In the Name of Osama Bin Laden: Global Terrorism & the Bin Laden Brotherhood

Rating:
Summary: Full of insight
Review: In the Name of Osama bin Laden is a close as we're likely to get to an insider's view of al-Qaeda and the interworkings of those closest to bin Laden. The author has incredible access to internal documents--including terrorist training manuals, translations of communiques from bin Laden to his brotherhood, and intelligence papers--that reveal much about the relationship between political/religious groups and the passions of the bin Laden brotherhood. Some will consider them important to coming to an intellectual understanding of the bin Laden network and the mindset of the terrorist while others might see them as evidence--in either case they definitely reward reading.
Roland Jacquard's access to players in the drama distinguishes this book. His April 2001 interview with bin Laden is included. This and the other supporting documents (some in English for the first time) that appear toward the end of the book provide important documentation for Jacquard's analysis and descriptions. They are a crucial part of understanding that the bin Laden Brotherhood is active around the globe and there are large issues that must be dealt with. Chilling, but important.

Rating:
Summary: Competent though not Terrific Book
Review: Jacquard provides a competent if somewhat truncated book that covers much of the same ground covered by other Bin Laden authors. At something like 167 pages, the book is also a little on the short side. Nonetheless the book does provide some interesting tidbits not found in other books. For example, there are a few pages on Bin Laden's links to Iraq, interesting stuff. Overall this book provides a decent overview of Bin Laden and his objectives, there are better out there though. For the price of a paperback, however, this book gets the job done.

Rating:
Summary: Deceptively Short - But Not On Information
Review: Looking at this short book under 165 pages of main text, one could jump to the conclusion that this book is probably short and does not contain much new. That would be quite wrong, but understandable.

The book is a very slow read in medium-small font 165 pages but it also has 120 pages of notes and copies of many original Arab documents with side by side English translations. Plus there are a number of photographs and other documents mostly from around the year 2000 and before.

The book is not simply a biography of Bin Laden. It is a story more of the rise of the Al Qaeda and how it is related to other similar groups dating back to the 70 year old Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt. The driving force is a combination of nationalism and religion with a strong dose of racism. They believe that they have suffered enormously at the hand of external groups from India to the USSR to the western powers to keep them down, take their land and resources, and to hold them hostages in their own land. Like past similar groups they think the solution is through an armed struggle to re-take the governments of Islamic countries and to drive out foreign peoples and influences. They attempt to do this with a pretext of religious cover even though people such as Bin Laden have no religious standing, and more than say Hitler was a priest. It is a tool.

According to the book, the tempo of the movement dramatically changed when Saudi Arabia with the help of the US backed Bin Laden and others defeated the superpower, the old USSR, in Afghanistan. That was a pivot point and gave them a lot of self confidence and motivation. The group was abandoned by the US after the fall of the USSR, but not by the private and semi-governmental Saudi donors. The army was not dissolved, but rather it moved and dispersed. The book takes us through many details and covers many of the associates and other related groups in the Sudan, Algeria, Palestine, the Taliban, Gamaa Islamiya, etc.

The book tells us in great detail how the group started, who are the recruits, where the money comes from, who are the leaders, how they use entry into the west, etc. As the author points out this is a modern day version of the Egyptian Brotherhood, what he calls the Bin Laden brotherhood.

This is an excellent book with many insights and lots of original documents.


Rating:
Summary: Bush didn't get rid of Osama
Review: More than 3 years after Osama Bin Laden and his gang attacked us we still are having to deal with his threats. We need a president who will not lose sight of our true enemies. After losing so many of our young men and women and spending so much money we are no safer than we were on 9/11!

What was the point?

Please vote for John Kerry.


Rating:
Summary: Maybe the best book on the subject
Review: This is not you typical USA-centric CNN analysis of UBL and al-Qaeda. Jacquard's book carries the insight of a foreign intelligence organization which is arguably the most adept in the world at counterterrorism. Unlike Bodansky's UBL bio, which though informative was dry and repetitive, this is written in a journalistic style which makes it exceptionally readable. I learned more about al-Qaeda from this book then any other single text. Very highly recommended.