Willful Blindness is the best book I have ever read about terrorism, bar none. It is arguably the most stirring, brilliantly written, and devastatingly honest book on terrorism that has ever been published. Written by one of our nation’s greatest prosecutors, who understood early on from his successful prosecution of the 1993 World Trade Center plotters what our country was up against, Andy McCarthy tells the shocking story of our nation’s refusal to acknowledge the deadly adversary we are facing. His mesmerizing analysis of the nature of radical jihad’s war against the West will change the way you look at our future. Brutally candid and eloquent, this book is one that you MUST read. You simply have no choice. I have been writing about or working in national security for the past nearly 30 years, and from the moment I opened this book, I could not put it down until I finished the last page. I sat in stunned silence, but also eternally grateful that one of our top public servants finally had the guts to tell it like it is: a worldwide jihadist movement has operated in plain sight in our country, where policymakers were, and are, too politically correct to recognize it.” - Steven Emerson Author of the bestseller American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Amongst Us Executive Director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism

“In any intellectual street fight or battle, I want Andy McCarthy on my side—he is a smart and forceful intellectual ally. In a time of war, this is all the more so, and America is lucky to have him on hers.” - William J. Bennett Host, Bill Bennett’s Mor

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 250 pages
  • Publisher: Encounter Books; 1 edition (April 14, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1594032130
  • ISBN-13: 978-1594032134
  • Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Thank you Andrew C. McCarthy. P. Americus  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
290 of 299 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars an important, timely read April 6, 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Andrew McCarthy writes with clarity, depth and self-effacement about the lead up to and the successful 1995 prosecution of Omar Abdel Rahman, the Blind Sheikh, and his terrorist followers. As lead Assistant United States Attorney, McCathy's knowledge and attention to detail fascinate. The intricacies in mounting the prosecution, avoiding the pitfalls and foibles of the FBI and New York's Joint Terrorism Task Force, keeping a difficult informant from refusing to cooperate, struggling with the rules of admissible evidence, rival the best in any police procedural mystery; this is not Sam Waterston spouting the script of "Law and Order," this is the argot of a real life Federal prosecutor and it is daunting. No Hollywood script can capture the nuance and judgment needed to bring a case like this to its successful conclusion.

McCarthy, a talented writer, draws deep insights from his experience into the shortcomings of prosecuting terrorists as criminals. He ends with a thoughtful exposition of the disconnect between national security and criminal law. He is a voice of clarity, reason and experience in the dialogue now going in America on issues of law and national security.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars It didn't have to end like this. October 15, 2008
Format:Hardcover
It didn't have to end the way that it did, with 3000 dead and a smoking hole in lower Manhattan. We were warned. We had gotten our wake-up call. It was our choice to go back to sleep.

What makes Andrew McCarthy's book a must read for everyone is that he is not a journalist telling someone else's story. He is the lead prosecutor in the case against the perpetrators of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, and this is his first-hand account of that high-profile prosecution and the events leading to it.

After reading Willful Blindness the inescapable conclusion is that all of the societal structures that are supposed to serve us have broken down. The Intelligence Agencies failed to warn us; Law Enforcement failed to protect us; the Press failed to understand the implications and meaning of the events they reported on; the Courts, obsessed with legal abstractions, mis-judged the very real danger we faced; our political leaders were too timid, self-absorbed, and focussed partisan advantage to fulfill their first and most fundamental obligation: to defend the nation above all else. Only the Military, our last line of defense, has succeeded in raising the shield. Yet, even now their efforts to protect us are underminied by those same elements of society that so singularly failed in their past duties.

It is tempting to shrug and say, "Hindsight is always 20/20." A better cliche to adopt as our slogan is Santayana's famous dictum, "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." We closed our eyes and chose to forget what happened in 1993, only to see history repeat itself - with a vengeance - in 2001.

