November 2008

Search for Al Qaeda

The Search for Al Qaeda Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future by Bruce Riedel

Al Qaeda is the most dangerous terrorist movement in history. Yet most people in the Americas and Europe know very little about it, or their view is clouded by misperceptions and half truths. If the first rule of war is to "know your enemy," then we have a long way to go. This important book fills this gap with a comprehensive analysis of al Qaeda—the origins, leadership, ideology, and strategy of the terrorist network that brought down the Twin Towers and continues to threaten us today.  Bruce Riedel is an expert on the Middle East and South Asia, with thirty years of intelligence and policymaking experience. He was actually in the White House Situation Room during the 9/11 attacks, serving as special assistant to the president and National Security Council senior director for Near East Affairs. He draws on this insider experience in profiling the four most important figures in the al Qaeda movement: Osama bin Laden, its creator and charismatic leader; ideologue Ayman Zawahiri, its Egyptian coleader and principal spokesman; Abu Musaib al Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq until his death in 2006; and Mullah Omar, its Taliban host. These profiles provide the base from which Riedel delivers a much clearer understanding of al Qaeda and what must be done to counter it……(Brookings, 12 Nov 08)

Former Spies Writings To Become Feature Films

Master of Disguise by Antonio Mendez

Spy Dust by Antonio and Jonna Mendez

Two former CIA agents have developed some alternate identities. The local couple is the brains behind two upcoming motion pictures based on their real life experiences.  In another life, Antonio Mendez and his wife Jonna were covert CIA operatives. Today life is a far cry from clandestine operations. They spend much of their time in their quiet Washington County art studio and gallery. Antonio is a painter, and Jonna is a fine art photographer…Antonio's book "Master of Disguise" has been taken on by George Clooney and Warner brothers. DreamWorks is in the early stages of turning another book, "Spy Dust" that the couple co-wrote into a full-length feature film…Spy Dust is the true story about a double agent who was selling American operative's identities to the Russian KGB. The couple took turns writing alternating chapters. That way the reader gets the full picture even if at the time the Mendezes didn't……(Your 4 State, 12 Nov 08)

One woman's tribute to a father she never knew

Out of Night and Fog: The Story of Major Guy Bieler, Special Operations Executive by Jacqueline Bieler

It was 1942 when Winston Churchill, fired up after reading John Steinbeck's new book, The Moon Is Down, decided to "set Europe ablaze."  He decided to pattern Britain's espionage war effort on the clandestine resistance operation in Steinbeck's thinly-disguised account of the foreign occupation of a northern European village.  Churchill turned to the Special Operations Executive -- also called "Churchill's Secret Army" -- that he had helped set up to fight the Germans. (It was a precursor to today's MI6.)  SOE operatives were sent or dropped into occupied Europe and parts of Africa and Asia where they blew up railway lines, fuel depots, directed Royal Air Force bombings and spied on enemy troop movements……(Ottawa Citizen, 10 Nov 08)

War tale of two Canadian espionage heroes finally told

UNLIKELY SOLDIERS by Jonathan Vance

…Today, with the last of its veterans succumbing to old age, both Canada's triumphs and tragedies of those terrible times -- from its improbable victory at Vimy Ridge during the First World War, to its predictable disasters at Dieppe and Hong Kong in the Second World War -- take a back seat to the growing impulse to put faces and stories to the names of the nation's war dead.   Against the backdrop of that collective memory project comes Unlikely Soldiers, historian Jonathan Vance's timely and surprising book about two small-town Canadians who parachuted into German-occupied France in 1943 as British agents, only to be summarily captured and later executed and cremated at the notorious Buchenwald death camp.   Little-known, the story of Frank Pickersgill and Ken Macalister was first retrieved from history's dustbin in 1945 when Georges Vanier, then Canada's first ambassador to France and later a governor general, travelled to Buchenwald in 1945 to check out for himself a back-channel report the two Canadians had met their deaths at the concentration camp. He found the evidence in the infamously meticulous files the Nazis kept. ……(London Free Press, 8 Nov 08)

The unconvincing rehabilitation of Tail Gunner Joe

Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies, by M. Stanton Evans

Here is a précis of what is now known, based on evidence revealed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, about what is broadly referred to as the McCarthy Era. State Department official Alger Hiss, whose espionage case actually predated the rise of Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.), was indeed a Soviet spy. Apostates from communism Whittaker Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley, who exposed significant breaches of national security to the FBI, were neither fantasists nor fabulists; both accurately recounted the names of government employees subsidized by the Soviet Union. Julius Rosenberg, one half of the ne plus ultra case of Cold War martyrdom, was indeed guilty of espionage. The American effort to develop an atomic bomb was thick with Russian spies, another of whom, a heretofore unknown American named George Koval, was revealed only last November when he was posthumously honored at a champagne reception by Russian President Vladimir Putin. America’s Communist Party, frequently defended as an indigenous political movement wholly independent of Moscow, took both direction and rubles from every Soviet leader dating back to Lenin.  These revelations have led some historians and cultural commentators to wonder if perhaps Joseph McCarthy, the red-baiting Republican senator from Wisconsin who was both architect and demolisher of his eponymous era, was more right than wrong…..(Reason Online, 7 Oct 08)

Iraq's Last Jews

Iraq's Last Jews: Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon - co-editors:  Tamar Morad, Dennis Shasha and Robert Shasha

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Tamar Morad, a journalist who has worked at the Wall Street Journal, Jerusalem Post, and the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. She is the co-editor (with Dennis Shasha and Robert Shasha) of the new book, Iraq's Last Jews: Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon……(FrontPage, 6 Nov 08)

America's Own Lawrence of Arabia Played Key Role in Early U.S.-Saudi Relations

Arabian Knight: Colonel Bill Eddy and the Rise of American Power in the Middle East by Thomas Lippman

He's not as well-known a figure in the modern history of the Middle East as Britain's T.E. Lawrence, but a U.S. Marine Corps colonel named Bill Eddy has been described as America's own Lawrence of Arabia. Eddy played a crucial role after World War II in forging a bond between the United States and Saudi Arabia and in shaping U.S. policies in the Middle East…William Eddy was born in 1896 to a family of American Protestant missionaries in Sidon, Lebanon. He grew up speaking colloquial Arabic and, as author Thomas Lippman notes, he early on developed a strong affinity for both Muslim culture and the Arab people……(VOA, 5 Nov 08)

