The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader

Book Description

No one knows more about Osama bin Laden than Peter Bergen. In 1997, well before the West suddenly became aware of the world's most sought-after terrorist, Bergen met with him and has followed his activities ever since.

Today, years after President Bush swore to get him dead or alive and despite haunting the popular imagination since September 11, 2001, bin Laden remains shrouded in mystery and obscured by a barrage of facts, details and myths. With numerous never-before-published interviews, The Osama Bin Laden I Know provides unprecedented insight into bin Laden's life and character drawing on the experiences of his most intimate acquaintances. This timely and important work gives readers their first true, enduring look at the man who has declared the West his greatest enemy.

Customer Reviews:

Doug M........2007-08-30

I listened to this as an audio CD. This method would of course be better since writting verbatim the way people talk is always hard to read. Just read one of the speeches that Bush makes to see the difference.

An Introduction to Bin Laden.......2007-01-13

Peter Bergen is a journalist, so it is not surprising that this book is a collection of brief interviews or quotes rather than one long narrative. The interviews are arranged chronologically, with some comments by Bergen interspersed to make a more cohesive and readable book. Bergen has clearly done his homework, and this book provides the reader with a good understanding of who Bin Laden is and where he came from. Now if Bergen could just tell us where to find Bin Laden today . . .

osama.......2006-11-10

A good read. Learn all about osama,this is something the government think tanks, should have done. From a very rich family with a good name to the depths of evil. When you think of evil, think of osama and hitler in the same thought.

A Rather Unsatisfactory Bio of Bin Laden.......2006-10-14

Peter Bergen is a journalist well known for his knowledge of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. Here he presents an "oral" history by piecing together documents and interviews into what he considers a narrative whole. For the most part there is nothing new here that hasn't already been out in the public domain. And there is very little analysis. It is basically a group of documents strung together with commentary from Bergen.

For me, this style just doesn't work. It's not a very pleasant reading experience. And while the narrative hangs together well - Bergen would have been better off to write a narrative history of bin Laden with deeper analysis. That would have taken a bit more time and work to complete, but it would have served the reader much better.

Superb Context Shows How Clinton & Neo-Cons BOTH Fueled Islamic Violence.......2006-10-09

This is quite a superb composition of the statements of others about Bin Laden, interspersed with very credible observations and conclusion by Peter Bergen.

The book opens with a cast of characters and ends with a "where are they now" listing. It also provides a timeline, but a limitation of this book is that it focuses on Bin Laden alone.

I have a number of notes from this excellent book:

1) The 1967 war in which Israel won was vital in showing the Arabs that it was their own inept and corrupt regimes that were leaving the Zionists in power. Also this book, at the end, where the Sykes Picot 1916 agreement highlighted in the Lawrence of Arabia epic movie, is clearly identified by Bin Laden as the start of the current "crusade" against Islam.

2) Bin Laden was a shy and polite, very religious person with a good education--the classic revolutionary (contrary to conventional wisdom, the rebels are the smart ones that see through the facades).

3) The 1979 invasion by Saudi forces to recapture the Al Haram mosque radicalized Bin Laden, as did the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The writings of Egyptian Sayyid Qutb on Islam as a complete way of life, when COMBINED with the corrupt and often decadent lifestyles of the Saudi, Egyptian, and other Arab rules, were in tandem a foundation for the radicalization of youth across the region.

4) The Pakistani cleric Abdullah Azzam was a major influence and enabler for jihadists seeking to fight the Soviets by entering via Pakistan, and the clearly untold story, in this book or any other, is the deep and constant relations between the Pakistani intelligence service, the Taliban, and Bin Laden.

5) In Afghanistan the back story is Bin Laden the theocrat versus Massoud the tolerant secularist in the Northern Alliance.

6) Soviet invasion of Afghanistan produced 6 million refugees, half to Pakistan and half to Iran.

7) The open sources of information available on Bin Laden and anti-Israel and anti-us plans are legion, and the author is extremely effective in cataloging all of the overt information that the U.S. Intelligence Community simply ignored from 1988, when the Commandant of the Marine Corps and I first made terrorism, and the use of open sources to understand terrorism, a national issue.

