Rating: 
Summary: Read it, but be aware that it is badly biased
Review: Book is a good insiders' account of factors that made 9/11 possible. But be aware that it is authored by a pair of ex-Clinton administration anti-terrorism officials who would have you believe that the then young G.W. Bush administration is more to blame for 9/11 than the Clinton administration! How laughable , convenient and utterly pathetic! The authors make it clear that the Clinton administration, CIA and FBI had known for years that Al Qaeda was a very real very serious threat, and they provide a litany of excuses as to why they failed to take Al Qaeda and bin Laden out. I was very surprised to learn just how well acquainted our protectors were bin Laden. And the authors basically blame the media's failure to report on the jihadist movement prior to 9/11 on it's obsession with clinton's legal, moral and ethical issues, implying that Clinton wasn't responsible for his troubles - yeah, right. Lack of responsibility is unfortunately the theme underlying this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally, some truly in-depth big-picture analysis
Review: By far the most substantive explanation of the who, what, when, where and why of the Al-Queda threat and the West's response. I don't get smearing this as a Clinton apologia -- you'd have to really hate Clinton to see it that way. Way more than half the book has nothing at all to do with the Clinton White House. I thought the "Fields of Jihad" chapter was great -- the analysis of threats, country by country -- the Indonesia section looks eerily prescient after the Bali bombing. Read this to get deep into this subject.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book, though somewhat Biased regarding Clinton Years
Review: Daniel Benjamin and Steve Simon have written an excellent book that truly adds something worthwhile to the growing body of post 9/11 literature on Islamicist inspired terror, much of which is garbage. The book is strongest when it describes, in detail, the intellectual underpinnings of the modern Jihad Islamicists are bent on waging against the West. By exploring the writings of the likes of Ibn Taymiyya and Sayyid Qutb the book does an excellent job of explaining how Islamcist ideology came to be. In this regard the book is a real winner.
When it comes to U.S. policy towards terrorism, however, the book's flaws become apparent. The authors seem to bend over backwards to explain how forward thinking the Clinton Adminstrations counterterror policy was and how poorly the Bush White House initially handled the issue. The authors spend a lot of time talking about how the 1998 cruise missile strikes against the Al Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan and training camps in Afghanistan were a justified and appropriate response. While the jury is still out on Al Shifa, I think most informed observers have concluded that these strikes were a flacid response to what at time was a growing problem. I cannot help but think that the authors, while working at the NSC, somehow had a role in the Al Shifa debacle, but who knows. The point is that the Clinton policy is protrayed in the best possible light, while the Bush policy, or lack of one, is savaged. Perhaps, not surprising given that both of these guys worked in the Clinton administration, still when I read a book like this I want some level of objectivity. Despite its flaws, this is a well researched and written book, a worthy addition to the library of the serious student of terrorism. One last bone to pick, the authors claim that the military dragged its feet when Clinton wanted options for a Commando raid against Al Qaeda. The military always drags its feet. A real leader would have pushed the issue. I don't particulary like Rumsfeld or Bush but they pushed the military to come up with plans they initially did not want to adopt in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Thats what a leader does, a point that seems lost on the authors of the book. Nonetheless, a good book deserving of your time and money
Rating:
Summary: A study of the dangers of a compressed sense of time
Review: Have you ever remarked that Biblical accounts of battles between Syrians and Jews sound like current events with the names changed? Does Arab insistence on a return to pre-1967 borders as a precondition for a mideast settlement seem unrealistic to you in view of the facts on the ground? Do you see a connection between successful Israeli military thrusts and the reawakening (accompanied by protests and demonstrations) of dormant anti-Semitism in Europe, where the late nineteenth-century Czarist forgery of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which purported to document a Jewish plan to dominate the world, is attracting new believers? Do the two disparate attacks on the World Trade Center remind you of past terrorists' dual attempts (the second successful) to blow up a U.S. commercial airliner that took off from Athens? If so, then perhaps you can understand the radical Islamic sense of compressed time, in which past events, no matter how remote, retain an emotional and religious immediacy that motivates the planning and execution of fresh acts of terror against civilian targets in Israel, America ("the far enemy"), and the West which will continue to be characterized by a barbarity that makes sharia (Koranic law) look civilized by comparison. The Age of Sacred Terror traces the fanatic dedication of such Islamists (whose numbers appear staggeringly large) to precipitating the decline and fall of what they regard as the American global empire, as well as their determination to survive Armageddon and to hasten its arrival by slaughtering the infidels (primarily Christians and Jews) whose existential focus offends their belief in the ultimate reality of a hereafter populated only by devout Muslims. And the book offers prescriptions for concerted governmental efforts to prevent or at least to forestall future terrorist attacks with weapons of mass destruction. Compellingly written with a judicious use of elucidative metaphor, this fascinating work achieves a clarity that seems effortlessly to hasten the reader on to its final pages.