Author uncovers another side of Roald Dahl

The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant

…Interviewed recently in the media room at her home in Sag Harbor, Ms. Conant recalled how she got started on the project. “In the summer of 2005, I had a ‘eureka’ moment,” she said. “I was browsing through a book on the famous British spy, Sir William Stephenson, when I read a tiny clause that placed Dahl and David Ogilvy as spies for the British Security Coordination agency. Many of us knew of the controversies surrounding Stephenson, aka Intrepid, but had never seen or heard mention of Dahl or Ogilvy.”  Light bulbs went off, and Ms. Conant had the topic for her next book. She started out by reading all the papers, letters, and documents she could get her hands on covering British espionage in the U.S. She ran into many dead ends and stone walls. Spies after all do not keep diaries and were bound by the Official Secrets Act for decades. And the entire British spy network during that period was cloaked in secrecy…While digging for relevant information, Ms. Conant encountered an invaluable resource in the personal papers of Texas newspaper tycoon Charles Marsh, who had been a friend and mentor to Mr. Dahl in wartime Washington. Mr. Marsh preserved reams of Mr. Dahl’s letters and typed transcripts of his spy reports, memos, and conversations. Eventually, Mr. Marsh’s heirs turned over all the espionage material to Ms. Conant, along with the freedom to use it as she saw fit……(27 East, 3 Nov 08)

Book highlighting role of Maulana Rahat Gul in Afghan Jihad launched

Jihad-e-Afghanistan Ka Yakta Mujahid: Maulana Rahat Gul by Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan

Afghan jihad was fought for the security and protection of not only Pakistan, but the whole region at a time when the then two super powers had fixed eyes on the region for its strategic position, said Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan, provincial amir of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F).  It was the real jihad though some forces were trying to make it controversial. Maulana Rahat Gul was one of the great Mujahideen who took active part and played a vital role in the Afghan jihad fought against the USSR occupation, said the Maulana here Sunday while addressing as chief guest at the launching ceremony of book, ‘Jihad-e-Afghanistan Ka Yakta Mujahid: Maulana Rahat Gul’.   The JUI-F regional chief said Maulana Rahat Gul was the person who united ulema on issuing Fatwa (decree), declaring the war against occupational forces in Afghanistan as jihad. He not only took part in the jihad himself but also contributed by funding and helping the mujahideen as well, he added.  Maulana Gul Naseeb said he got Afghan warlords united for the just cause of jihad, besides providing the Afghan students the opportunity to study in his Rahatabad Madrassa, Markaz Uloom Islamia. He said the brave Muslims of Afghanistan like Maulana Rahat Gul defeated the then super power, USSR and led it to disintegration, although the US and Europe later come for assistance because they were against it for two reasons: (1) USSR did not believe in religion, and (2) it was against capitalism…..(the News, 3 Nov 08)

Book review: The illusive Islamic state

Chasing a Mirage — The Tragic Illusion of the Islamic State by Tarek Fatah

Tarek Fatah, a well-known leftist student leader of Karachi in the late 1960s and early 1970s, now lives in Canada and has come up with a well-researched book which demolishes brick by brick the many myths regarding the existence of an Islamic state. Fatah’s basic thesis is that there is no concept of an Islamic state in Islam, there is no existing Islamic state in the world, and there never was. While this has drawn considerable interest among intellectual circles, author Fatah has received threats as well.  At the very outset Fatah explains: “In this book I attempt to draw a distinction between Islamists and Muslims. What Islamists seek and what Muslims seek are two separate objectives, sometimes overlapping but clearly distinct. While the former seeks an ‘Islamic State’, the latter merely desires a ‘state of Islam.’ One state requires theocracy, the other a state of spirituality.”  I have always been of the opinion that the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) should be renamed as the Organization of Muslim Countries, because they are basically countries with Muslim majorities. Their commonality ends there……(Daily Times, 2 Nov 08)

October 2008

More Troops Are Nice, but More Intelligence Needed to Save Afghan War

Human Intelligence, Counterterrorism & National Leadership: A Practical Guide by Gary Berntsen

His first book, “Jawbreaker: The attack on bin Laden and al-Qaeda,” recounted the ups and downs of the 2001-2002 Afghan mission, from his struggles with timid headquarters bureaucrats, through the exhilaration of organizing a tribal army, to the fiasco at Tora Bora, where bin Laden slipped away through a combination of U.S. ineptitude and Pakistani skullduggery.  Berntsen retired in 2005, but he “just couldn’t stand around and watch the war on TV.” So last year he signed up as an adviser to a unit of the much heralded 173rd Airborne Brigade and shipped out…Far from a rehash of the woes that are continuing to chase experienced and talented CIA counterterrorism officers out of the building as soon as they’re eligible for retirement, Berntsen offers a wide array of thoughtful Rx’s for sharpening the point of the spear.  The most important, echoed by a half-dozen recently retired, but still young CIA officers I’ve talked to, is retooling the spyocracy to reward men and women who like being in the field battling terrorists and want to make their careers there, rather than the headquarters horse-holders whose weapon of choice is a briefing paper…..(CQ Politics, 31 Oct 08)

Going After Bin Laden

Kill Bin Laden by Dalton Fury (a pseudonym)

A new book by the lead Delta Force member on the hunt details how the U.S. almost got Osama in 2001.

Two months after the September 11 attacks took place, a group of U.S. commandos, with the help of British commandos, the CIA and an Afghan warlord, trekked into the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan in search of the most wanted man in the world. Their mission was clear—capture or kill Osama bin Laden. If he died, then they were to leave his body with the Afghans but bring back proof that he had been slain. But the Battle of Tora Bora—as the showdown between allied forces and bin Laden would come to be known—did not end with bin Laden's death, but with his escape. Seven years later, the senior ranking American military officer and lead Delta Force member of that mission has published "Kill Bin Laden," his account of what occurred. NEWSWEEK's Jessica Ramirez spoke to Dalton Fury—a pseudonym the author uses—about the man that got away….(Newsweek, 30 Oct 08)

Noam Chomsky: “Breathless Just Reading It”

Guilt By Association by Jeff Gates

A startling new book from a Washington insider is setting academic and diplomatic worlds afire. “Stunningly provocative” claims a former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar. “Explosively revelatory” says a former deputy director of the Cabinet Task Force on Terrorism…Written with a precision certain to catch the attention of U.S. Attorneys nationwide, the author presents the facts that make treason transparent. A fan of neither political party, author Jeff Gates reveals how foreign agents came to dominate U.S. foreign policy and manipulate the electoral process through the multi-decade corruption of both parties……(WebWire, 30 Oct 08)