8) In 1996 Jamal Al Fadl walked in to a US Embassy (probably Sudan) with plans for attacks on US by Bin Laden, and also in 1996 Bin Laden announced on CNN, ABC News and in Al Jazeera that he was declaring war on the US. My comment: in the US, only Steve Emerson ("American Jihad") and Yossef Bodansky "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America") took the declaration seriously.

9) Clinton and Bush BOTH were happy to deal with the Taliban, and the Taliban understood that the Americans, regardless of party, wanted a pipeline from Caspian energy to Pakistan (rather naively assuming Pakistan would be able to protect it), as well as bases against China and Iran.

10) This book makes it clear that every time George W. Bush talks about them attacking us for our way of life he is simply demonstrating either his idiocy or his hypocrisy. Bin Laden, over and over and over again, has specified Israeli and US behaviors, actions, and policies as the basis for his challenge.

11) In 1998 US rebuked Taliban and Bin Laden raised the ante, also focusing on the jailed Sheikh Abdel Rahman, the only religious figure to have blessed Bin Laden's lay fatwa with a commanding fatwa of his own. This individual, in US custody, has inspired violence from 1981 onwards, and US appears to have not understood his potency.

12) Quote on page 211: Zawahiri was to Osama Bin Laden what Karl Rove is to the White House."

13) Bin Laden explicitly cites Nagasaki and Hiroshima as justifications for targeting US civilians. While the author of this book discounts Bin Laden's having nuclear suitcase bombs, he acknowledges that nuclear waste is easily acquired.

14) On 10 June 1998 ABC aired an exclusive interview with Bin Laden and introduced him as the wan who had declared war on the US. No one noticed. (Steve Emerson's PBS broadcast in 1994 also got blown off).

15) The book toasts the Clinton Administration for both incompetence at getting Bin Laden (but then, the Saudis tried to assassinate Bin Laden several times and also failed), and for lionizing Bin Laden with the Tomahawk missile strike (which another book I have reviewed says included several that did not explode and enriched Bin Laden with $10 million from their sale to the Chinese).

16) The author recounts Bin Laden's illnesses witnessed by others as being Soviet gas impact on breathing, back pain, low blood pressure, foot wound, and NOT kidney failure.

17) Al Qaeda started looking for WMD after they noticed US beating that drum, and probably got their first chemicals from Uzbeckistan.

18) First references to airplanes attacking buildings were in Egyptian press 12 Aug 00.

19) Cheney and Franks both lied to US public about Bin Laden not being at Tora Bora (see my reviews of "JAWBREAKER" and "First In").

20) Al Qaeda's general guidance to all is to first, cause the West pain, and second, seek to arouse all Muslims.

21) Iraq is teaching foreign fighters and Iraqis who will likely become foreign fighters elsewhere, how to use IEDs, suicide bombs, and urban warfare against the West elsewhere.

Bottom line: has we stayed in Afghanistan, and dropped Rangers on Bin Laden as he walked from Tora Bora to Pakistan, it would have been "game over," and even if we had not caught him, he would have been marginalized. The author concludes that everything the US has done, both in the Clinton and the current Administrations, has served to empower Bin Laden and inspire millions of others to support terrorism as a tactic against the Israel, the US, the West, and the corrupt Arab regimes.

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Bob Woodward- Administration stenographer
Tremendously Interesting and Well Read!
Might Have Been the President's Memoirs
An Alternative View
Confirmation of Bush Whitehouse's power structure

Bush at War
Bob Woodward
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Plan of Attack
State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III
Military Innovation in the Interwar Period
We were Soldiers Once...And Young: Ia Drang--The Battle That Changed The War In Vietnam
We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang - the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam

ASIN: 0743204735
Release Date: 2002-11-19

Amazon.com

Bush at War focuses on the three months following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, during which the U.S. prepared for war in Afghanistan, took steps toward a preemptive strike against Iraq, intensified homeland defense, and began a well-funded CIA covert war against terrorism around the world. The narrative is classic Woodward: using his inside access to the major players, he offers a nearly day-by-day account of the decision-making processes and power battles behind the headlines. Woodward's information is based on tape-recorded interviews of over a hundred sources (some unnamed), including four hours of exclusive interviews with the president, along with notes from cabinet meetings and access to some classified reports.

