Lawrence Wright's Pulitzer Prize- winning history of modern-day Islamic extremism, The Looming Tower, is a book I would recommend to anyone. It isn't a quick read (I've been laboring through it for three weeks now), but it certainly sheds a lot of light on how and why Al-Qaeda came into being, as well as how the face of terrorism against the U.S. has changed over the last two decades. As far as the big picture goes, I don't think Wright provided any huge illuminations; I was fortunate enough to stumble into a Middle Eastern Politics course my senior year of college, and the professor, who was extremely knowledgeable, really helped our class understand the roots of unrest in the Middle East. However, I now have a much better idea of how WE allowed terrorist acts to occur. Wright paints a picture of two institutions, the FBI and CIA, that are so suspicious of each other, and so possessive of their information, that they effectively crippled any inroads that could have been made against the growing threat of Islamic terrorist groups. The CIA, in particular, seemed to withhold valuable information. A lot of what happened after 9/11 (so far as creating Homeland Security and new gov't positions) was a blur to me-- but now I understand that these weren't kneejerk reactions, but instead were responses to the extreme inefficiency of the existing antiterrorism infrastructure that was brought to light after the tragedy.
Another thing this book did was paint a much clearer picture of who Bin Ladin is. I've always seen him as this mysterious mountain man, but in reality, he is a man who has been influenced by other extremist movements and manipulated by leaders of other groups (like Egyptian and Sudanese nationalists)who hoped to take advantage of his family's wealth and his followers' loyalty. Of course, there's more to him than this, but I no longer see him as the leader of a movement of his own making, but instead as one face among many.
Perhaps the most striking realization I'm coming away with is that a lot of the terrorist acts performed against us could have been avoided. Bin Ladin could have been stopped a dozen different times, if anyone in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, or the U.S. had taken the threat seriously. He would have had a much more difficult time recruiting terrorists if we didn't always respond by attacking (after we bombed parts of the middle east in response to African U.S. embassies being bombed, hundreds of new recruits poured into Al-Qaeda camps; before our military response, public opinion was firmly in our favor). If we were a little less ardent in our support of Israel over Palestine, or if we had withdrawn from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq sooner after the Gulf War, we would have fewer enemies. I know we have interests abroad that must be protected, and I know that where there's a will, there's a way-- those looking for a scapegoat will always be able to find one, and chances are Bin Ladin would have hated the U.S. anyways... BUT, we certainly make ourselves an easy target when we constantly boast of our power, seemingly rejoice in depravity and licentiousness, and plead ignorance to how protecting our global interests could ever negatively impact other countries. Americans know we stand for more than that, but the pictures don't lie, nor do the troops stationed across the world... and in many areas, that's all that is known of the U.S.
For a subject that is multi-layered and complicated beyond belief, Lawrence Wright does a superb job connecting the dots. He writes about the men on both sides, their missions, and their mistakes. It's impossible to come away from this book without a deeper understanding, and perhaps a deeper fear, of the threat of terrorism.
No comments:
Post a Comment