Iran, a Rising Star That’s Now Too Powerful to Ignore

The Devil We Know by Robert Baer

As the end of the Bush era draws near, it is clear that its policy of treating Iran as a country that must be weakened, punished and perhaps even overthrown has failed. Suddenly it has become fashionable to say that Iran must be recognized, respected and dealt with as the increasingly powerful nation that it is. Earlier this month Henry A. Kissinger, who as secretary of state helped arm and prop up Iran’s monarchy in the 1970s, said there was “no reason for the United States to resist a strong Iran” today. The goal should be to restore the old regional balance of power based on the pillars of two countries friendly to America, Israel and Iran, he added…

He (Baer) paints a picture of Iran as a disciplined, strategic, monolithic “police state” and military power driven by imperial ambitions. “At the bottom of Iran’s soul is a newfound taste for empire,” he states……(New York Times, 29 Oct 08)

Eyes Wide Shut

Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad by Andrew McCarthy

September 11, 2001, will live in infamy, but February 26, 1993, should also cause Americans to shudder. On that day 15 years ago, Islamic militants tried to topple the World Trade Center; six people in the building were killed, over a thousand injured. It was the first time the world network of Islamic terrorists had struck on American soil. Most Americans missed the message.  Andrew McCarthy's Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad is a comprehensive, meticulous, and impassioned reminder of that message. As lead prosecutor in one of the most notorious terrorism cases in U.S. history, no one is better equipped than McCarthy to recount the details of the ensuing trial that condemned Islamist kingpin Omar Abdel Rahman to a lifetime in a supermax prison. Equal parts historian, storyteller, and prophet, McCarthy relates the case's background magnificently. He begins with a penetrating history of the jihad movement: its origins in the Afghan-Soviet war, the CIA's involvement in fostering an environment that in turn spawned al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups, and the policy failures and institutional incompetence of our government, which eventually allowed a terrorist cell led by Rahman, the Egyptian "blind sheik," to conduct the recruitment, planning, and training for a major attack right here on our shores.  More than shadowy plotting occured within our borders. McCarthy recalls a 1998 speech by Osama bin Laden's mentor Abdullah Azzam, delivered not in Pakistan, but in Oklahoma City, where a crowd of American-based Muslims was instructed that "the jihad, the fighting, is obligatory on you whenever you can perform it. And just as when you are in America you must fast...so, too, must you wage jihad. The word jihad means fighting only, fighting with the sword."…..(FrontPage/Steve Emerson, 28 Oct 08)

Iranian News Channel IRINN Reports on Newly Published Iranian Book On 'The Great Distortion Of The Historical Event Called The Holocaust, Using The Art Of Satire'

On September 26, 2008, the Iranian news channel IRINN reported on the publication, in Iran, of a 100-page book of cartoons on the Holocaust, which it billed as "tak[ing] a critical look at the great distortion of the historical event called the Holocaust, using the art of satire." The report included comments by an Iranian university chancellor, the book's cartoonist, and an Iranian cultural expert. The news story also explained that the book "is an effort to expose the need to research the event of the Holocaust."  The following is the transcript of the report……(MEMRI, 27 Oct 08)

Turkey hampered CIA actions in northern Iraq, former agent says

Operation Hotel California: The Clandestine War Inside Iraq by Charles “Sam” Faddis

 Turkish soldiers and CIA teams were nearly involved in an armed clash during America's invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to a former agent for the U.S. intelligence service.    Charles “Sam” Faddis, who led a CIA team into northern Iraq following the 9/11 attacks, claimed the Turkish armed forces, or TSK, hampered the CIA's covert operations in the region in 2002 and 2003, daily Milliyet reported yesterday…the CIA's counter-terror agents entered northern Iraq on June 7, 2002, despite opposition by the TSK. He said his team was supposed to guide members of the U.S. Army 10th Special Forces Group into an area of northern Iraq where a local Kurdish terrorist group, Ansar al Islam, was giving shelter to al-Qaeda leaders who had fled across Iran from the U.S. bombing in Afghanistan. The cooperation between the CIA and the Kurdish peshmergas started with this operation, according to Faddis.…..(Turkish Daily, 27 Oct 08)

Escapades of a dupe and a bumbler

The Lost Spy: An American In Stalin's Secret Service by Andrew Meier

Hitler's Man in Havana: Heinz Luning and Nazi Espionage in Latin America by Thomas D. Schoonover

In the parlance of espionage history, the term "The Great Illegals" has especial resonance. The reference is to the small band of agent-handlers who worked for Stalin's Soviet intelligence apparatus during the 1920s and beyond, not necessarily spying on their own, but servicing and directing those who did. The record shows that they performed well, enabling the USSR to build a between-wars intelligence machine that infiltrated the highest levels of Western governments, including the United States and Great Britain (remember the infamous Philby ring?), stealing military and diplomatic secrets hither and yon.  Their collapse came with stunning rapidity in the late 1930s, when these previously trusted handlers were recalled to Moscow during the Great Purge, when Stalin's paranoia ruled supreme. Those who obeyed the call vanished. Those who resisted were tracked down and killed -- for instance, Alexander Orlov, who managed to reach the United States before falling victim to a staged "suicide" in a Washington hotel, and Ignace Reiss, brutally murdered in the French countryside……(Washington Post, 26 Oct 08)

Creating a Desert and Calling it "Peace"

Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace by Daniel C. Kurtzer and Scott B. Lasensky

Among deluded policies that enjoy the status of accepted wisdom, few have had the staying power of the American foreign policy establishment's slant on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The mantras on the path to Middle East peace routinely emanating from the State Department, its foreign service alumni, and private organizations, as well as government figures that tend to follow the lead of State, bear little relation to reality…The authors were assisted by other members of what is identified as "the United States Institute of Peace's Study Group on Arab-Israeli Peacemaking." The Study Group solicited input as well from more than a hundred interviewees, both American and Middle East nationals, with many of the Americans having State Department backgrounds.  The breathtaking muddy-mindedness of the volume's assertions regarding the conflict provides yet more grist for the foreign policy establishment's critics. It also provides more grounds for concern, particularly as Kurtzer and Lasensky's warped perspective on the path to "peace" and "security" is not offered simply as an academic exercise, nor even as a prediction of how Israeli-Arab relations will likely unfold.  Rather, it is presented as a blueprint for definitive positions that the U.S. ought to adopt and, in effect, impose on Israel. The authors assert, for example, "Washington needs to formalize and add permanence to U.S. positions on the core endgame issues of Jerusalem, refugees, security, and territory..."…..(FrontPage, 24 Oct 08)