Woodward's analysis of President Bush's leadership style is especially fascinating. A self-described "gut player" who relies heavily on instinct, Bush comes across as a man of action continually pressing his cabinet for concrete results. The revelation that the president developed and publicly stated the so-called Bush Doctrine--the policy that the U.S. would not only go after terrorists everywhere but also those governments or groups which harbor them--without first consulting Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, or Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is particularly telling. Other principals are examined with equal scrutiny. Though National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice emerges as soft-spoken and even tentative during group meetings, it becomes clear that Bush is dependent on her for candid advice as well as for conveying his thoughts to his cabinet. The relationship between Powell and Rumsfeld (and to a lesser degree Powell and Cheney) is often strained, exposing their differences regarding how to deal with Iraq and whether coalition building or unilateralism is most appropriate. Woodward also describes how CIA director George Tenet prepared a paramilitary team to infiltrate Afghanistan to set the groundwork for invasion, and how this ushered in a new era of cooperation between the defense department and the CIA. A worthwhile and often enlightening read, this is a revealing and informative first draft of the Bush legacy. --Shawn Carkonen

Book Description

With his unmatched investigative skill, Bob Woodward tells the behind-the-scenes story of how President George W. Bush and his top national security advisers, after the initial shock of the September 11 attacks, led the nation to war.

Extensive quotations from the secret deliberations of the National Security Council -- and firsthand revelations of the private thoughts, concerns and fears of the president and his war cabinet -- make Bush at War an unprecedented chronicle of a modern presidency in time of grave crisis.

Based on interviews with more than a hundred sources and four hours of exclusive interviews with the president, Bush at War reveals Bush's sweeping, almost grandiose, vision for remaking the world. "I'm not a textbook player, I'm a gut player," the president said.

Woodward's virtual wiretap into the White House Situation Room reveals a stunning group portrait of an untested president and his advisers, three of whom might themselves have made it to the presidency.

Vice President Dick Cheney, taciturn but hard-line, always pressing for more urgency in Afghanistan and toward Iraq.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, the cautious diplomat and loyal soldier, tasked with building an international coalition in an administration prone to unilateralism.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the brainy agitator and media star who led the military through Afghanistan and, he hopes, through Iraq.

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, the ever-present troubleshooter who surprisingly emerges as perhaps the president's most important adviser.

Bush at War includes a vivid portrait of CIA director George Tenet, ready and eager for covert action against terrorists in Afghanistan and worldwide. It follows a CIA paramilitary team leader on a covert mission inside Afghanistan to pay off assets and buy friends with millions in U.S. currency carried in giant suitcases.

In Bush at War, Bob Woodward once again delivers a reporting tour de force.

Download Description

From the author of eight New York Times bestsellers comes an authoritative account of the first 18 months of the Bush White House, and perhaps the biggest story since the end of the Vietnam War. Based on hundreds of interviews throughout the Administration, Woodward's account will provide the first in-depth, behind-the-scenes story of the new, untested President as he responds to the worst acts of terror on American soil.

Customer Reviews:

Bob Woodward- Administration stenographer .......2007-08-23

"Bush at War" takes us inside the Bush Cabinet's decision making process after the 9/11 attacks. It's a fascinating look at how and why the Emperor and his paladins (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, et al)decided to do what they did...if this account is true. This book is not investigative journalism or a legitimate history. It makes no attempt to provide a broader picture of events or verify the assertions made by the subjects being interviewed. In a surprising and disappointing role for the man who brought down Nixon, Bob Woodward plays the part of obedient scribe, unquestioningly taking down the retrospective accounts of the Administration's VIPs. Basically, "Bush at War" is a book-length and better-written version of the New York Post.

