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Title: Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama Bin Laden, Radical Islam & the Future of America by Anonymous ISBN: 1-57488-553-7 Publisher: Brasseys, Inc. Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: informative and unbiased
Comment: This is by far one of the best books I've read on bin Laden and the insurgent organizations he is connected to. The author is largely unbiased (only slipping once when s/he slurs europe), and this is most likely the best semi-biography you can get about Mr. bin Laden without a slant.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Noteworthy Read
Comment: There's so much literature about bin Laden, al-Qaeda, etc. that I just don't even bother to get myself involved in it.
I had picked up this book, thinking, it was going to read like the Pentagon Papers and just give me a bad headache.
I was wrong. Instead, I found that Anonymous gave insightful information and different angles on the subject. It's about reality and less hocus pocus. S/he showed parts of the situation I never explored or even bothered to care about. S/he is very descriptive without getting wordy or over-exaggerated and gets to the meat of it. This author talks/discusses with you and not over/at you. It's simple, short but descriptive enough to read. You don't need to know the complete, in-depth history of x, y, or z. It's a nice quick reference book about bin Laden: from his education to the Taliban connection and Muslim point of view. I actually want to learn more and answer the questions that the book brought up and the ones I've made as well.
Anonymous precisely focuses on the topic and rarely strays from it. You know what s/he will be talking about in every chapter. Within each chapter, there are also subdivisions and headings that tell you what s/he will be discussing. S/he really zeroes in specifically and makes sure that it's not confusing. The break up of the chapter helps make it more focused and I didn't get as lost at all.
Another really helpful bit is the complete index and reference page at the end of the book as well as a short glossary of terms that may be unfamiliar. S/he also emphasizes certain points to the reader to make sure we don't start jumping to conclusions. I'd suggest reading the author's note to the glossary.
I found that Anonymous mostly asking the reader to have an open mind and keep things in perspective. S/he made a point about the media representations by US/West and bin Laden's own propaganda in MidEast. I think s/he did his best to give a picture of both sides. S/he uses quotes from many resources and wants the reader to judge for him/herself what it means. Anonymous makes sure that when quoting, the reader understands who, what, where, why, when of the quotes and it's not just some quote from somewhere. It's quite easy to be biased and I hope people will give this great book a chance.
Some people may be put off by the fact that the book doesn't put the US/West in a 'pretty light', but the Author also shows the violence/illusions of bin Laden as well. Neither parties are saints. One of the most important points Anonymous brings up is the fact that, at one time or another, we (US or Western civ, etc) held the same beliefs and passions of bin Laden. That in the end, we (humans) are all the same. You may not agree or like it, but it's one angle of reality that cannot be ignored because ignorance only festers more ignorance.
Rating: 4
Summary: What does Osama really want?
Comment: Normally a book review by Newt Gingrich would be the kiss of death, but in this case this book by the bespectacled and bearded author "Anonymous" seems to be a worthwhile read.
Its not news that Radical Islam is the enemy of both Muslims and others, but any book that seeks to portray how some Muslims have latched onto Bin Laden as a symbol is a good thing. I would caution though in reading too much into the respect and homage paid by impoverished Muslims in the personage of Usama Bin Laden. None of these people want to see innocents killed or maimed. In a very simplistic way, Bin Laden is simply the guy who stood up to the U.S.A. and gave them a bloody-nose, and that is why there are T-shirts out there emblazoned with his image.
Tragically, Bush now seems to be doing all the wrong things in his attempts to combat this threat. While the whack-a-mole approach may squeak him into a 2nd Term, in the long run its not going to solve the problem. Ironically, as the author has himself noted, Bin Laden seems to be on his way to getting 2 of his wishes fulfilled... U.S. troops out of Arabia, and the end to secular, despotic regimes. The part about his wanting the destruction of the American way of life is a canard. Once the other major irritant is resolved - that of the festering Israeli/Palestinian conflict - and with REAL democratic reforms occuring (read: Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Gulf States, etc.) then I think we can look to this threat as simply withering away... its raison d'etre having been lost.
In the end we may not end up with the democracies we like (ie. Turkey), but they will be THEIR democracies, and should give enough voice for the people so that we won't end up with more Bin Ladens... the kind we've helped produce through our decades-long support of friendly-dicatorships like in Egypt, Saudi, & Iraq.
There is Hope in this battle. But it won't be won with Bradleys and Predators, nor with the likes of Charlotte Beers. Along with the reforms and actions mentioned previously, we should now be pushing for massive exchanges of students from the Muslim World (with appropriate screening of course), instead of the opposite of what is happening now, with students having pulled out and numbers dwindling. Its scandalous when Fulbright scholarship students from the Arab world cannot come to the U.S. for their studies because of bureaucratic ineptitude. We need to be building bridges more than ever, instead of blowing them up.
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Title: Countering the New Terrorism by Ian O. Lesser, Bruce Hoffman, John Arquilla, Michele Zanini, David Ronfeldt, Ian Lesser ISBN: 0833026674 Publisher: RAND Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Inside Terrorism by Bruce Hoffman ISBN: 0231114699 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Inside Al Qaeda by Rohan Gunaratna ISBN: 0231126921 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Terrorist Hunter : The Extraordinary Story of a Woman Who Went Undercover to Infiltrate the Radical Islamic Groups Operating in America by Anonymous ISBN: 0060528192 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama Bin Laden, Radical Islam and the Future of America by Anonymous ISBN: 1574885529 Publisher: Brasseys, Inc. Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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