Chaos theory

The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East by Olivier Roy

At the peak of the Islamist revolutionary moment in the early 1990s, many western pundits warned that the Islamic tide was unstoppable and likely to sweep away failed socialist and nationalist Arab or Muslim regimes. One of the few dissenting voices was Olivier Roy, a French sociologist and an authority on religiously-based social movements. Challenging the prevalent conventional wisdom, Roy published a sensational book in 1994, The Failure of Political Islam, which argued that the Islamist revolution was already a spent force and, more important, an intellectually and historically bankrupt one.  According to Roy, Islamist movements offered neither a concrete political-economic program nor a new model and vision for society: the slogan “Islam is the solution” could not resolve Muslims’ developmental crises. Nowhere was the Islamists’ failure more blatant, noted Roy, than in their inability to go beyond Islam’s founding texts, be self-critical and overcome traditional divisions and narrow sectarian loyalties.  Roy asserted that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s revolutionary Iran, often celebrated as a pioneering Islamist project, made two key mistakes….(National, 23 Oct 08)

New Walesa autobiography rejects agent charge

The Road to the Truth. An Autobiography by Lech Walesa

Former Polish President Lech Walesa on Monday presented a new autobiography that he hopes will put to rest allegations he served as a communist agent in the 1970s.  "I want everything to be known, precisely," Walesa _ who denies that he agreed to collaborate in any way _ said at a televised news conference.  "The Road to the Truth. An Autobiography" _ the third book by Walesa, 65, a hero of the anti-communist movement _ hit Polish bookstores Friday. Walesa said the release was timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of his 1983 Nobel Peace Prize win.  It comes months after two historians with the state-run National Remembrance Institute claimed that Walesa _ then an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard _ collaborated with the secret police between 1970 and 1972 and provided information on the activities of shipyard workers.  The claim is based on documents from the Interior Ministry archives allegedly carrying Walesa's signature…..(AP, 20 Oct 08)

New book provides unique view into Jihadist Mind

In Their Own Words: Voices of Jihad by Rand Center for Middle East Public Policy

David Aaron, a veteran U.S. diplomat and director of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy, has compiled a wide range of writings by Islamic terrorists that offer an unusual window into their mentality. The book, "In Their Own Words: Voices of Jihad," is a virtual encyclopedia of jihadist rhetoric written by the terrorists themselves.  "Reading the texts of jihadi writings and speeches can help readers develop deeper and more powerful insights into the thinking motivating Islamic terrorists," said Aaron, also a senior fellow at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "I hope this book becomes a resource for researchers, policymakers and others who want a deeper understanding of jihadism."  Aaron points out that the appalling views of fanatical jihadists presented in the book are the beliefs of only a small minority of Muslims. The book should not be seen as providing a balanced or representative picture of Muslim views.  Included in the book are translations of writings and speeches from such widely known Islamic terrorists as Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as well as other jihadis who are not so notorious. The sources for the material include Internet postings, television interviews and terrorist communiqués, and are listed in the book……(Press Release, 20 Oct 08)

The Search for Al Qaeda

The Search for Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future by Bruce Riedel
Despite some recent setbacks, al-Qaeda has not gone away. It remains a potent threat to the United States and its allies. It is pursuing a deliberate, patient and multi-faceted strategy aimed at resisting western influence in the Middle East and ultimately establishing a new Caliphate. It is intent on acquiring nuclear weapons and has no qualms about using them should it succeed. At the same time, it is “a relatively small organization that can be defeated”.  In advancing both these ideas, Bruce Riedel’s The Search for Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future is in parts alarming and in parts reassuring. Yes, we need to be worried, Riedel argues. Al-Qaeda is not coming apart because some imprisoned jihadists have criticized its operations, or because of reverses in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, or because of a weakened leadership structure, as some observers have speculated. Yet the situation is not hopeless: good policy would ameliorate the problem. In a literature tending towards either the blithe or the fatalistic, Riedel’s book stands out.  The best books until now on this subject – all excellent narratives – are Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, as well as the report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, published in 2003. Even the 9/11 Commission’s report is remarkably free of officialese and a gripping read. But they are all long, and for the most part they stop at “the Manhattan Raid”……(Financial Times, 18 Oct 08)

Democracy's Prisoner

Democracy's Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, the Great War, and the Right to Dissent by Ernest Freeberg

In 1917, Woodrow Wilson's Attorney General, Thomas Gregory, persuaded Congress to pass the Espionage Act, which contained provisions for government censorship of public discussion of the First World War. It was designed, ostensibly, to protect US prosecution of the war from sabotage by German-sympathizers and provocateurs. In practice, particularly amid the sudden patriotic furor to "make the world safe for democracy," the Espionage Act became the legal warrant (N.B. unchallenged as to its constitutionality, right up to its repeal after the armistice) to repress any and all political groups that criticized the war, once it had been declared. Even a number of prominent socialists, among them Upton Sinclair and Charles Edward Russell, urged their party to support Wilson's program, for fear that "if Germany wins, good night to Socialism."  In the meantime, the Espionage Act empowered the Postmaster General to censor any publications which he, personally, deemed seditious and inimical to the war-effort. Consequently numerous left-wing and socialist publications disappeared, leaving the hawkish conservative media unchallenged in the realm of public debate in print. It was, therefore, only by spoken word that many radicals mounted a challenge to Wilson's war-machine…..(Political Affairs, 18 Oct 08)

Looking Ahead by Looking Back

A History of Modern Israel by Colin Shindler

One of the greatest myths in Middle East studies departments across North America and Europe is that the presence of an Israeli faculty member makes a "balanced" department. In fact, many Israeli academics have built their reputation on scholarship that is critical of Israel and its existence. These academics are frequently given center stage by the Association for Israel Studies, the Middle East Studies Association and Middle East studies centers, which host them and provide visiting appointments. This gives the scholars the visibility they seek, while allowing their hosts to claim balance in presenting an "Israeli viewpoint."  In Europe, there is hardly any attempt to create this so-called balance; pan-Arabist scholarship has become the coin of the realm. The University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in the first part of the 20th century produced great Middle East scholars such as Bernard Lewis. But over the years, Edward Said and his acolytes, such as Joseph Massad, have been the ones to receive red-carpet receptions, especially at SOAS which is notorious for having an anti-Israel atmosphere. The university's Palestinian Society is the only student society in Britain professionally run by the student union and regularly hosts controversial events such as Israel Apartheid Weeks…..(FrontPage, 14 Oct 08)