The cast of characters today is familiar to us all.
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50 of 56 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read May 19, 2008
Format:Hardcover
This is an entertaining and informative book about the prosecution of terrorists in the 1990s, and specifically those who attacked the World Trade Center in 1993. You get a window into the inner workings of government and this knowledge will help you frame the current argument about where (US or GITMO) and how (courts vs battlefield) to defeat the current threat. Armed with the history of what happened in the 1990s, you will be able to separate logic from fantasy in today's highly-charged political environment. McCarthy even offers food for thought on the damages that could happen if we bring the war to our courts.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars 'Willful Blindness' - Smart, Provocative and Timely July 27, 2008
By Johnny
Format:Hardcover
`Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad' by Andrew McCarthy

In `Willful Blindness', Andrew McCarthy weaves the narrative of, not only his experience investigating and subsequently prosecuting Islamic jihad in the US, but a solid, albeit brief, history of the resurgence of jihad (as a means of terror rather than ideals) in Islam, itself. His rude introduction to the jihad came courtesy of the `The Blind Sheikh' - Omar Abdel Rahman:

Bungled bureaucracy, pathetically weak coordination of government agencies and enormously frustrating and embarrassing law enforcement failures allowed The Blind Sheikh to enter and flourish in America. This well known Egyptian rabble-rouser (well known I say to Egyptian, but also U.S. authorities), member of the U.S. `Terror Watch List', and brilliant Islamic scholar was nevertheless allowed to set up shop in NYC and New Jersey. From his new base, the Blind Sheikh preached hatred, incited violence and ultimately terrorism, culminating in the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.

Fortunately, for the United States we had a team led by Andrew McCarthy who assembled and successfully prosecuted The Blind Sheikh and his terrorist cabal. The story of the daring, and often hair-splitting, Egyptian informant embedded inside the Sheikh's inner ring is worth the price of this book alone! By educating themselves on the roots of Islamic terror and piecing together the connections of the Blind Sheikh's organization, McCarthy and his team were able to wrap up this terror outfit just before another, more ghastly strike, occurred in NYC. The reader is taken behind the scenes to the offices of Janet Reno, the US Attorney General, FBI & CIA headquarters and most important, inside the U.S.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative and a great read
This is the second book I've read by Andrew McCarthy. His books are informative, well researched and easy to read. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Peter
5.0 out of 5 stars Well educated author is profound
A powerful book by a Federal prosecutor of the first World Trade Center basement bombing in 1993, when terrorists Muslims tried to collapse one of the towers into the other [pg... Read more
Published on April 23, 2011 by hotchas
5.0 out of 5 stars SUPERB COMPREHENSION OF THE REAL ISSUE
There may be one or two issues with which I'd cavil, but they are utterly insignificant considering the importance of the message McCarthy is delivering. Read more
Published on March 4, 2011 by neilgbarclay
2.0 out of 5 stars Painful
Hard to read. Sentences are saturated with seldom used adjectives. Had to set it down after 100 pages or so.
Published on July 4, 2010 by S. Easley
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Inside Look at the Legal Prosecution of Terrorism
"McCarthy, Andrew C., Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad. (New York, Encounter Books, 2008)"

Andrew McCarthy is a former federal prosecutor and a Contributing... Read more
Published on January 22, 2010 by William W. Baker
1.0 out of 5 stars Reads more like a political opinion piece...
I think the author is a bit narrow-minded based on their past personal experience with Muslims and painted the picture via that very narrow viewpoint, which only serves to feed an... Read more
Published on May 25, 2009 by Solange
5.0 out of 5 stars War, Not Law Enforcement
Who better than the lead federal prosecutor of the Blind Sheikh (mastermind of the 1993 WTC bombing) to explain to Americans that the criminal law will never defeat terrorism? Read more
Published on November 21, 2008 by Kurt J. Acker
3.0 out of 5 stars Opinion
It's great that America is to blame for everything but if you look at the ideology of Al Qaeda they do not care who they deem is wrong. Read more
Published on September 11, 2008 by Bank Guy
5.0 out of 5 stars Book review for Willful Blindness: Memoir of the Jihad
A must read. Good overview of events, detail coverage of individual people involved yet very readable. Read more
Published on September 3, 2008 by Andy
5.0 out of 5 stars Willfull Blindness
Mr.McCarthy skillfully shows why we had{and continue}to have the problems
we do concerning our handle on terrorism.A MUST READ!!!!!
Published on August 5, 2008 by Albert D. Paul
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Topic From this Discussion
Is This An Account or a Screed?
Seems like a good account to me, check out the interview on BookTV (Afterwords program) with the author - I'd say it's very even handed and factual. Not sure why people would climb all over the author when he's passing along the sequence of events and also opened up with his own missteps. Good... Read more
Jun 24, 2008 by MH |  See all 2 posts
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