Holy War, Inc.: Inside The Secret World of Osama Bin Laden

Additional Holy War, Inc.: Inside The Secret World of Osama Bin Laden Information

On September 11, 2001, the world in which we live was changed forever. The twin towers of the World Trade Center came crashing down, one side of the Pentagon burst into flame, and more than six thousand men, women, and children lost their lives in the most deadly terrorist attack on American soil. As shocking as it was, it had been long in the making: The assault was the most sophisticated and horrifying in a series of operations masterminded by Osama bin Laden and his Jihad group -- an organization that CNN's terrorism analyst Peter Bergen calls Holy War, Inc.

One of only a handful of Western journalists to have interviewed the world's most wanted man face to face, Peter Bergen has produced the definitive book on the Jihadist network that operates globally and in secrecy. In the course of four years of investigative reporting, he has interviewed scores of insiders -- from bin Laden associates and family members to Taliban leaders to CIA officials -- and traveled to Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom to learn the truth about bin Laden's al Queda organization and his mission.

Immense in scope and unnerving in its findings, Holy War, Inc. reveals:

How bin Laden lives, travels, and communicates with his "cells." How his role in the crushing defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan made him a hero to Muslims all over the world -- and equipped him to endure a long and bloody siege. How the CIA ended up funding -- to the tune of three billion dollars -- radical, anti-American Afghan groups allied to bin Laden. How the attacks that foreshadowed the destruction of the World Trade Center -- among them the bombings of the American embassies in Africa and the warship USS Cole in Yemen -- were planned and executed. The dimensions of bin Laden's personal fortune, and why freezing his assets is both futile and nearly impossible. The ideology of bin Laden's number two, the man who has influenced him most profoundly in his holy war -- the Egyptian Ayman al Zawahiri. What we can expect from Islamist extremists in the future.

Above all, Peter Bergen helps us to see bin Laden's organization in a radically new light: as a veritable corporation that has exploited twenty-first-century communications and weapons technologies in the service of a medieval reading of the Koran and holy war. Holy War, Inc. is essential reading for anyone trying to understand tomorrow's terrorist threats and the militant Islamist movements that could determine the fate of governments -- and human lives -- the world over.

Both author and publisher will donate a portion of the proceeds from this book to United Way's September 11th Fund for the relief of victims of the World Trade Center attacks.

What Customers Say About Holy War, Inc.: Inside The Secret World of Osama Bin Laden:

Peter L. There are for instance things that I never knew about the man and his orginazation that I now know thanks to Mr. Bergen takes us around the world in his pursuit of unraveling the man who many of us know by face and name only. The aura that surrounds O.B.L is incredibly large. Bergen's tireless work. A must read for anyone that is interested in seeing passed all the talking points and truly understanding the root causes for islamic terrorism.

Here was an Egyptian-born man who served in the American Special Forces and was highly valued because of his middle-eastern language skills. The head or CEO of a terrorist group has no absolute control over the cells. I found Bergen's account of Ali Mohamed very unnerving. I particularly enjoyed the analysis of the strategic importance of Stinger missiles in the past and the future. This is the third book I've read on terrorism and was the best by far. One of the most encouraging aspects of the book is Bergen's assertion that the single most important blow to strike against terrorism is elimination of the training camps in Afghanistan. Aside from surface similarities, the parallels between these organizations are few and far between. Bergen uses multi-national corporations as a model for how a group like Al-Qaeda functions.

The fragmentation and factionalization of these groups has no equivalent in the corporate world. Scary. Not only does it take the reader through the important points of bin Laden's life and the historical events that surround them, but the author also analyzes the larger context within world politics. There is no profit imperative or other objective measures. After he was honorably discharged, Ali Mohamed took the explosives skills that he'd learned, went to bin Laden's Afghanistan training camp, and shared his knowledge with scores of terrorists. Although an excellent book, I don't believe the "Holy War, Inc." paradigm works very well. The multi-national corporation isn't an effective map for understanding the terrorist network terrain.This book was written before and shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Since the war in Afghanistan has done just that, the book definitely ends on an up note.

While recounting OBL's case against the US (like the reader is suppose to take this seriously) he adds his opinion that for two thousand years Christians don't follow the teachings of Jesus.I'm not half way through the book and I'm sorry I bought it. He also defends OBL's rants against the US by clarifying for the reader that UN sanctions killed 500,000 Iraqi children. I was hoping for a documented history about OBL. He says US "tried" to capture and never mention they did capture two bad guys.

