Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, A meticulously researched scathing indictment
Review: A brilliant, well researched indictment of Bush/US Govt./ Big Oil's manipulation of all of us to support endless wars for the interests of oil CEO's.Before an American, Iraqi, or any other child is sent into war THIS BOOK MUST BE READ by every govt. official worldwide, and ESPECIALLY US CONGRESSPEOPLE. BUY A COPY AND SEND IT TO YOUR CONGRESSPERSON, DEMANDING A FULL INDEPENDENT INQUIRY OF 9-11!!
Rating:
Summary: Yet more evidence-
Review: About the Bush administration's complicity with 911, though take this one with a grain of salt.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Background
Review: An in-depth look into the history of Osama bin Laden, the relationship between Middle Eastern governments, religion, and oil, and how the U.S. fits into all of it. Not surprising is the oil-thirstiness of the U.S. government and corporations. What I was surprised by, however, was the amount of U.S.-Taliban interaction leading up to September 11, something which was conveniently left out of the news coverage. The book kind of falls into chaos toward the end as it lays out the network of companies through which Osama bin Laden gets his money, but what becomes painfully obvious by the end is the degree to which all governments and government officials involved, U.S., Saudi, or otherwise, have blatant conflicts of interest. Only when something as terrible as 9/11 happens does anyone begin to question whether oil and money should be at the top of our priority list.
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Summary: Not Innuendo.
Review: Brilliant, scathing journalism. Well researched, documented, sourced, and most of the information in the book is attributed to verifiable sources. Much of the 28 blacked-out pages in the recently released 911 investigation is probably already covered here, detailing Saudi involvement in terrorism, specifically financing. Read it & find out what the US mainstream media doesn't seem to have the guts to cover.
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Summary: The ugly world of realpolitik is exposed
Review: Brisard and Dasquie's "Forbidden Truth" is a very solid piece of research that contains more than a few surprises about the realpolitiks of the Middle East, especially as it pertains to the United States and Saudi Arabia. The book turns a number of received wisdoms on their head and should give everyone concerned about the war on terror a few things to think about. Of course, the authors show that fossil fuels drives American policy in the region. The Clinton and Bush administrations both negotiated with the Taliban for the construction of a natural gas pipeline to be built in Afghan territory despite clear-cut evidence of the regime's human rights abuses. However, the book also makes the eye-popping suggestion that U.S. representatives may have recklessly threatened the Taliban prior to the September 11 attack, thereby provoking Al Qaeda into action. Basically, Brisard and Dasquie explain that Saudi Arabia supports radical Islamic movements (including the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Usama Bin Laden) in order to extend its hegemony over the area. Saudi support of the Taliban, for example, helped keep Afghanistan from falling under Iranian influence. Interestingly, the authors point out that the first arrest warrant ever issued against Usama Bin Laden came not from the U.S. -- which wanted to overlook Usama's behavior in order to keep Saudi oil flowing -- but from Libya. I must admit that all of this came as quite a surprise to me, since Saudi Arabia has always been portrayed as a staunch ally of the U.S. In fact, Brisard and Dasquie recall how U.S. oil companies helped the country develop, but they also show that the Kingdom remains dependent on religion to maintain control over its people. So the country is practically schizophrenic in its need to simultaneously maintain business ties with the U.S. and defend against the spread of Arab nationalism by covertly preaching the gospel of anti-Americanism. The authors go into considerable detail illuminating the people, organizations and financial relationships that make the Saudi-supported terror network possible. The indictments reach the highest levels of Saudi society. In this light, it appears that Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda simply spun out of their master's control and took the anti-American cause too far. All this should give us pause to consider why the U.S. allowed the Saudis to play such a dangerous game for so long. Also, one would think that prudence should compel the U.S. to develop an energy policy that does not depend on Middle Eastern oil. But already, Brisard and Dasquie report that talks for the pipeline have resumed since the installation of the Karzai regime in Afghanistan in May 2002. On a technical note, the book could benefit from additional editorial work to correct a few grammatical errors (presumably due to the translation from French to English?) and several footnote mistakes. Stylistically, the author's research sometimes makes for dry reading, but that is only because the facts have been meticulously documented and presented. So although "Forbidden Truth" is at times far from entertaining, the reader is nevertheless impressed with the professionalism of the research and its air-tight conclusions. (Indeed, sensing the threat that the book poses to its business empire, the Bin Laden family succeeded in getting the book banned in Switzerland.) "Forbidden Truth" is recommended for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of the dynamics underlying the war on terror.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but no killer blow
Review: Demonstrates many of the connections between US oil interests, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the government of Saudi Arabia. Much of the research was done by John O'Neill, formerly in charge of the FBI's counter-terrorism work, who died in the WTC on 9/11. Opens up a lot of questions on why the US government is protecting people in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan who are themselves protecting terrorists attacking the USA. However, it does not clearly demonstrate a high-level government conspiracy along the lines of the Iran-Contra cocaine smuggling scandal of the 1980s...