While I question the value of reading such a one-sided account, and the propriety of a journalist acting as stenographer for such one-sided accounts, I don't necessarily think the book is a complete snowjob. After all, it deals with relatively noncontroversial events that few would have much cause to lie about. After all, there was almost universal consent for the overthrow of the Taliban and the invasion of Afghanistan. So, if you enjoy reading about high level meetings, the technical details of how the Administration supported the Northern Alliance or decided on its war strategy, then I think you can put a lot of credence in this book, even if its uncritical report forces you to take it with a grain of salt. One aspect that piqued my personal skepticism though is the disconnect between the bumbling frat boy Bush we see on the news every night, who has incompetently mismanaged our government for 7 years and who has not yet mastered the English language, and this book's portrayal of a President who was humble and mindful of the limitations of his foreign policy and military experience, whose understanding of problems was subtle and keen, and who chaired these war meetings with authority and intelligence. Decide for yourself whether to believe this book or your own eyes and 7 years of the public record. In any case, the book doesn't deal with the important issues that are at the heart of widespread accusations of incompetence and malfeasance against this Administration: namely the failure to prevent the 9/11 attacks, despite myriad warnings and indications, and the neoconservative manipulation and invention of intelligence to justify the war against Iraq.

To be sure, Woodward tells us that people like Wolfowitz and Cheney were pushing to attack Iraq along with Afghanistan in the days after 9/11, but that's hardly a revelation. It was well known that the neoconservative cult was publicly calling for war on Iraq throughout the 1990s. What was even more interesting was Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's assertion, in his own book, that Bush was planning for war with Iraq from the first days of his_administration_. In any case, "Bush at War" tells us that the President overruled his neocons and put Iraq on the back burner_for the moment_. What was surprising, and disgusting, was that even people like Powell, who were opposed to any attack on Iraq, merely tabled the Iraq War for tactical reasons (e.g. it would hurt the Coalition, let's deal with one enemy at a time, etc.) rather than openly opposed it because of its inherent insanity and injustice. That kind of pusillanimous dissent perfectly captures the character of the good soldier Powell and other Bush loyalists, who preferred to serve their President rather than their nation.

My opinion of the value of this book is on the low side of the scale, but if you must read it, supplement it with books that will give you a larger picture of the America that Bush created.

Tremendously Interesting and Well Read!.......2007-08-09

Author Bob Woodward has succeeded in letting President George Bush and his cabinet tell their story of the 9-11 attacks on the United States and the decision to go to war in Afghanistan. I was surprised with the amount of information Bush and his cabinet willingly provided to Woodward, making this book stunning in its level of detail and insight on every aspect of the war.

James Naughton, who reads the book, does great job and is at his best when reading the portions of the book attributed to Bush.

Might Have Been the President's Memoirs.......2007-04-16

Bob Woodward could have just as easily ghost-written President Bush's memoirs of the 100 days post-Sept. 11.

There are almost no critical questions asked in this book, no opposing viewpoints presented and very little context provided. These aren't bad qualities in somebody's memoirs--afterall, you want their perspective--but its a dangerous quality in something that purports to be a history of a key moment in the Bush Administration.

At a few particularly disturbing points, Woodward verges on patriotic machismo: "There was a television antenna on top of a small hill in Kabul that had been a favorite target of the Soviets though they had never succeeded in hitting it. The Northern Alliance had also tried and failed. An American jet streaked in and, with one bomb, the antenna was gone. Word spread through the capital: The Americans are going to win, this is over." (p. 312). Wait a minute, am I reading Tom Clancy or an investigative reporter?

Interesting book, but read between the lines & be sure to check out some of Noam Chomsky's or RAWA's writings on Sept. 11th, Afghanistan and the Northern Alliance for a point of view that actually questions the motives and actions of the United States.

An Alternative View.......2007-02-07

The product came as described and is a good alternative view to the Bush spin.