Bergen is biased against the US and eerily; the net affect is some sort of weird admiration for OBL.Bergen falls for some of OBL's twisted, misrepresentation of the Koran. The more you know about these subjects the more you will realize that Bergen interjects his political opinions throughout the book with side comments; by selectively adding some facts and leaving out others; and by the clever arrangements of facts. Other scholars suspect OBL of murdering Azzam. He adds that before 9-11 OK City was the worst terrorist activity in US.

In discussing Somalia, he makes sure the reader is aware George H Bush got US involved. Of course Bergen leaves out Saddam Hussein's role in starving his own people.Bergen's account of the murder of Abdullah Azzam (Bergen calls him OBL's mentor) follows right after discussion with former Pakistani Prime Minister so this arrangement implies that somehow they are connected. This Bergen ignores.In his discussion of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan he spends all his time talking from the side of the rebels. He gives no background as to events leading up to it, nor the poor military practices in the Soviet army which contributed to its own defeat. Warning, before reading this book make sure you are well schooled in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, US involvement with Somalia, the Persian Gulf War, and Islam.

The subliminal message is US Army is an equivalent terrorist organization as Al-Qaeda. Later he outright says training in an Al-Qaeda camp is better that basic training in the Army. He leaves out background information about the UN and Boutris Boutris Ghali role in tribal conflict. He claims at "least 500" Somalis died when more respected accounts put the number at 3000. Bergen only presents OBL view that he brought down a super power. See page 99 and note the Bergen's equalization of the words infidel and idolater. In all he makes the US look foolish and A-Qaeda's cause of serious blow against US.

The Soviet Union published an after action review, The Bear Went Over the Mountain, that points out individual combat leaders and mistakes they made that were grievous enough so that any band of rebels could have beaten them. He does mention the US made Stinger missile, but spends more time talking about how clumsy the US was to let some of these go unaccounted for; rather than mentioning that without the Stinger the Soviets would not have pulled out.In Chapter 4, he mentions Desert Storm and out of left field adds the fact the Timothy McVeigh was one of the 500,000 US troops there. He doesn't mention the decision by Les Aspin to hamper the mission by denying the US its own armor-protected vehicles. Instead I got the CNN view of the world - OBL is a deeply religious man, a great military leader, a successful businessman, and has a legitimate case against the US, which by default is guilty.

This book had a lot of technical stuff, but I still really enjoyed it.I'm more excited by the new book by Osama Bin Laden's mistress, Kola Boof--"Diary of a Lost Girl". I've read an advance copy and it was absolutely stunning.I think her portrait of Bin Laden and his inside world should be widely discussed by the Bin Laden experts. She really shows a new side of him and his friends and family. I just found it so fascinating and detailed and marvelously written.

But the Blair government has made no attempts to ban its publications or to question any of its senior officials. This is a good study of Al Qaeda, a criminal organisation whose modus operandi is the murder of innocent civilians. In 1994, Osama bin Laden took advantage of Home Office laxness to use London as a base for his terrorist operations. Rather, they would not be able to prevent the Muslim army from bringing the Light of Islam in their homeland, by Jihad and the clear conquest." (Kafir is Arabic for infidel). Al Qaeda's acts are acts of terror, of murder. London-based Abu Hamza, who openly supports bin Laden, is head of the `Supporters of Shariah'.

You're telling us to go to the Kafir against a Muslim, is that what you are saying we should have done." This identification with the co-religionist as against the infidel puts a value only on the lives of believers. Some relevant background: in the 1980s, the Thatcher government allowed the mujehadin to open recruiting offices, under the name Al Kifah, in London. Last year's head of the Islamic Society at Kingston University, when asked why he did not inform the Students' Union or the University about Hizb Ut Tahrir's activities at the University, replied, "What could we have done, tell me. He tries to recruit young British Muslims for terrorist training and operations.The Hizb Ut Tahrir organisation claims to be peaceful, yet one of its recent leaflets said, "The head of the matter is Islam, its pillar is the prayer and its highest peak is Jihad." Another said, "That the world should end is less in the sight of Allah than the killing of a Muslim." And "The Hizb can see the Khilafah on the horizon, by the will of Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala). At that time no Kafir colonialist would dare to attack the Muslims' lands, let alone occupy them. It is at root inhuman.The atrocities committed by Al Qaeda and its sympathisers are not acts of war, not retaliation for the war on Iraq, as their apologists claim.

They are anti-human and fascist.