1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI--the Untold Story (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "On the morning of September 11, 2001, the greatest would-be mass murderer since Adolf Hitler was locked down in solitary confinement in a Colorado prison..." (more)
Key Phrases: bombing cell, young jihadis, how many more fires, New York, Ramzi Yousef, Nancy Floyd (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An astounding read...a 500-page smoking gun." (-Kristin Breitweiser, co-chair, September 11 Advocates )

"An astonishing series of revelations, this book is a must-read..." (-Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Judiciary Committee )

"This is a wake-up call to show America how are barn door was left open..." (-Dennis Smith, bestselling author of Report from Ground Zero and Report from Engine Co. 82 )

"Compelling and briskly told. . .Quite convincing. . .[Lance] breaks ground." (-Washington Post Book World )

Product Description

For most Americans the true origin of the 9/11 attacks remains a mystery. But as the two jetliners hit the Twin Towers, three strangers knew exactly what had happened. FBI agent Nancy Floyd, FDNY fire marshal Ronnie Bucca, and Ramzi Yousef, the bomb-making terrorist an American judge once called "an apostle of evil," had been on a collision course for years—soldiers on opposing sides of a terror war raging since the late 1980s.

Now, in 1000 Years for Revenge -- a groundbreaking investigative work that reads like an international thriller -- award-winning journalist Peter Lance reveals how the FBI missed dozens of opportunities to stop the attacks of September 11, dating back to 1989. Drawing on interviews with scores of central figures in the story, as well as hundreds of pages of declassified documents, Lance uncovers startling evidence of FBI negligence that even a joint congressional committee missed. Among his revelations:

• From the early 1990s, Osama bin Laden was running an active al Qaeda terror cell in New York City -- with blind sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman as its leader and Ramzi Yousef as its master bomb maker.
  
  
• The FBI had sufficient intelligence to capture Yousef before he built the first World Trade Center bomb in 1993. In 1995, they learned that he had already set the 9/11 suicide-hijacking plot in motion from Manila -- that he was planning "to return to the U.S. to attack the World Trade Center a second time." Yet each time the FBI missed the opportunity to stop him.
  
  
• FBI agent Nancy Floyd used a key informant to penetrate the cell of Sheikh Rahman -- only to have the operation sandbagged by her FBI supervisor.
  
  
• Most alarming, in 1992, a confidant of Sheikh Rahman removed the plans for the World Trade Center from FDNY headquarters. Ronnie Bucca brought the information to the FBI in 1999 but he was ignored.

This is a story of heroes: Nancy Floyd, who tried to bring down the New York terror cell but paid for her efforts with damage to her career, and Ronnie Bucca, who tried to alert the FBI to the security threat to New York City from al Qaeda but paid for the agency's negligence with his life on 9/11. It is also a story of the power of evil: Lance offers a chilling chronicle of how one man -- the elusive mastermind Yousef -- managed to defeat the entire American security system in what Lance calls "the greatest failure of intelligence since the Trojan Horse."

An unparalleled work of investigative reporting and masterful storytelling, 1000 Years for Revenge will change forever the way we look at the FBI and the war on terrorism in the twenty-first century.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (September 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006054354X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060543549
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #170,903 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reads Like a Best Selling Novel, November 1, 2003

By	Suzanne (California, United States) - See all my reviews

How could it be that the United States of America, a world super-power, had missed the terrorist trail to 9/11? In "1,000 Years for Revenge" Peter Lance uncovers facts, connects events, and discloses a pattern of FBI behavior that together paves a glaring path to the tragedy of 9/11. His passionate presentation of material is captivating and frightening. But it is Lance's gift as a compelling storyteller that makes this book read like a best selling novel. Two real American heroes are the intimate human thread around which the story unfolds and gives this book heart. Further a glossy paged timeline in the middle of the book, provides a brilliant method of distinguishing all the players by identifying each with their picture, each time their name appears. For those readers not familiar with Middle Eastern names, like me, it is an easy way to grasp the continuity of the persons over time. We should all know this story and Peter Lance tells it well.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST read for everyone interested in terrorism and politics., July 13, 2005

By	J. Giordano (Bellmore,NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: 1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI--the Untold Story (Paperback)

As I read some of the reviews of people specifically one regarding David Ray Griffin books compared to this I must wonder about their motives. Although I have not read his books I read a few summaries, and concluded on some of the differences between them. David Ray Griffin seems to put all the blame and cover up on the Bush administration; it also seems to claim that there were explosives throughout the towers causing them to come down and not just the planes. It also claims that the pentagon plane never was a plane.

So how do you compare; Peter Lance doesn't claim that the Clinton administration or Bush Administration knowingly lied, it does however criticize both administrations for not looking into things like they should have. Obviously the Clinton Administration takes a harder hit here because they were in office from 93 - 00 when most of the planning took place. (yes I know it is hard for many bush haters not to put all the blame on Bush but this attack was planned well before Jan 1, 2001).

Peter Lance goes into extreme detail regarding the people involved in the 93 bombing and the people hunting/prosecuting them. There were so many things that were missed on all levels of our government from local police to the FBI to the white house. He does focus on the FBI's failure more than many other law enforcement because they are the group involved here at home. There are no conspiracy theories, the 93 world trade center attack happened; we know who did it. The USS Cole was attacked, Khobar Towers, the 2 embassies in Africa and 9/11. To suggest that some or any of these were committed or covered up by our goverment is insane.

Peter Lance details that there are people out there that are making their living trying to kill Americans and their allies. He gives us names, faces actual details. A history lesson in New York City law enforcment. There have been numerous books written about many of the same poeple or by the same people that Peter Lance mentions; John O'neil, Bob Baer etc... Read those books many say the same thing. SO is everyone on the government payroll covering up the White House Empires????

This book is based in facts that occured up to 9/11; it gives details and criticizes many people and administrations for not looking past the tips of their noses. It isn't based on conspiracy theories and is a great book. This book should be read by anyone wanting to know how inadequate our domestic law enforcment is at handling the new terrorist threat.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Research, September 24, 2003

By	Peter Bergen "peter bergen" (Washington DC, DC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had not realized there was more material to mine in the story of the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 but Peter Lance hit a motherlode in his recounting of the story of FBI agent Nancy Floyd and her relationship with Emad Salem, the FBI informant who could have prevented that attack. The story of Floyd and Salem is infuriating as it is clear that more senior FBI officials sabotaged what could have been Floyd and Salem's important contribution to breaking up the cell that carried out the 1993 Trade Center attack.
Lance's book is very well researched, well organized in its narrative, and a real page turner that reads like a fast paced book of fiction. Lance does not descend into political point-scoring, but he does make a compelling case that many opporunites were missed to root out al Qaeda in the United States. In my estimation certain officials in the FBI did have a very strong sense of the threat posed by al Qaeda. Lance nonetheless makes a strong case that the US government missed a multitude of opporttunities to extirpate al Qaeda in the United States going back as far as 1989.