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

The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage) | Lawrence Wright | Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Insanity

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The Looming Tower:...

	The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage) Lawrence Wright Vintage, 2007 - 576 pages average customer review:based on 284 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

National Book Award Finalist

A Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year

A gripping narrative that spans five decades, The Looming Tower explains in unprecedented detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history. He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O?Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat. Packed with new information and a deep historical perspective, The Looming Tower is the definitive history of the long road to September 11.

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The Definitive Account of The Genesis of Al Qaeda

It is easy to see how the author won the Pulitzer for this book. It is the definitive account of Al Qaeda's genesis leading up to 9/11. The book is both detailed but also concise and extremely readable. The author has a talent to make these events of non-fiction read like the best thriller novel. For those that want to understand our enemy and how we got to 9/11, this is essential reading. Highly recommended.

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.

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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!

The Looming Tower .......and The Wall.

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 is appropriately titled. If I had to recommend a first book for one who wants to gain insight into the formation of the world's most sinister terrorist organization and the events leading to September 11, 2001, this is the book. Lawrence Wright is concise, to the point and does not allow the book's tentacles to wander too far away from the main subject, Al-Qaeda, in an attempt to cover the fundamentals. Mr. Wright also covers "The Wall" very well. The Wall was the operational restrictions mainly between the FBI and the CIA exposed during the 911 Commission. The Wall discouraged mutual cooperation between the CIA and the FBI in investigating the very terrorists that would wreak havoc in America on that fateful date. The book focuses on many individuals involved in the investigation of Al-Qaeda, especially the late FBI Special Agent John O'Neill's battles with "The Wall", US Ambassador-to-Yemen Barbara Bodine, and Al-Qaeda in general. John O'Neill is a true American hero and this book explains why. Mr. Wright also ties the 1998 US Embassy bombings in East Africa, the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, and the September 11, 2001 attacks in a simple package. Sometimes the book lacks substance but that can be directly attributed to a lack of information or suspect resources associated with Al-Qaeda which to date remains a shadowy terrorist organization. Great book.

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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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