Osamas Revenge: THE NEXT 9/11 : What the Media and the Government Haven't Told You

Rating:
Summary: Osama, media superstar
Review: This is a very short book, with a dramatic message. On the surface, it looks like an attempt to convince US voters that 9/11 was just the beginning of their problems. Quoting bin Laden 'videos', Williams convincingly claims Osama bin Laden wants non-Muslims dead and has nuclear bombs to accomplish that goal. The fear factor is very high.

After more reflection, the book reminds me of a blackmail note. Just as a blackmailer, Williams attacks the American reader's self-confidence at every opportunity. Mr. bin Laden is super-human, while the American government weak and corrupt. Osama knows all our weaknesses, and solves problems beyond our skills. For the poor people of Afghanistan, he build hospitals, roads and shelters. He sells heroin to Europe and America, but his puritanical comrades avoid the stuff themselves. The Afghan heroin funds his nuclear projects and simultaneously undermines the western will. In contrast, the stupid American generals run up and down the mountain sides looking for Osama in all the wrong places. The corrupt US government has turned Pakistani and Afghan friendship into a deep seated hate for all things American. Defended by the billions of Osama loving Muslims around the world, it is obvious the US Army can never catch him. Offering the reader a measure of pity, Williams provides instructions on converting to Islam.

This sort of paper thin caricature does nothing to educate and much to demoralize.

It is probably best to act as if Osama has nukes in America, but I don't think it is a reality. Osama's nuclear attack is only believable if 1) the bombs were available for purchase, 2) are now in the US and 3) still work. Even with the plutonium, obtaining active tritium gas would be very difficult. Keeping them refreshed with tritium gas is not easy; it leaks, gets absorbed and decays. Still a few fresh ones may be around. On the other hand, a variety of reports suggest similar economic damage can be done with a few suicide bombs set off at key gas and electrical nodes around the US. If one wants to catalog the catastrophic, nuclear briefcases are not the worst or most likely. In short, Osama doesn't need a nuke, except perhaps for the media carnival that would follow. And, the media would make a killing on the event. Imagine the network anchors crawling around the rubble and think about how long they would smirk about the disaster.

As I write in early 2005, the panic over Osama-nukes is about a year old, and has faded from the foreground of media coverage. That panic, probably part of the US political campaign cycle, is the source from which the book emerges. Wondering who Mr. Williams might be and what motivates him, I checked for other titles he has penned:
The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia (May 1, 2003)
Al-Qaeda : Brotherhood of Terror (February 8, 2002)
The Complete Idiot's Guide(R) to the Crusades (October 18, 2001)
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Lives of the Saints (June 26, 2001)

Mr. Williams has a Ph.D. in historical theology and served as professor of Catholic theology and patristics (study of lives of Church Fathers) at two Catholic Universities. Despite the dust-cover claims, this isn't really the background of a journalist or FBI consultant. Perhaps the stress of writing 'lives of the saints' for 'idiots' was too much for him.

Rating:
Summary: Exaggerated, but a good read
Review: This was an incredibly disturbing book, but I'm not exactly sure how much of it is true. He claims that bin Laden acquired 48 suitcase nukes from the Chechen mafia. First of all, I have to wonder how he knows this; much of his book is based on what various people say. I didn't see any clear evidence of this though. But what makes me the most skeptical is the idea that Osama is just hoarding these weapons. If he really has a lot of nukes, why would he have bothered with crashing planes into buildings? After reading this book, however, I've realized that Osama is spending millions to acquire nukes, even if he doesn't already have them. Although I think this book exaggerates the threat a little, it does quite a good job in exposing a threat that many of us still think is nonexistent.

Rating:
Summary: Osama's manifestoes a revelation.....
Review: What surprised me most about this book (and i thought i was media savvy) was its complete translations of lots of Osama's manifestoes. Here's why: I didn't really understand till now that the manifestoes are translated into English and available. Why aren't they printed in every paper in America?

I mean, we knew what Hitler's views were. Hitler said just exactly what he meant to do from the very beginning in _Mein Kampf_. After reading these manifestoes in much of their entirety, i have every confidence that Osama has every intention to accomplish these goals as stated.

And here's the thing... and a clue as to the reason that we have not had access to this material in the mainstream press, i think, the reason we only see Osama on the news seemingly babbling (in a language we don't understand), it's because Osama (or his writers) is/are eloquent as hell and make a compelling case for El-Quida's actions. Don't get me wrong, Osama wants to kill anyone like me and how. My reading convinces me i and all Western women would die as soon as i was in Osama's power.

But it also scares the hell out of me because, if the whole Arab world in familiar with this material, then i can't blame them. A lot of what he says would even appeal to certain groups in this country who are not Arabs nor Islamic. We have made some bad enemies in El-Quida. We made them. We did. Through our actions and/or inattention to what our Big Bussiness and Governments were up to these last fifty years in the middle east.

Yikes.