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: I found this book quite enlightening in more areas than I originally considered possible. First and foremost, the authors provide an extremely insightful understanding of the terrorist threat we face in Al Qaeda. It goes far beyond the simplistic perceptions we see in both the press and those provided by "commentators". The direct experiences of Mr. Simon and Benjamin in the counter-terrorism arena have provided them a unique and profound understanding of the nature of our enemy. The book is reasonably well written and develops our own perceptions by carrying us through numerous individual terrorist events, showing remarkable details which are unquestionable the result of extensive investigations and study by the authors, who at the time were directly responsible for national counter-terrorism at the NSA level. That level of insight can not be so simply discarded without understanding that our own biases may be overpowering our ability to look at their arguments dispassionately. Mr. Simon and Benjamin do seem to have their own biases, as other reviewers have mentioned. But one does not stand in the shoes they have had to fill without gaining some immeasurable insights. The excerpts on various Islamic terrorist, and on our new arch-enemy, Osama bin Laden, are superb. Perhaps they should be required reading for all Americans to really comprehend the depths of this new threat, and even more importantly how terrorism really works. The arguments of the authors are intriguing, and in an unusual way insightful about the power of bias, and how it can cause a deadly menace to slip through the cracks, and be almost unnoticed until it suddenly becomes the focus of the whole world. Having studied and taught about Terrorism and Guerrilla Warfare in the military, I would suggest such a factor is a rare opportunity for any enemy who would wished to deal in that type of warfare. The seemingly tangential information concerning other religious extremism struck me, at first, as a little out of place with the heavy focus of the rest of the book on Islamic terrorists. None-the-less, this was hardly at odds with the title, and clearly as disconcerting as the principle targets of interest. The use of terrorism and extremists go hand in hand, and I would assume the authors had good reason to raise the spector of other fronts to our attention. It is wise to consider all threats. By far the portion of the book most demanding our interest in these difficult times, of course, is that large and enlightening portion which details in extraordinary shades of blood red the nature of an unexpected and ruthless enemy which has come to threaten us in our own homeland, and thus became a force to be reckoned with on the world scene. The book is timely, reasonably well written and worth a read, whether you agree with the authors' bias or not.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: I found this book quite enlightening in more areas than I originally considered possible. First and foremost, the authors provide an extremely insightful understanding of the terrorist threat we face in Al Qaeda. It goes far beyond the simplistic perceptions we see in both the press and those provided by "commentators". The direct experiences of Mr. Simon and Benjamin in the counter-terrorism arena have provided them a unique and profound understanding of the nature of our enemy. The book is reasonably well written and develops our own perceptions by carrying us through numerous individual terrorist events, showing remarkable details which are unquestionable the result of extensive investigations and study by the authors, who at the time were directly responsible for national counter-terrorism at the NSA level. That level of insight can not be so simply discarded without understanding that our own biases may be overpowering our ability to look at their arguments dispassionately. Mr. Simon and Benjamin do seem to have their own biases, as other reviewers have mentioned. But one does not stand in the shoes they have had to fill without gaining some immeasurable insights. The excerpts on various Islamic terrorist, and on our new arch-enemy, Osama bin Laden, are superb. Perhaps they should be required reading for all Americans to really comprehend the depths of this new threat, and even more importantly how terrorism really works. The arguments of the authors are intriguing, and in an unusual way insightful about the power of bias, and how it can cause a deadly menace to slip through the cracks, and be almost unnoticed until it suddenly becomes the focus of the whole world. Having studied and taught about Terrorism and Guerrilla Warfare in the military, I would suggest such a factor is a rare opportunity for any enemy who would wished to deal in that type of warfare. The seemingly tangential information concerning other religious extremism struck me, at first, as a little out of place with the heavy focus of the rest of the book on Islamic terrorists. None-the-less, this was hardly at odds with the title, and clearly as disconcerting as the principle targets of interest. The use of terrorism and extremists go hand in hand, and I would assume the authors had good reason to raise the spector of other fronts to our attention. It is wise to consider all threats. By far the portion of the book most demanding our interest in these difficult times, of course, is that large and enlightening portion which details in extraordinary shades of blood red the nature of an unexpected and ruthless enemy which has come to threaten us in our own homeland, and thus became a force to be reckoned with on the world scene. The book is timely, reasonably well written and worth a read, whether you agree with the authors' bias or not.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting conclusions
Review: I read this book quite carefully trying to detect any bias from the authors. It seemed as if this book gave more credit to Clinton then he deserved. While I don't have the insights into what was going on in Washington and Clinton's mind at the time of his presidency I find it hard to believe that he was focused as clearly on terrorism as the authors claim. It appears from other works that I have read that he was much more focused on saving his presidency and creating his legacy.