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Summary: A seminal piece of research on that tragic day in September
Review: Finally translated, this best-selling French book will provide Americans with an in-depth analysis of how our "friends" in Saudi Arabia have been the primary financiers of Islamic terrorism, reveals the last testimony of the FBI's top counter terrorism agent, and exposes the secret negotiations between the U.S. government and the Taliban and the Pakastanis in the months that led up to attacks on 9/11. Forbidden Truth represents three years of research by respected French intelligence experts, and it will fundamentally alter the public's perception of 9/11. I'll be blunt: this book is a political hand grenade that will make you inexplicably angry at the hypocrisy of our government and how the current administration entered into bellicose and dangerous negotiations with a rogue regime despite their continued harboring of an international terrorist. Forbidden Truth methodically documents the names, dates and places of all the U.S. diplomats and those involved in pursuing high-risk Caspian Sea Pipeline negotiations with representatives of the Taliban regime and Pakistani government. These secret negotiations began on February 5, 2001 and collapsed on August 2, 2001 with the U.S. threatening the Taliban with a "military option." Meanwhile, despite FBI field agents like Rowley, Williams and others who were diligently "connecting the dots" on the 9/11 plot, both of the FBI's special units, the Radical Fundamentalist Unit and the UBL Unit in the FBI's Washington D.C. Head Quarters had become virtual "black holes" for investigations regarding Islamic terrorism. Unlike the preceding years, all FBI FISA warrant requests regarding investigations of terrorist suspects like the case of Moussaoui, the infamous "20th hijacker", were categorically denied by the DOJ during this crucial period. This was neither by accident nor the result of the so-called "intelligence bureaucracy"; it was the result of a tragic intelligence policy at the behest of the Bush administration. This book opens with an interview of John P. O'Neill, the former FBI deputy Director of counter terrorism who complained bitterly that the FBI had become "even more politically engaged" after George W. Bush's inauguration, and the frustrations that he expressed in late July 2001 helps explain these seemingly disparate events. Based on the collaborating evidence and testimony provided by FBI agents and other intelligence sources it appears that the Bush administration implemented a high-level intelligence blocks with respect to investigations of Islamic terrorism in early 2001. Why did this administration block FBI Agents such as O'Neill and others from pursuing bin Laden? Answer: Saudi Arabia, their Taliban friends, and U.S. corporate oil interests. According to the authors, John O'Neill had become so frustrated under the Bush administration and the State Department's unprecedented blocks of his investigations regarding Osama bin Laden that he resigned from the FBI in August 2001. He became the chief of security of the WTC, and in an ironic and tragic turn of fate he died at the WTC on 9/11. Forbidden Truth is dedicated to this patriot, and serves as his last testimony. Americans will soon realize that 9/11 was not an intelligence failure per se as claimed by this administration and subsequently reported by the media, but rather represents a foreign policy failure of truly epic proportions. This book exposes why the Bush administration strongly opposes the creation of a National Commission. Nonetheless, this administration will not be able to refute the damning research revealed in this book, nor will they be able withstand the inevitable scrutiny of history. Read this book only if you want to learn about the inability of both the Clinton and current Bush administrations to call Saudi Arabia to task for their continued funding of militant Islamic terrorism, the ugly truth about last year's secret and bellicose negotiations over pipelines, the State Department's flawed foreign policy towards the Taliban, and the fatal intelligence decisions regarding FBI investigations that ultimately facilitated the horrific tragedy that occurred on September 11, 2001.
