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52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, an expertly written book on Bin Laden, June 20, 2002
After reading numerous books by so-called "terrorism experts," I was worried that the bookshelves would sadly fill with ill-informed literary diarrhea about one of today's most important issues. This book, however, provides a refreshing and skillful account of the rise of bin Ladin and Sunni extremism. Unlike other authors who churn out manuscripts with little substantive experience in the matter on which they are writing, the author obviously works in the intelligence community on counterterrorism issues. Most other books about bin Ladin are nothing more than a collection of warrants and press clippings, but this book provides substantive analysis of bin Ladin's pinnacle role in the rise of global terrorism. This is by far the best book I have read on the subject and I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to have a better understanding of what the country was facing prior to September 11, 2001. It also provides an alarming look at the current threat posed by al-Qaeda and Sunni extremist elements. If you want an uplifting book about how the U.S. Government safely has its hands around the issue of terrorism, this is not the book for you. If you want to learn about what the country is facing and how menacing and developed this new adversary really is, this is the book for you. It is written for the average reader, it is not an academic opus for the over-educated.
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76 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Noteworthy Read, June 16, 2003
There's so much literature about bin Laden, al-Qaeda, etc. that I just don't even bother to get myself involved in it. I had picked up this book, thinking, it was going to read like the Pentagon Papers and just give me a bad headache. I was wrong. Instead, I found that Anonymous gave insightful information and different angles on the subject. It's about reality and less hocus pocus. S/he showed parts of the situation I never explored or even bothered to care about. S/he is very descriptive without getting wordy or over-exaggerated and gets to the meat of it. This author talks/discusses with you and not over/at you. It's simple, short but descriptive enough to read. You don't need to know the complete, in-depth history of x, y, or z. It's a nice quick reference book about bin Laden: from his education to the Taliban connection and Muslim point of view. I actually want to learn more and answer the questions that the book brought up and the ones I've made as well. Anonymous precisely focuses on the topic and rarely strays from it. You know what s/he will be talking about in every chapter. Within each chapter, there are also subdivisions and headings that tell you what s/he will be discussing. S/he really zeroes in specifically and makes sure that it's not confusing. The break up of the chapter helps make it more focused and I didn't get as lost at all. Another really helpful bit is the complete index and reference page at the end of the book as well as a short glossary of terms that may be unfamiliar. S/he also emphasizes certain points to the reader to make sure we don't start jumping to conclusions. I'd suggest reading the author's note to the glossary. I found that Anonymous mostly asking the reader to have an open mind and keep things in perspective. S/he made a point about the media representations by US/West and bin Laden's own propaganda in MidEast. I think s/he did his best to give a picture of both sides. S/he uses quotes from many resources and wants the reader to judge for him/herself what it means. Anonymous makes sure that when quoting, the reader understands who, what, where, why, when of the quotes and it's not just some quote from somewhere. It's quite easy to be biased and I hope people will give this great book a chance. Some people may be put off by the fact that the book doesn't put the US/West in a 'pretty light', but the Author also shows the violence/illusions of bin Laden as well. Neither parties are saints. One of the most important points Anonymous brings up is the fact that, at one time or another, we (US or Western civ, etc) held the same beliefs and passions of bin Laden. That in the end, we (humans) are all the same. You may not agree or like it, but it's one angle of reality that cannot be ignored because ignorance only festers more ignorance.
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107 of 119 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Sobering View of the War on Terrorism, January 8, 2003
This is a remarkable book well worth reading by anyone who wants to know how dangerous our opponents are and how difficult the war with terrorism could get. The author is described as "a senior U.S. intelligence officer with nearly two decades of experience in national security issues related to Afghanistan and South Asia." He was forced to publish the book anonymously because it is so different from the pre-September 11 analysis of his employing agency. His own disgust with the American intelligence bureaucracy is evident in his acknowledgments when he cites Mark Helprin about men who "knowing very little or next to nothing, take pride in telling everyone else what to do." He continues with praise for young civil servants "whose work ethic, intellectual honesty, and personal courage inspire awe and-if unleashed-are more than match for America's foes, foreign or domestic. Too often, however, their work is stymied by senior officers of my own generation. Mostly men, these senior officers have made careers by keeping silent in the face of unfairness, avoiding risk, and refusing to make decisions . . . Fortunately, most of the Republic's younger civil servants recognize with Helprin that this behavior is `more than a pity, more than a disgrace, it is despicable'" (xiv). The current strategy of focusing narrowly on Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, and body counts "is the road to disaster, for the positions and force bin Laden has presented are a far more lethal and varied threat than that posed by any of those we have labeled as `terrorists' over the past quarter century. The strength of his personality and message is likely to lead to an enduring legacy that will long survive his departure from the scene" (xvii). "The forces of bin Laden, then, are waging war on America in God's name; they have made it clear that their goal is not the tactical one of inflicting pain, but the strategic one of defeating the United States `in the same way in which the USSR suffered humiliation at the hands of the Afghan and Arab mujahedin in Afghanistan.' In the United States before the events of 11 September 2001, however, there was almost no recognition that bin Laden's war is well under way. The first step in countering the forces that bin Laden has established is to listen more patiently to what he said in the past and to understand the personal, historical, and geopolitical contexts in which he thought, spoke, and acted" (xviii). Americans will find this book disturbing in part because the author uses American revolutionary war patriots' words to frame each chapter. His point is to drive home that the sincerity and intensity of our founding fathers can be matched by equal intensity and sincerity in Islam. He is arguing that the movement opposing us has a religious fervor, a systematic intensity, and a willingness to learn and use the advantages of a free society to defeat that very freedom. This is a sobering view of a deeply religious movement with the passionate commitment of those who are doing God's bidding and a willingness to kill Americans by the millions if they can find the right mechanism with which to do it. Anyone who reads this book will be deeply sobered by it and will reflect on how much bigger and longer our campaign to defeat the Reactionary Islamists will turn out to be.
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