Rating: 
Summary: Know your enemies
Review: This is a frightening book, giving an authoritative view of Al-Qaeda and associated terrorist groups. It makes a convincing case that the danger of terrorism comes more from Southeast Asia than from the Middle East, where the US is focusing its efforts. It's well written and as timely as a newspaper report. It describes the amorphous structure of the organizations and the difficulties in combatting them, including the mindset and the fanaticism of the members and the weakness of the central governments in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines where they operate. The author knows a lot about this complicated organization and it's difficult to keep the individual terrorists straight but if it's hard to keep them straight in a book, how much more difficult to identify and track them in the world!? The book is excellent and a "must read" for anyone who wants to understand the threat that faces the US and the world.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, disturbing, a wealth of information
Review: This is an interesting book. Maria, in her work as a journalist, has gained the confidence of security officials throughout the region. She has seen what the officials know. But beyond that, she has been able to compare and integrate information on a regional level - something that we're not sure the region's security officers do. This is a disturbing book as well. It provides a wealth of information on a matter many of us would rather not think about. From the independent vantage point of a journalist, Maria found it easy to draw the conclusions demanded by the facts. That is an exercise not easily performed by security officials who might need to compromise conclusions with political correctness. Indonesia, for instance, tried to play down the perils posed by the growth of extremist Islamic movements within its borders. That despite a mounting series of attacks, one of which was directed at the Philippine embassy in Jakarta that nearly killed our ambassador. Then the Big Bang happened. Failing to execute original plans to bomb either Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, the operatives of al-Qaeda in the region hit Bali. That was followed shortly thereafter by the bombing of the Marriot Hotel in Jakarta. It was only recently that Indonesia acknowledged the threat posed by terrorist cells that have embedded themselves in existing, more mainstream, Islamic movements. But acknowledging the problem is only the first step. It needs to be followed by a demonstration of political will to crack down on extremist Islamic movements in a predominantly Islamic country. Although Muslims constitute a small minority in the Philippines, Manila has had difficulty dealing with the threat posed by terrorist cells. Since the early nineties, it was clear that international terrorist cells were operating in the country. They did bomb that plane from Cebu, didn't they? The traffic of Middle Eastern "missionaries" to Mindanao was evident. The plot to kill the Pope, blow up 12 planes in the air and bomb the World Trade Center were all hatched in dingy little apartments in Manila. When former President Joseph Estrada decided to launch an assault on MILF camps on strong evidence they were being used not only by criminal gangs but more importantly by foreign terrorist cells preparing suicide bombers for missions, that decision was strongly criticized as a "militarist solution" to a complex social and historical problems. Subsequently, the task was left half-done. For a while, the al-Qaeda inspired Rizal Day bombings were blamed on him. When former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, acting on the same information, decided to mount an offensive to dismantle training camps that prepared foreign militants for missions of destruction worldwide, he too was met with strong criticism.The criticism came from the usual peaceniks as well as from factions within the armed forces. He eventuality relinquished his post. When President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared that the threat posed on our society by international terrorists was both real and imminent, leftist groups berated her for being a flunkey of American imperialism. The peaceniks and human rights advocates continue railing against a stronger response to the problem of MILF-secured training bases in Mindanao. Subsequently, President Gloria continued the pursuit of peace talks with the MILF, desisted from assaulting the training camps with any level of decisiveness and continued muttering what is basically a piece of fiction: that it is the rowdy Abu Sayyaf and not the MILF proper that is the real, functional component of the al-Qaeda and its Southeast Asian networks. All of us - the wild-eyed peaceniks and the politically sensitive policy-makers - must read Maria Ressa's account and relish the wealth of information it contains. Even as I have tried to track the "Mindanao problem" for two decades now, I have learned many new things from this account. With the information collected in this book, it will not be as easy for any thinking Filipino to buy that stupid line that the terrorist threat is merely a piece of fiction peddled by Bush the Warmonger. (This is an excerpt of a review by political analyst, Aexander Magno, published in Philippine Star, December 11, 2003)
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