Arab commentator in UAE Sultan al Qassemi is taking quotes all this week out of the new book 'The Looming Tower' p 176 Here is todays quote "When King Faisal commissioned the country's first consensus in 1969, he was so shocked by how small the population actually was that he immediately doubled the figure. Since then, the statistics in the Kingdom have been distorted by this fundamental lie" The Looming Tower may be the most riveting, informative, and "heart-stopping account" yet of the men who shaped 9/11 (New York Times Book Review). The focus on individuals gives the book its emotional punch, but it is also a narrative bold in conception and historical sweep. Lawrence Wright conducted more than 500 interviews, from bin Laden's best friend in college to Richard A. Clarke, Saudi royalty, Afghan mujahideen, and reporters for Al Jazeera. The result, while evenhanded in its analysis of the complex motives, ideals, and power plays that led to 9/11, leaves few nefarious details uncovered. An abrupt ending did little to sway critics that Looming Tower is nothing less than "indispensable" reading (Cleveland Plain Dealer).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Looming_Tower The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 is a historical look at the way in which Al-Qaeda came into being, the background for various terrorist attacks and how they were investigated, and the events that led to the September 11 attacks. The book was written by Lawrence Wright, and he received a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for it. The Looming Tower is largely focused on the people involved; what they were like, why they did what they did, and how they interacted. The book starts with Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian religious scholar who visited the United States in the late 1940s and returned to his home to become an anti-West Islamist and eventually a martyr for his beliefs. There is also a portrait of Ayman al-Zawahiri, from his childhood in Egypt to his participation in and later leadership of Egyptian Islamic Jihad to his merging of his organization with Al Qaeda.
it might be in Egypt? they're between bosses right now. i'm sure a lot of censored media is slipping though.
I bought that book in Cairo the year it was published. I also heard a talk by its author here in cairo.
I tell you what or rather who is slipping thru here in Egypt- militant Islamists liberated from prison and brought back from exile in Europe.
Yeah well, the US government has a serious problem defining "unlawful combatants" at the moment, so that could be a misleading statement. Then again its always had that problem, you know, sticking with the truth.