That said, the first half of this book was very enlightening on the mind set of modern islamic terrorism.
I recommend this book to anyone wanting to increase their understanding. You should also read "Bin Laden, the man who declared war on America".
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking -- Why Iraq?
Review: I was looking for a book that would help to explain what led up to this present crisis, and this book provided a lot of insight. According to the authors, their intention was to "provide a descriptive warning about the new terrorism and an analysis of its causes, including the resurgence of forms of religious belief that drive adherents to commit violence, and the circumstances that give rise to such creeds." I think they did that.
The authors do have a political viewpoint, but that did not detract from the book for me.
There is a suggestion that Egypt and Saudia Arabia may be susceptible targets for Islamic fundamentalists because of their treatment of their citizens, and that the US cannot put pressure on them to change because the US is dependent upon their support in case Iraq acts out. That would at least be one possible explanation for the present administration's preoccupation with Iraq. If Iraq can be "brought around," then the US can pressure Egypt and Saudia Arabia authorities to be better people and thus perhaps stave off a fundamentalist takeover.
The book also includes the ever-present lament about the state of the US media/press. With corporate ownership of the media and the greed motive in control of news reporting, we have a problem. A free nation needs a free press, and we don't have much of that anymore.
This is such a great book that it's hard to write a short review. It's worth reading every single word.
Rating:
Summary: First Half Good - Second Half Not so Good
Review: I would give the first half of the book a much higher rating than the second. The first half gives an interesting history of the ideological movement of which today's Islamofascists are a part. Thorough and interesting.The second half is not so good. It has its strong points, especially in setting out a timeline for the rise of Islamofascism and what our government wasn't doing about it. However, as other reviews have noted, it is somewhat biased in favor of President Clinton and the two authors. Other problems in the second half include ill-advised suggestions to fight terrorism (such as repealing Bush's tax cuts) and a weird chapter discussing other religiously-motivated terrorists besides Islamofascists. The authors struggle to somehow paint Aum Shinrikyo in Japan as influenced by Christianity. The authors also paint Tim McVeigh as a Christian terrorist, although he himself claimed not to be a Christian. This politically correct desire to pain Christians as just as bad as Muslims is damaging. If we waste equal time and equal resources on Buddhist and Christian militants, we will lose the war on terrorism. Their are extremist groups in all communities (not just religious communities) but at the present moment, it is Islamofascists who have the hearts of millions upon millions of adherents who would like nothing more than the total destruction of the West.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Introduction
Review: I've read six or seven books on terrorism, al qaeda, and similar (but not related!) issues like Iraq. This is by far the finest introduction. It will tell you a lot and guide you to areas to explore further. I think it is the first "essential" book I've read on September 11, its prelude and its implications. An early chapter on the history of jihadist thought in Islam makes al qaeda's theology comprehensible, if no less mad. It is the best short exegesis I've encountered of the development of jihadism, wahabbism, and finally bin Ladenism. Not to be missed. The last few chapters are as riveting as a spy novel and describe the inexcusable failures of the FBI, the puzzle of the CIA failures, and the monumental lapse of social responsibility that the press made in focusing on Clinton's personal problems while al Qaeda was honing its craft. Bottom line: stop reading these reviews. Buy it and read it.
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