Books : The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Rating: - What comes next?
While I was eager to read this book, I am finding it rough going. Mr. Wright has included way too much in my opinion. A lot of what he has included at length, could have been said in a fewer words and with more punch. Such as Qutb's visit to the USA or Ayman al-Zawahiri's childhood and background. While Qutb's visit is much more pertinent to the story line, al-Zawahiri's isn't all that much help in understanding what happened and continues to this day.

The info is good, one just has to plow through too many weeds to get to it.

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Rating: - THE LOOMING TOWER
Anyone who wishes to KNOW the BEGINNING and CONTINUING truth under-pinning our vicious, seemingly endless battle with ORGANIZED TERRORISTS, not just in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN, but literally across the civilized world MUST READ THIS BOOK! It reveals clearly and unmistakably, the common threads which bind the very fabric of the terrifying spread of terrorism and literally, a continuing WAR between Western Civilization and the TYRANNICAL terrorists who will stop at nothing. One should read this after the "LONE SURVIVOR" best-seller. It brings together what appear as countless loose ends of this monumental struggle which promises to be a veritable 'FIGHT TO THE VERY LAST SURVIVOR' of what is, unmistakably. a WAR like NO OTHER WE HAVE EVER FACED. This conflict will test every conceivable sinew of the 'muscle of resolve and potency' of not only the United States but of the Free World as we now know it!
You owe nothing less to yourself than the knowledge you will gain from this truly thorough, remarkable book on the subject, which astoundingly, yet, has commanded the attention of all too few Countries and plain citizens!

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Rating: - Fascinating and absorbing read with a very important message for political leaders today.
This book intimately traces the movements of Osama Bin Laden, the FBI, and CIA in the events leading up to 9/11. It is very convincingly written in a voice that is unobtrusive and observant, leaving the reader to form his or her own opinion of what Osama bin Laden's involvement really was in the 9/11 attacks (including if he was really behind it) and what motivated him to take the militant-political position he has taken in our world today.

What I found most interesting was the compassionate portrayal of Osama bin Laden himself and how that was made even more sharply clear by the words that came out of his very mouth (Wright handles "the telling detail" well). I also appreciated the author's thorough account of bin Laden's predecessors (his colleagues and mentors) and the rise of militant islamism in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, particularly the role Afghanistan played as a breeding ground for this extremist faction.

This book is an extremely engaging and absorbing read that grabbed me from beginning to end, even while combing the finer details of Bin Laden's character. While it does not offer a penetrating analysis of militant islamism as a whole, nor clearly point a finger at who exactly was behind 9/11 (not physically, but mentally), it does not claim to, but instead lays out many pieces of evidence, allowing the reader to draw conclusions for himself or herself.

If there is one sobering and important lesson that can be taken from this book, it is this: War and torture cannot be used to punish opponents in a political conflict, because in the end, by marginalizing individuals and their followers, these methods will only breed deeper and more troubling pathologies.

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Rating: - A "must read" for those who want to understand Al-Qaeda
I remember that after the 9/11 attacks people across America asked the question, "Why did they do it?" After reading this book, I feel I have a much better sense of the answer to that question. I think the author took pains to describe events dispassionately and present a clear picture of the motivations of the various groups that eventually made up Al-Qaeda. Especially fascinating was the detail of information on Osama bin Laden, his life, and his personality. I also thought the information on the bureaucratic infighting between FBI, CIA, NSA to be helpful in understanding why 9/11 wasn't prevented.


The book is very well documented and unlike many books of this nature, the author writes in a style that makes the book a page turner. If you want to be informed on what is arguably the most important issue facing us today, then this book should be on your required reading list.

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Rating: - Why do they hate us?
"The Looming Tower" is an excellent, well-researched account of the origins of al-Quaida in particular and of modern Islamic fundamentalism in general. From its origins with Sayyid Qutb to al-Zawahiri to bin-Laden, Mr. Wright shows us where radical, violent Islamic fundamentalists came from and what they want. And what are his conclusions?

We learn that Islamicists have a fundamental problem with modernity in all its forms- democracy, feminism, Western culture, technology, etc.- even though a good many of their leaders are of a middle to upper class background with a Western education and scientific/technological orientation. They want Islamic countries to follow Sharia law (which a good many do already) and return to a purified, simplified and puritanical first generation Islam. Such goals may seem foreign to many Americans, although a large number of Christians and conservatives may sympathize with their opposition to modern Western liberalism and its immoral, poisonous culture. However, the aforementioned goals don't explain why they have declared war on us and have flown planes into our cities. The answer is not because they "hate our freedom" or because they think we're infidels or because they were offended over the latest season of "Sex in the City". 9/11 happened because of specific American policies and actions in the Middle East: American troops in Saudi Arabia, the embargo against Iraq, the support of tyrannical Arab dictatorships, but above all else- our slavish support for Israel. The sooner Americans realize that, and stop attributing Islamic terrorism to the irrationality of its practitioners, the sooner we can stand up to our AIPAC controlled elite and demand an America-First foreign policy in the Middle East.

We have one interest in the Middle East- the free flow of oil. American national interest does not include the existence of a Zionist state or democracy in Iraq or the right of their women to act like prostitutes, in the American style. Let Israel sink, let the Arabs revert back to a 6th century cultural and technological level. The moment we start minding our own business is the moment terrorism stops.