Understanding the U.S.-Iran Crisis

Understanding the U.S.-Iran Crisis by Phyllis Bennis

…the danger of a US military attack on Iran still looms as a dangerous possibility. Widespread official government, military, and analytical sources, including the collective assessment of all sixteen US intelligence agencies, have debunked the various pretexts being asserted to justify such an attack. But the continuing, ideologically driven extremism in the White House means that the danger of a reckless, unilateral military attack remains, and such an attack could happen despite the consequences.  This book is designed to address some of those fears, answer some of those questions, and propose some ideas to prevent those looming disaster…….(FPIF, 13 Oct 08)

Lessons from the Nazis on how not to run an empire

HITLER'S EMPIRE: How the Nazis Ruled Europe by Mark Mazower

Surveying Nazi Germany's conquests shortly after it invaded the Soviet Union, Hitler's minister of economics boasted: "Never before in the history of the world has there been such an economy to administer." Germany was indeed the master of most of Europe at that point, and its armies were marching quickly into Russia. But in Hitler's Empire, Columbia University historian Mark Mazower spells out how ill-prepared the Germans were for their string of early victories -- and how completely they botched the administration of their empire.   Many histories have focused on Hitler's costly military mistakes, particularly on the Eastern Front. Mazower largely ignores the battlefields and focuses instead on the political, racial and economic policies of the Nazi conquerors. While many parts of this story have been told before, he painstakingly examines a huge body of evidence for insights into Nazi misrule. This hardly makes for light reading, but it allows him to present a compelling case, which was best summarized by a German general at the end of the war. Addressing his fellow POWs, Ferdinand Heim argued that the German war effort would have been doomed "even if no military mistakes had been made."   The reason: Nazi articles of faith amounted to grotesque fantasies about how the New Order would function, and they couldn't possibly survive prolonged, or even relatively short, clashes with reality…..(Washington Post, 12 Oct 08)

Big Brother's Big Failure

THE SHADOW FACTORY : The Ultra-Secret NSA From 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America by James Bamford

Before Sept. 11, 2001, the National Security Agency bent over backwards to assure Americans that it respected their privacy. The supersecret intelligence agency's then-director, Gen. Michael Hayden, told Congress in April 2000 that if, at that very moment, Osama bin Laden himself were walking across the Peace Bridge from Niagara Falls, Canada, as soon as he reached the New York side "my agency must respect his rights against unreasonable search and seizure."  In The Shadow Factory, James Bamford's important and disturbing new book about the NSA, we learn that as the general spoke, two of bin Laden's men already had arrived on American soil and were taking flying lessons. We also learn that, contrary to the implication of Hayden's testimony, the NSA was intercepting their communications.  A few months earlier the huge agency, based at Fort Meade, Md., 27 miles outside of Washington, had begun surveillance of a bin Laden operations center in Sana'a, Yemen…..(Washington Post, 10 Oct 08)

The Jihad Seminar by Hanifa Dean

This book shows why the law does not provide a solution to every problem of modern society, although it should be said at the outset that this is not the view of the author. The book deals with a case that ran for five years in Victorian courts and tribunals. This legal saga had its origins in a seminar conducted in March 2002 in Melbourne's eastern suburbs by a Pentecostal Christian group called Catch the Fire Ministries.  The seminar was attended by three Western converts to Islam. It was hardly a matter of chance that they had no Middle Eastern background. They were there to see if something offensive to Islam was said and did not want to identify themselves as Muslims.  Soon afterwards, they brought a complaint against some of the speakers at the seminar, together with the group's newsletters and website, under the Victorian Racial and Religious Tolerance Act……(Sydney Morning Herald, 10 Oct 08)

How to lose your best friends

The Closing of the American Border by Edward Alden

Five of the 19 terrorists who attacked the US on September 11, 2001, had broken US immigration laws. Their leader Mohammed Atta had previously overstayed a visa and should not have been allowed back in. As a Justice Department official put it: "The abuse of US immigration laws was instrumental in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people." It was not going to happen again.  The government set about tightening the rules and their enforcement. Six months after the attacks, Atta's application for a student visa to take flying lessons was approved, and a letter saying so arrived at the flight-training school in Florida. The story caused a fresh outcry. The agency responsible was purged, shut down and replaced. The rules were tightened again, and zealously enforced.  There has not been another attack - and Edward Alden, a former Washington bureau chief for the FT and now a scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations, recognises that foreign terrorists find it much harder to get in. The trouble is, so does everybody else, including people that the US needs. On balance, Alden argues, the new regime has done more harm than good even in narrow security terms, to say nothing of the wider human and economic costs. Few who read his compellingly argued and meticulously researched book will be inclined to disagree…..(Financial Times, 6 Oct 08)

Fighting Extremism Online

Children of Jihad by Jared Cohen

…Having grown up in a thoroughly wired world, today’s young people are turning to the internet -- not merely using the internet for communication, but for expression, identity, recreation, and a host of other purposes.

To Americans, text messages and Facebook accounts may seem like just quirky features of Generation Y, but in the developing world, they are drastically reshaping the fabric of society.  Cohen should know; this young Jewish-American Rhodes scholar defied foreign governments and traveled to hostile Middle Eastern nations -- in order to interview young people (some of whom were members of terrorist organizations) – for Children of Jihad.  In some nations, Cohen explains, new technology is helping awaken civil rights in places where they previously did not exist. In Egypt, for example, a national student strike was organized via Facebook. In Saudi Arabia, thousands of women anonymously signed a Facebook petition calling for their right to drive a car, and the largest anti-terrorist demonstration in Columbia’s history was touched off by a Facebook group targeting the communist F.A.R.C. rebels…..(Townhall, 9 Oct 08)

Woman Describes Experience Under Wahhabi Islam in Book

In the Land of Invisible Women by Dr. Qanta Ahmed

A Muslim woman who practiced medicine in Saudi Arabia is traveling the U.S. speaking about her experience under the orthodox rule of the kingdom's state-sponsored religion, that westerners call Wahhabism.   Dr. Qanta Ahmed wrote a book describing a religious lifestyle very different from the Islam she practiced growing up in Britain. In her newly published book, Dr. Ahmed, who is of Pakistani descent, says she found practices that profoundly contradict the Islam she follows. Dr. Ahmed recently sat down with VOA's Julie Taboh to talk about her new book…Dr. Qanta speaks of the orthodox version of Islam that is the kingdom's state religion. She links Wahhabism, as it is called, to militant jihadists such as Osama bin Ladin, which some scholars dispute. "This is not Islam," Dr. Qanta said. "This is a bastardization of Islam, a horrendous word to use. I'm not going to make any friends doing that, but that's what it is."….(VOA, 7 Oct 08)