Confirmation of Bush Whitehouse's power structure.......2007-01-04

This Bob Woodward's account of behind-the-scene policy making process is nothing less than a vivid portrait of Bush administration's power constellation. As is always described in media circuit, Cheney is the mastermind of American bullish undertaking while Powel tries to maintain the US policy in the context of international system. It shows Bush is a leader with a heart of tolerance to open discussion but not to foot-dragging. He puts utmost importance in quick action rather than mulling over potential setbacks.

Woodward tries to keep this book a narrative of events in the circle of the Whitehouse decision making rather than adding his own perspective. Readers can easily figure out each player's role in the process. This book's bottom line: Bush in charge, Rice at the top of coordination, Cheney as a hardliner unilateralist, Powell as an internationalist-minded pure diplomat, Rumsfeld as a stubborn but determined leader of his Department. The reality certainly has many more layers of input attempting to divergent directions of American foreign policy. This setting may not be the perfect, but certainly has a necessary decisiveness. It is readers who draw what is the Woodward's message.

Bush's War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age (Communication, Media, and Politics)

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I'm Shocked At How The News Media Lies
News Media Reporting and the War on Terror

Bush's War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age (Communication, Media, and Politics)
Jim A. Kuypers
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
Outside the Wire
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900
Why I Turned Right: Leading Baby Boom Conservatives Chronicle Their Political Journeys
Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years

ASIN: 074253653X

Customer Reviews:

I'm Shocked At How The News Media Lies.......2006-12-21

This author proves every statement he makes. All his evidence is cited in the back of the book. He tells us exactly what news framing is, and how the news media is using it to try to have us think about President Bush, the war on terror, and the war in Iraq in a particular way.

I must admit my mouth dropped open several times while reading the 7th chapter. I could not believe the reporting of a president's speech could be so distorted and incorrect. This author proved this was exactly the case.

The conclusion has some great charts comparing the frames used by President Bush and the frames used by the press. This really put the press coverage of the entire war on terror in a different light for me. I knew before that the press often put in its own 2 cents, but now I feel like its more like its own 20 dollars.

If this author were a news commentator, I'd feel I could trust him. He was very careful not to reveal his own politics, and I found this refreshing.

The one reservation I have about this book is that the first chapter reads a bit slowly because the author talks about rhetoric and about how framing works. This gets a bit thick at times. But I did find it very helpful. Once you get through it, the rest of the book flows well and is good reading.

News Media Reporting and the War on Terror.......2006-10-28

This is not your typical book on 9/11, the War on Terror, or on media bias. Most that I've seen are quite partisan and cherry-pick their examples--not this book. The author has taken great pains to describe the interaction between what President Bush stated publicly and what the mainstream news media reported he said, without imposing his political point of view (in fact, I'm not even certain what that is). So, it's not like an Al Franken book or something by Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, or Bob Woodward, etc. All of them want to push their point of view. Kuypers is just describing what he found. It's a meaty book, with hundreds of examples and little speculation.

At the heart of this book is what the author calls a "comparative framing analysis." According the author, "The idea is to look for themes about 9-11 and the War on Terror that the President used, and then look at what themes the press used when reporting on what the president said. After identifying themes, I determine how those themes are framed. Through this comparative analysis, we can detect differences in the frames presented to the American people, and determine the nature of any press bias." Themes are recurring ideas found in the speeches of President Bush and the press coverage of those speeches.

According the author, "Framing is a process whereby communicators, consciously or unconsciously, act to construct a point of view that encourages the facts of a given situation to be interpreted by others in a particular manner. Frames operate in four key ways: they define problems, diagnose causes, make moral judgments, and suggest remedies. Frames are often found within a narrative account of an issue or event, and are generally the central organizing idea."

Basically, then, the author is asking, What did President Bush talk about, and how did he want us to think about it? He then looks at press coverage following Bush's major War on Terror speeches, and asks, What did the mainstream news media talk about, and how did they want us to think about it? In comparing the two answers, the author detected massive bias on the part of the press, so much in fact, that he calls the press an "anti-democratic institution" in his conclusion.