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Summary: "The Forbidden Truth" tells you what really happened
Review: First of all, this is the GOOD French book on 9/11. (The OTHER French book on 9/11 you hear people talking about is the same old conspiracy theory stuff. Dasquie and Brisard are well-respected professionals and completely mainstream. When 9/11 took place the American response was dominated by rage and disbelief: how could anyone ever do something like that to us? Suggestions that we figure out why it happened were automatically slapped down, as if even asking the question would give legitimacy to the attackers. It's quite normal to have inquiries whenever a disaster takes place, so someone must have had something to hide. This book tells you who they were and what it was. The United States was negotiating with the Taliban right into September of 2001. What was at issue was an oil pipeline across Afghanistan, and the options we offered them were two: cooperate with us on the pipeline, or war. When negotiations broke down, Osama Bin Laden (a U.S. ally only a decade earlier in the anti-Soviet war, and a major force in Afghanistan)struck first. Once we were at war with the Taliban, they became unspeakably evil; but as long as it seemed that they might be willing to play ball, we had no problem with them. The role of Saudi Arabia in this story is a second major theme. Most of the hijackers were Saudis and the funding came from Saudi Arabia and the neighboring Gulf States. Furthermore, some of Bin Laden's support, contrary to what we have been told, came from very high levels in Saudi society. Saudi Arabia has long been a major source of funds for Muslim extremists globally, and the see-no-evil complicity in this of the U.S. government and the oil industry cannot be denied. While this book in no way claims that the CIA (much less the Mossad) had a hand in the 9/11 attacks, it makes it clear that excessively indulgent attitudes to the Saudis at very high levels of the US government led to extreme negligence and made the terrorists' job much easier. Saudi Arabia is not on the list of ten or more terrorist nations which we plan to attack. After reading this book, you will ask why not. John Emerson
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Rating: 
Summary: French Intelligence = conspiracy theorists
Review: Here the authors seem to confirm every bad joke about the French media, military, and their intelligence community. While they did demonstrate (sort of) the links between legitimate Mid Eastern business interests and terrorism (which are real), they draw some pretty wild conclusions based on a thin line that are -- in the French popular tradition -- anti-US establishment. They had an agenda with this book and showed it at the end. Don't make this one a priority -- read Newsweek instead.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting, but no smoking gun
Review: I bought this book anticipating a smoking gun connection between the 9/11 attacks and the Bush administration, and was somewhat disappointed when i didnt get one, but the book is fascinating nonetheless. it details a series of negotiations between the Bush administration (and the Clinton administration) with the Taliban in the hopes of stabilizing the government of Afghanistan enough to allow the construction of oil and gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea across Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. fascinating that the American media has utterly neglected to make this connection in all of the post-9/11 reporting, and even today refers to this book only in a patronizing, "conspiracy theory" manner.
the book also addresses another matter that the U.S. media has touched on, but not explored in the detail it deserves: the role of the Saudi Arabian government in its widespread funding of international Islamic organizations with dubious intent. "forbidden truth" raises legitimate questions about what is really going on in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. government's dealings with that nation.
i would recommend this book for anyone interested in the recent history of the Middle East and the "war" on terrorism. it presents a very-well reported historical account of the role of oil in U.S. foreign policy, which is especially enlightening considering the pending U.S. invasion of Iraq.
two complaints about the book: numerous typos and careless editing suggest this book was rushed to press; and it includes about 80 pages of appendices, including many supporting documents
that are difficult to discern.
nonetheless, read "forbidden truth" for another perspective on the "war" on terrorism.
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