Nathan Hale: The Life and Death of America's First Spy

NATHAN HALE: The Life and Death of America's First Spy by M. William Phelps

A Connecticut author is out with a new book about patriot Nathan Hale. In the book, author M. William Phelps tries to broaden the picture of this American icon aside from those famous words that Hale may or may not have uttered.  Information provided by our guest…..(WTNH, 4 Oct 08)  Video: Nathan Hale

'Jihad' evangelicals on trial

The Jihad Seminar  by Deen, Hanifa

In January 2002, the Victorian Labor Government passed its Racial and Religious Tolerance Act prohibiting the vilification of persons on the grounds of race and religious beliefs.  Mainstream religious groups and human rights activists applauded the move, viewing the legislation as providing an extra layer of legal protection from an increasingly intolerant society.  Free speech warriors and evangelical groups organized rallies and dedicated many inches of column space to opposing the laws, citing them as an attack on freedom of speech and censorship of deeply held religious beliefs.  It took a year for the first case to arrive at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) — the state's peak Muslim body — accused the Christian evangelical group Catch the Fire Ministries of religious vilification after a series of lectures about Islam by Pastors Daniel Scott and Daniel Nalliah offended Muslim converts in the audience…..(Eureka Street, 3 Oct 08)

Book to support anti-terror effort

Fighting Terrorism: The Singapore Perspective translating the book was led by Mr Wang

One question bugs businessman Wang Zi Min every time he thinks about terrorism: Why do some Muslims take up such a cause? Equally puzzling to the 60-year-old, who used to teach Chinese, is the meaning of the oft-repeated term, jihad. He found the answers eventually in a book published in English by a Muslim friend, Mr Abdul Halim Kader, 58, president of Malay-Muslim welfare group Taman Bacaan... Mr Abdul Halim, meanwhile, wanted to reach out to the community with a Chinese version of the book, Fighting Terrorism: Preventing The Radicalization Of Youth In A Secular And Globalized World……(Straits Times 3 Oct 08)

The Lobby and the Patriot’s Predicament

America’s Defense Line: The Justice Department’s Battle to Register the Israeli Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government by Grant F. Smith

…Smith filed Freedom of Information Act requests with numerous government agencies and was rewarded with over 1000 pages of formerly classified documents. He has used these to produce a well referenced book and incorporated many previously unpublished documents in its rich appendix.   While Smith focuses on the genesis and development of the Lobby in the US, his account also encompasses the rise of Zionism under Theodor Herzl and its entrenchment in historical Palestine under Chaim Weizmann, David Ben Gurion and other prominent leaders. Nonetheless, Smith only skims the surface definition of what Zionism actually is, preferring to instead reveal how it created “facts on the ground” in the Middle East and the United States. This is accomplished by relating the story of Isaiah L. “Si” Kenen, the father of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). This approach allows readers to glean deeper insights into the roots of Zionism in America and what propels the Lobby today……(Dissident Voice, 1 Oct 08)

New Book Places National Security in the Hands of Moms

National Security Mom: Why “Going Soft” Will Make America Strong by Gina M. Bennett

In the wake of the war on terrorism, today's parents are constantly bombarded with news of the latest threats and messages of fear. How do we achieve national security or even protect our children when we feel so insecure? 'NATIONAL SECURITY MOM', a new book by a 20-year veteran of the intelligence community and mother of five, Gina M. Bennett, answers this burning question through an insider perspective on national security and a unique "soft" approach to achieving it.  'NATIONAL SECURITY MOM' de-mystifies the underworld of terrorism and examines how many of the age-old, practical lessons we teach our children such as "clean up your mess," "tell the truth" and "don't give in to a bully," apply to the covert intelligence approach to national security. Through these comparisons, Bennett empowers parents to engage with confidence in the national security debate and reinforces the fact--true and lasting security is a nationwide effort that begins at home……(Press Release Web, 1 Oct 08)

September 2008

Occidental Truth

Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's 'Orientalism' by Ibn Warraq

It is one of today's sad truths that to be an open critic of Islam is to incur mortal risk—even while living in the West. For this reason, the author of such daring works as Why I Am Not a Muslim goes by the pseudonym "Ibn Warraq," an alias favored by Muslim apostates for centuries. Since 1995, this 61-year-old, Indian-born, ex-Muslim secularist has devoted his considerable talents to raising awareness in the West of the dangers posed to democratic liberties by radical Islam. He is also a strident opponent of the tendency—stemming from political correctness and general academic culture—to refrain from critically examining Islam. It is fitting, therefore, that his new work, Defending the West, is a spirited rebuttal of post-colonialist thought and its originator, the late Columbia University professor Edward Said.  For the most part, Warraq concentrates on Said's seminal 1978 book, Orientalism, a scathing assault on traditional Western scholarship of Islam and the Middle East. There is a very good reason for this choice of target: Said's theories laid the groundwork for "post-colonial studies," the academic discipline whose founding principle is the belief that the West—and everything identified with its intellectual and cultural traditions—is guilty of oppressing and exploiting those foreign cultures that came under its power and influence at one time or another. Warraq's critique of Said, therefore, is not only an intellectual polemic, but also a forceful refutation of an academic onslaught that for three decades has derogated and condemned almost everything connected to the Western tradition……(Azure 5768, Summer 2008)

Litvinenko's Murder Left Polonium `Crawling Walls,' Mixed Clues

The Terminal Spy by Alan S. Cowell

The lurid London murder of former Russian secret agent Alexander Litvinenko with polonium-210 looks set to equal the tale of Jack the Ripper as a generator of inconclusive theories that open the way for ever more books…Cowell, who served as London bureau chief during the final stages of the affair, doesn't present any breakthroughs about the likely hit men in the 2006 killing. By the end of his analytical though vividly written account, the main suspects remain two men who deny involvement in the death, former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoi -- whose extradition Britain awaits in vain -- and his friend, former Russian army man Dmitry Kovtun.   What Cowell brings to the forensic feast is a more intensive examination of key aspects of the affair…..(Bloomberg, 30 Sep 08)

Female doctor writes of life in Saudi Arabia

In the Land of Invisible Women by Qanta A. Ahmed

Most job contracts don't include mentions of the death penalty, but when Dr. Qanta A. Ahmed agreed to a new job in a Saudi Arabian hospital she became subject to the laws of that country which, as she writes in her memoir, can include decapitation.  After being denied a visa to stay in the United States, Ahmed, decides at "the spur of the moment" to accept a job practicing intensive care medicine at the King Fahad National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, the capitol of Saudi Arabia.  During her two-year stint, in which she works with an assortment of Saudi men and women as well as nurses and doctors from around the world, she encounters almost daily situations for which no American medical school could have prepared her: a female patient who is comatose but whose face still needs to be properly veiled; female medical personnel trying to listen attentively to a patient's heartbeat through the rustling fabric of an abbayah, the long black head covering worn by women in Saudi Arabia…..(AP, 28 Sep 08)