There are eight chapters in this book. Chapter 1, "Media Bias and Presidential Justifications for War in the Age of Terrorism," is a bit thick because the author talks about framing, public knowledge, and rhetoric. This is not a bunch of academic jargon, though. My understanding of how we know what we know about politics really grew here. The section on how news media reporting shapes what we know was insightful. You don't have to read this chapter to follow the rest of the book, but I think it helped me to better follow what the author was trying to do. My impression is that the author is not telling you what to think, but giving you enough information so that you can make up your own mind.

The next six chapters (2-7) are about what the president said and how the press reported on it.

Chapter 2, "A New Justification for War: 9-11 to Afghanistan, looks at several of the president's speeches following 9/11, and then looks at the press responses.

Chapter 3, "President Bush Speaks to the United Nations, November 2001," examines the president's speech and the mainstream press response. Interestingly, the author shows how the press initially supported the president following 9/11, but within about eight weeks it had turned, and was actually framing Bush as an enemy, right along side with the terrorists.

Chapter 4, "The State of the Union, January 2002," again does a comparison between what Bush said and what the mainstream press said. One of the main finding here is that by January 2002 the press was actively ignoring important parts of the president's speeches and setting its own agenda.

Chapter 5, "Remarks by the President from the USS Abraham Lincoln, May 2003," is a fun to read chapter that looks at the speech President Bush gave after making his jet landing on the aircraft carrier Lincoln. The author shows how the media changed the speech from a congratulations to the troops to "Top Gun Bush."

Chapter 6, "President Bush Speaks to the United Nations, September 2003," shows how the press had turned on the president. Reading this chapter, I really wondered if the press had listened to the same speech that the president gave. More so than the others, this chapter really shows the power of comparing the speech of the president to the press coverage that follows.

Chapter 7, "President Commemorates Veteran's Day, Discusses War on Terror,
November 2005," details the speech the president gave when he attacked his democrat critics over their remarks on the War on Terror. I remember hearing about that from the news reports. What I never knew was that the president also laid out his administration's specific rationale for dealing with Iraq and the War on Terror in that speech. I didn't know about that because the press failed completely to report that that was in the speech. I went and read the president's speech, and it is in there, but not a single press outlet mentioned it. The author points out that the press actually was asking for that information during their coverage of the very speech that contained that information.

The final chapter, "News Media Reporting of the War on Terror," is alone worth the price of the book. After a short review of the concepts covered in the first chapter (which I really thought unnecessary given that they were in the first chapter), this chapter sums up each of the other chapters, and then goes on the explain how the press failed us in its coverage on the War on Terror. The author points out numerous ways the press injects bias into its coverage here.

What I really liked about this book was that the author kept partisan politics out of it. This is a book about how the president and the press interacted with each other, together building the public's understanding of the War on Terror. Everything is documented in the back of the book, so you can look it up for yourself if you like. If you are interested in finding out about the War on Terror, media bias, or just what President Bush really said about the War on Terror, this book is for you.

The Terrorists : Their Weapons, Leaders and Tactics

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The Terrorists : Their Weapons, Leaders and Tactics

Manufacturer: Facts on File Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000HSR45Y

Product Description

A detailed intelligence dossier including full color illustrations of the weapons of terror-revised, expanded and completely updated for this issue.

Know Thy Enemy: Profiles of Adversary Leaders and Their Strategic Cultures

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Learning historical facts about U.S. enemies.

Know Thy Enemy: Profiles of Adversary Leaders and Their Strategic Cultures

Manufacturer: US Government Printing Office
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0974740306

Book Description

Profiles the personalities and strategic cultures of some of the United States' most dangerous international rivals.

Customer Reviews:

Learning historical facts about U.S. enemies. .......2007-08-04

In this book some specialists of the U.S. Goverment discuse in each chapter about a different topic. Qaeda/UBL, North Korea/Kim Jong, the Ayathola's regime in Iran, Libya's Qadhafi, Bashar Assad's Syria (A countr'y that could broke it up ethnically and religiously worst than Irak). Pakistan's taliban support regimes pre Gen. Musharraf. Oher chapter is the origin about the Salafist radical ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, same ideology that profece HAMAS, Qaeda and others. The book I think will not be enjoy if the reader is not very interesting in foreing relations, modern political history and terrorism.

