isaacaj

Wright gives a very readable history of Al Qaeda and the build up to 9/11. I remember that right after the attack occurred I couldn’t believe that any government agency would be able to stop a group of crazy individuals who wanted to kill themselves from doing so. This book changed my mind somewhat. The number of opportunities that the CIA and FBI had to connect the dots and prevent an attack was astounding. Wright definitely paints the CIA as the department to blame here. A very strict interpretation of the separation of the agencies’ roles and prohibitions on sharing information caused multiple opportunities to be missed. The US government was gathering data but wasn’t using it. This book is also a great insight into the tensions between different political and terrorist groups in the Middle East that I, at least, tend to group into one bucket. There are many different motivations and styles which are important when it comes to matters of dealing with these various networks.

2023-08-04 02:49