Books : The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)

Rating: - A plot cooked up by cavemen with computers
This is one of the best books I've read on this vital subject, namely Islamic fundaMENTALism and the war against the West. It is meticulously researched and it reads like a novel. If you meet any windbags who tell you the Islamists are angry because of poverty or because the Yanks and the Brits are naughty in Iraq, just hit them over the head with this book. Hard. Then do it again, because if they are that thick it'll take a while for commonsense and real information to sink in. Call it shock therapy.

Well, as it turns out, the 9/11 mass murders could have been averted if the murderer-plotters had not been frequently assisted by beaurocratic infighting bewteen the FBI and the CIA. The foot dragging and smoke blowing was mainly coming from the CIA.

How did the whole muck heap of hatred come about in the first place? Various Arab-Islamic thinkers with identity problems stemming from their encouters with the West and modernity. Mainly Eqyptians. Bin Laden and his oil money help it along the road.

When you read this book you realise that indeed the West is the best, and it's mankind's only hope for the future.

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Rating: - Good intro to the topic
Good intro into a more detailed study of radical Islamism. No overt bias. Virtually no discussion of the events leading up to the actual 9/11 attacks -- but a good overview of the rise of al Queda.

The book really makes al Queda and al Jihad seem like a bunch of incompetent nincompoops. One finishes it thinking they got "lucky" on 9/11 and wondering: how could America seriously feel threatened by this band of misfits? Perhaps that is a valuable lesson to be taken from this book, or perhaps the author is guilty of softselling the danger of this organization.

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Rating: - An Excellent Primer on Al-Qaeda's Birth and Growth
The Looming Tower does a superb examination of the 9/11 attacks and their attackers. The author did extensive research for this history of terrorism, describing its morph from anti-Communist/Left-wing agenda (as atheists, the Communists and the Left-Wing were a huge abomination to the militant Muslims) in Afghanistan to the present day. He details how the group led by Osama bin Laden, called Al-Qaeda, was formed in that country along with their ideology blaming America. As a modestly wealthy member of a prominent Saudi construction family, bin Laden lived a Spartan life and created a responsive and insular organization with a strong sense of publicity. The list of terrorist attacks include East Africa embassy attacks, the USS Cole and more. Like war, counterterrorism is not a scientific activity with 100% assurance of results. It's inexact at best and we see that the FBI, CIA and other agencies are pursuing an uneven and cloudy trail. One of the most dangerous aspects of bin Laden's efforts are the seeds that he tossed into the wind to create a considerable, unconnected (and therefore untraceable) waves of terrorist imitators.

Michael Mandaville, Author: "Citizen Soldier Handbook: 101 Ways for Every American to Fight Terrorism"

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Rating: - The Looming Tower
This is a must read for every American who needs to understand the history of Al-Qaida and its present threat!
I bought several to pass along!

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Rating: - Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Insanity
Mr. Wright has done an outstanding job of connecting the dots from the first hints of Islamic terrorism to the catastrophic events of 9/11. The book is very readable and gives a clear understanding of this small group of disenfranchised, Middle-Eastern religious windbags and why they were allowed to fester. Also it fleshes out how the bureaucratic infighting between, primarily, the CIA and FBI helped Al-Qaeda to succeed in the terrorists' attacks. The book '102 Minutes' by Jim Dwyer & Kevin Flynn compliments Mr. Wrights book by explaining the bureaucratic snafus and political pettiness that contributed to many of the unnecessary deaths in the Twin Towers. Illuminating, frustrating and places the events and key individuals in proper perspective. Please do yourself a favor and read it.