The Terrorists: Their Weapons, Leaders and Tactics (Revised Edition)

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the roots of modern terrorism
A Knowledgeable Book!
Wonder how many times the authors had to use the FOI Act?

The Terrorists: Their Weapons, Leaders and Tactics (Revised Edition)
Christopher Dobson , and Ronald Payne
Manufacturer: Facts on File, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0871966697

Customer Reviews:

the roots of modern terrorism.......2004-07-16

Written in 1979, this is probably the best overview of the terorism scene from the late 1960s to the late 1970s that you are likely to find. Arranged roughly as a reference guide, the various chapters are as follows:

1. Terror: How it Came to the Seventies
2. Terrorism: The Reasons Why
3. Terrorists Behind the Mask
4. Training: Indoctrination and Skills
5. Money: The Budget of Death
6. The Weapons of Terror: Guns
7. The Weapons of Terror: Bombs
8. Tactics and Strategy: And How Democracy Fights Back
9. The Who's Who of Terror
10. The Chronology of Terror

Despite having been written a quarter-century ago, this is still an essential guide for anyone with an interest in studying terrorism and understanding how we got where we are today. The two authors, journalists who are experts on terrorism, know their subject inside and out.

A Knowledgeable Book!.......2002-04-22

This book proved to be a very good book about the world of terrorism. You get a roll call of the terrorist leaders who operate on a global basis.You are also able to find out where their centers of operation are at. Even more interesting is the types of weapons that are listed by the author.You are able to find out the weapon of choice for the most dangerous terror groups in the world.This is a very good book that you should take time to read.You will find that this book is very informative and good to read.Buy it.

Wonder how many times the authors had to use the FOI Act?.......1999-02-14

This book is the most detailed and thorough terrorism intelligence dossier I have ever read. The chronolgy of terrorism is an interesting read and provides nearly boundless potential for school projects. The sections on the weapons of terrorism and the list of terrorist organizations are excellent reference material, and something to relieve your mind from the chapter on how terrorists aquire their funds. This should be required reading for any recruits of the CIA, FBI, M16, and any other intelligence or international law-enforcement agency.

International Affairs Review: Vol. 15, No. 2

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International Affairs Review: Vol. 15, No. 2
The George Washington University
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1419654187
Release Date: 2006-11-28

Restoring Faith: America's Religious Leaders Answer Terror with Hope

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Hope in the face of despair

Restoring Faith: America's Religious Leaders Answer Terror with Hope

Manufacturer: Walker & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Inspirational | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

September 11 | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0802776329

Book Description

During the week following the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, Americans gathered in unprecedented numbers to seek comfort and guidance from their religious leaders. Regardless of creed, the same questions echoed from the pews. Where can we find God amidst the rubble? How can we answer hate with greater love? Is there hope for peace or are the trumpets of Armageddon less distant than before? These were the questions ministers, priests, imams and rabbis had to address from their pulpits. Even as they spoke, the soul map of our nation was being recharted. The preachers' daunting task was to bring hope and direction to a people newly lost. Each of these sermons, by some of America's greatest preachers, is a testament of hope. Collectively, they rise to the spiritual challenge of our time. All profits from the sale of this book are being contributed to charities benefiting the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Contributors: Daniel W. Murphy, Alvin Jackson, Frank T. Griswold, Harold S. Kushner, Arthur Caliandro, Mohammad Gemeaha, Richard Land, C. Welton Gaddy, R. Scott Colglazier, Joanna Adams, Talib 'Abdur-Rashid, Forrest Church, William J. McLennan, Stephen Bauman, Brenda Husson, Harvey Cox, Paul Gonyea, Robert Lee Hill, John R. Claypool, Jon Gunnemann, Peter Rubinstein, Jon M. Walton, and John M. Buchanan.