An unlikely spy in Washington

Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant

What more could one wish from a book? Here is a discussion of propaganda and covert actions written with text-book clarity. Salacious gossip about the upper circles of Washington's political and media community. A writing style that has one racing from page to page, eager to soak in more details.  I thump my desk with glee over Jennet Conant's "The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington." The book's connective thread is the story of the somewhat caddish English writer Dahl, obscure in the 1940s, but later to achieve fame and wealth with children's books such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." But Ms. Conant's scope is far wider……(Washington Times, 28 Sep 08)

The Dark Heart of New Russia

Putin’s Labyrinth: Spies, Murder, and the Dark Heart of the New Russia by Steve Levine

After the post-Soviet collapse of the Russian economy and rampant Mafia-inspired terror in the 1990s, the world’s largest country might seem to have moved forward in the 21st century. There’s newfound prosperity from oil exports, a rising middle class, and resurgent national pride…The chief foreign-affairs writer for BusinessWeek, who spent 16 years living in or visiting the former U.S.S.R., decries the lack of safety for political journalists, former intelligence operatives, and other whistle blowers.  “At the very least, in Putin’s Russia the state cannot be counted on to protect the lives of its citizens,” he writes. “At worst, hired killers and those who employ them have reason to believe that they can carry out executions without fear of the law.”  Levine’s choices of chapter subtitles, such as “A Land in the Grip of a Brutal History” and “Once Again, Mother Russia Fails Her People”, lean toward melodrama….(Straight, 25 Sep 08)

Betrayal and the True Believer

The Lost Spy by Andrew Meier

…he does bring back to life the world of Communist intrigue into which they were drawn by telling the story of one of their most fascinating, if least known, brethren: Isaiah "Cy" Oggins, a Columbia University graduate who faithfully served his Soviet masters in the U.S., Europe and the Far East until his ultimate murder, at Joseph Stalin's direction, in 1947. The product of more than seven years of labor, the book is a brilliantly crafted account of true belief and its many terrible betrayals. Before Mr. Meier's investigations, Oggins was little more than an odd Cold War footnote. In 1992, then- Russian President Boris Yeltsin offered definitive proof that at least one American -- Oggins -- had been trapped in the Soviet gulag. Furthermore, according to Yeltsin, Oggins was an innocent man, wrongly convicted and later "liquidated" because he had seen too much of the real Soviet Union to be safely repatriated to the U.S. That wasn't quite the truth. At heart, Oggins may well have been an innocent, and the charges laid against him by the Soviets were no more credible than those that destroyed so many other faithful Bolsheviks…..(Wall Street Journal, 25 Sep 08)

Henry Jackson Society discussion of the Confrontation in London: Independence from Petro Dollars is Key

The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad by Walid Phares

…Today I would like to summarize my new book - The Confrontation: Winning the war against future jihad - which is the third in a trilogy. A few years ago I was invited to London by my esteemed colleagues to discuss the first book - The Future Jihad - which is not a discussion of jihad as a concept, but rather a discussion of the strategies of specific jihadist movements, and there is a big difference. One has to begin by defining what these strategies are, and then how far we can go with the definition. However what is more important and more relevant to homeland security or to national security is how the jihadists think. It is not what we scholars in the classroom think about jihad that is important. What is very important is how the jihadists interpret it. Therefore we must examine the strategies for reaching jihadists and this is where most governments - our government in the US and European governments as well - fall into the trap of over discussing issues that are not really relevant in terms of theology. They may be linked to socio-economic issues which may be useful in the future, but in terms of countering the jihadist movement, it’s really about understanding their strategies and then devising the right strategies to defeat them…The root causes of the jihadist movements that I analyze here are of two classical genres, and I try to push towards a third that is more functional. The two classical genres are promoted by governments, on campuses and in the media around the free world. These are: the socio-economic disenfranchisement theory; and the foreign policy theory. Now, more recently in the States and I’m sure here as well, you have the new theory of social psychological conditioning…..(Counterterrorism Blog/Walid Phares, 24 Sep 08)

Story of intelligence war against terrorism - almost a century ago

British Spies and Irish Rebels: British Intelligence and Ireland, 1916-1945 by Paul McMahon

This insightful book chronicles the pre-war development of British intelligence, which was created to combat terrorism, and its impact on Irish history, writes Nick Kochan. Britain developed its intelligence service in response to the Irish conflict because politicians believed it could help them negotiate the intransigent situation. But British Spies And Irish Rebels by Paul McMahon begs the question as to whether intelligence was more of a help or a hindrance.  The issue for this excellent historian is less whether the conflict would have had a different outcome with better intelligence and more that politicians in London believed that intelligence was key to their understanding it…..(Ham & High, 24 Sep 08)

'Women are vulnerable symbols of community'

Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia by Ayesha Jalal
Pakistani historian Ayesha Jalal is the director of South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies at Tufts University in the United States. Her latest book 'Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia' has been published in India by Permanent Black. Along with her earlier book, 'Self and Sovereignty: Individual and Community in South Asian Islam Since 1950', Jalal has been tracing the complex history of Muslim thinking in the subcontinent. In an interview, she talks about the position of women in contemporary Muslim society, which is grappling with religious fundamentalism…..(Nation, 24 Sep 08)

A Dialogue and a Discourse on America’s Global Role

THE LIMITS OF POWER: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich and AMERICA AND THE WORLD: Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy by Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft Moderated by David Ignatius

In the months before the American invasion of Iraq, among the few members of the foreign policy establishment to speak out forcefully about the dangers of going to war unilaterally against Saddam Hussein were Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to the first President Bush, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter. In August 2002 Mr. Scowcroft warned that a “virtual go-it-alone strategy against Iraq” would degrade “international cooperation with us against terrorism,” and he presciently predicted that such a war “would not be a cakewalk,”… Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University, also proposes to articulate a new realism in place of what he sees as the arrogant and narcissistic policies of the United States that have brought the country to the brink of “three interlocking crises”: economic and cultural, political and military.  Although he can be eloquent on the subject of how Americans’ consumer culture and pursuit of self-gratification have fueled the country’s growing debt and growing dependence on foreign oil, his new book…is riddled with illogical arguments and dubious assertions that distract attention from its more credible observations…..(New York Times, 23 Sep 08)