Customer Reviews:

Hope in the face of despair.......2002-05-15

I just read this book more than six months after the terrorist attacks. However, like most Americans I am still struggling with the emotional, intellectual, moral and spiritual challenges presented by those horrific events. These sermons are almost without exception intelligent, honest, sensitive and thought-provoking. There are common themes running throughout the book, but each also offers something unique. The book is predominated by Christian sermons, but also offers Jewish, Muslim and Unitarian-Universalist perspectives.

The only sermon I really didn't care for was the one from the Southern Baptist preacher, who basically said we should trust our government to repond appropriately to the attacks since it is "divinely sanctioned." Bizarre.

2006 Essential Guide to Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda Terrorist Leader in Iraq, War in Iraq and Counterterrorism, Al-Qaida and Islamo-Fascism
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2006 Essential Guide to Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda Terrorist Leader in Iraq, War in Iraq and Counterterrorism, Al-Qaida and Islamo-Fascism
U.S. Government
Manufacturer: Progressive Management
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
ASIN: 1422007456

Book Description

This electronic book on CD-ROM has a unique collection of documents, photographs, and resources about Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda terrorist leader in Iraq, and the war in Iraq and counterterrorism, plus the war on terrorism, Al-Qaida and Islamo-Fascism. There is detailed information from the Department of Defense, White House, State Department, and other government sources. There are four movie files in the WMV computer video format produced by the U.S. Department of Defense about the killing of Zarqawi.

The American Forces Press Service issued the following release, "Coalition Forces Kill Top Terrorist in Iraq", on June 8, 2006 - Jordanian terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi died in an air strike north of Baghdad yesterday evening, U.S. officials have confirmed. Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force Iraq, announced Zarqawi's death during a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad today. "Ladies and Gentlemen, coalition forces killed al Qaeda terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and one of his key lieutenants, spiritual advisor Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, yesterday, June 7, at 6:15 p.m. in an air strike against an identified, isolated safe house," Casey said. Tips and intelligence led forces to Zarqawi and some of his associates who were conducting a meeting approximately eight kilometers north of Baqubah when the air strike was launched, Casey said. "Iraqi police were first on the scene after the air strike, and elements of Multinational Division North arrived shortly thereafter. Coalition Forces were able to identify Zarqawi by fingerprint verification, facial recognition and known scars," he said. Zarqawi and al Qaeda in Iraq have conducted terrorist activities against the Iraqi people for years in attempts to undermine the Iraqi national government and coalition efforts to rebuild and stabilize Iraq, U.S. officials in Iraq said. He is known to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis. "Zarqawi's death is a significant blow to al Qaeda and another step toward defeating terrorism in Iraq," U.S. officials said in a statement. "Although the designated leader of al Qaeda in Iraq is now dead, the terrorist organization still poses a threat as its members will continue to try to terrorize the Iraqi people and destabilize their government as it moves toward stability and prosperity," Casey said. "Iraqi forces, supported by the coalition, will continue to hunt terrorists that threaten the Iraqi people until terrorism is eradicated in Iraq." It's ironic that terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed Wednesday just as the Iraqi government he tried to derail scored some significant successes, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday. Rumsfeld announced the Jordanian terrorist mastermind's death during a session of a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels Thursday. He expanded on the subject on the flight home. "This has to be a shock to the al-Qaida system, not just in Iraq but elsewhere. The benefit is enormous for the Iraqi people," Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him. "Here's a man who has killed literally thousands of people -- innocent men, women and children. He has incited sectarian violence. He was a center of the financing network and of the operational network, and the link between the Iraqi operation and elements outside of Iraq." This blow, coupled with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's announcement Thursday that he had named people to the key Cabinet positions of defense and interior, is "a stunning shock" to the insurgency in Iraq, Rumsfeld said. Rumsfeld said that Maliki had come under criticism for the delay in naming Cabinet ministers to these crucial posts. Ministers of defense and interior are vital because these two posts oversee the military and police forces, respectively. But Rumsfeld praised the Iraqi leader for the careful way he made his decisions. He said Maliki made the right d

9.11.01: African American Leaders Respond to an American Tragedy
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9.11.01: African American Leaders Respond to an American Tragedy

Manufacturer: Judson Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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