An expose of the CIA’s record in covert operations

Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA by John Prados

The rake’s career which is the Central Intelligence Agency’s record reflects the United States’ pursuit of its interests in the Cold War. No one is better qualified to record it than John Prados. He is one of the foremost historians of national security affairs. Author of books like Presidents’ Secret Wars and The Hidden History of the Vietnam Wars, he is a senior fellow of the National Security Archive, the scourge of official secrecy and skulduggery.  This is a thoroughly researched and well-documented expose of the CIA’s record in covert operations. The book contributes important new detail to the understanding of many CIA operations, including those in Italy, Korea, Poland, Iran, Guatemala, Hungary, China, Tibet, the Philippines, Indonesia, Syria, Iraq, Cuba, Bolivia, the Congo, Ghana, Vietnam and Laos, Kurdistan, Chile, Angola, Afghanistan and Nicaragua.  It provides a first-hand view of actions in Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq, and other more recent activities. All this is related to specific presidential decisions by the White House and moderated by congressional oversight procedures……(Frontline, Vol. 25 Issue 20, 23 Sep 08)

Book Review: Those Who Choose the Sword

Those Who Choose the Sword by Brett A. McCrea

Those who wish to realize change, good or bad, can choose different weapons. There are those who choose the pen and there are those who choose the sword. Brett A. McCrea's new book analyzes the latter category, focusing on how the figurative sword of terrorism is wielded.

Just over seven years since 9/11, books on terrorism that are useful to counterterrorism practitioners, policymakers (at all levels), and students alike are few and far between. Those Who Choose the Sword, presents vital analysis relevant to all three audiences, however this book is literally a must-read for practitioners and policymakers at the local and state levels. McCrea, a veteran intelligence analyst and professor at Wilmington University, has written a book that is unique in its pragmatic and apolitical answers to how terrorist groups conduct targeting and organization. These are two basic and necessary questions – presented here as analytical frameworks – that are all too often overlooked. I have found in my many years studying terrorism and radical Islam that these fundamental issues are often misunderstood and even ignored by the people that need to understand them the most. As McCrea observes, this was his reasoning for writing this book.

McCrea explains early on that he is trying to close a dangerous knowledge gap. He notes that academic work on terrorist focuses on the "what and why" in a high-minded way that is pertinent only to high-level policy makers and other academics. Media reports on terrorism also focus on the "what and why," but are fraught with emotion that clouds informative and useful reporting and analysis…..(IPT, 22 Sep 08)

Libel Law and U.S. Terrorism Coverage

Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed -- And How to Stop by Rachel Ehrenfeld

Author will be online Friday, Sept. 26 at 10 a.m. ET to discuss her book.

"Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?": U.S. book says maybe

Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? by Brian Michael Jenkins

…Author Brian Michael Jenkins is a senior adviser at the RAND Corp think tank who has written about nuclear terrorism since the 1970s. His new book was released this week by Prometheus Books.  Jenkins asked 180 experts, including intelligence officials, senior military officers, government officials and nuclear scientists, to rate the probability that terrorists would successfully detonate a nuclear bomb in the next 10 years.  The responses ranged wildly, from zero to 100 percent certainty. The median response was 10 percent probability -- well below public opinion polls he cites showing around one in four Americans expect a nuclear attack within five years.  The question involved a nuclear bomb, not a "dirty bomb," in which radioactive material packed around conventional explosives is scattered when the device goes off. "The experts clearly do not agree here,"…..(Reuters, 17 Sep 08)

Baader Meinhof Complex - book based film gets premiere in Germany

The documentary-style thriller already has been picked as Germany's entry for Best Foreign Language Film for this year's Oscars, and it is believed to be the most expensive movies ever made in Germany. Produced by Bernd Eichinger, best known for "Downfall" in which he fueled controversy with his human portrayal of Hitler's last days, "The Baader Meinhof Complex" is based on a bestseller book by Stefan Aunt. Aunt and the filmmakers say they have paid close attention to detail, including the number of bullets used in each assassination, and tried to make an authentic account of the movement without glorifying the militants……(Reuters, 16 Sep 08)

Islamic Charities

The Price of Fear: The Truth behind the Financial War on Terror by Ibrahim Warde

"Terror networks often use compromised or complicit charities and businesses to support their objectives."[1] Such were the findings of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) -- the 34-member multilateral body that aims to set global standards for preventing money laundering and counterterror financing regimes -- in its recent report on terrorist financing. In fact, FATF warned that "the misuse of nonprofit organizations for the financing of terrorism is coming to be recognized as a crucial weak point in the global struggle to stop such funding at its source."  The findings of this technocratic, nonpartisan, multilateral body must come as an unwelcome surprise to Price of Fear author Warde, adjunct professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. In Warde's parallel universe, the financial war on terror is a farce, and governments -- especially the U.S. government -- are not to be believed when they point to successes in either stemming the flow of funds to terrorists or following financial trails to ferret out terrorist networks. According to Warde, the myth of a financial front in the war on terror is but a facade erected to create the illusion of victory in an otherwise set of failed policies. The Price of Fear flies in the face of the extensive available evidence and simply falls flat……(Middle East Quarterly, Fall 2008)

Math savvy analysts sift through data to find out how to control your behavior

The Numerati by Stephen Baker

At a lab outside New York, a team of mathematicians spies on IBM's workforce, tracking every move down to the web pages they visit.  But this is not a case of industrial espionage. The spies are themselves IBM employees and their subjects know they are being monitored. Eventually, IBM hopes, what they discover can be used to boost productivity.  These IBM spies are members of a new breed of mathematical whiz kids who are collecting data on almost everything we do and using it to get us to work harder, spend more, vote for a particular candidate, and even choose a particular partner.  They are the subject of The Numerati (Houghton Mifflin, $26), a book by BusinessWeek writer Stephen Baker……(Edmonton Journal, 16 Sep 08)

The Depressing Truth about the Blindness Leading up to the First World Trade Center Bombing

Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad by Andrew C. McCarthy

…Andrew McCarthy was the lead federal prosecutor of the World Trade Center bombing conspiracy trial in 1995 and the man who would put Rahman away for life. When he invokes “willful blindness” in the title of his absorbing new book, it is this depressing history—a fatal mixture of bureaucratic bungling and strategic shortsightedness—that he has in mind. Part survey of Islamic terror in the 1980s and nineties, part memoir of the nine-month trial that brought the World Trade Center bombers to justice, Willful Blindness is a bracing chronicle of the first major terrorist attack on American soil and a valuable reminder that radical Islam was a real and present threat to the United States long before September 11……(Cutting Edge, 15 Sep 08)