The Looming Tower

by tristero

Lawrence Wright’s “The Looming Tower” really is a must read. It is probably the single best one-volume history available of al Qaeda and the events leading to 9/11. Events that have always seemed puzzling, and chronologies that were confusing become quite clear, as does the motivations and culpabilities of the people responsible.

Wright all but indicts the CIA for criminal obstruction of justice in refusing to share information with the FBI on the infamous Kuala Lumpur meeting of al Qaeda operatieves where 9/11 was clearly on the agenda. And that’s only for starters – there were times the CIA literally dangled photographs in front of the FBI squad and refused to identify them. Even worse (!), the CIA knew that two al Qaeda operatives had traveled from KL into the US and refused to share the info with the FBI. Wright correctly notes that this would have been enough information for the FBi to derail the 9/11 plot when combined with all the other information the gov’t had.

But the FBI had its own craziness. It grossly misinterpreted a law as requiring agents never to share or receive information from intelligence services. Furthermore, the timid bureaucratic culture of the FBI had little space for the likes of John O’Neill, who also, towards the end of his career, made some careless errors that his enemies used to prevent him from possibly replacing Richard Clarke, who had become fed up with the incompetence of his bosses at the White House, and their lack of understanding of the threat from bin Laden.

Perhaps all the information in The Looming Tower is already available, but I’ve found this to be the most compelling narrative yet about al Qaeda. However, I must confess I had no idea al Qaeda, in the early days, actually had a health plan for all its members, It was also gratifying that Wright avoided the ethnocentric errors that marred, ever so slightly, Steve Coll’s excellent Ghost Wars: Wright knows better than to describe Wahabbism as “puritanical,” for instance

Some of the reviews say this will be the “standard reference” for the history of Qutbism, al Qaeda, and the US. In fact as detailed as it is, it is much too short, or, if you prefer, succinct. A genuinely useful standared reference will last thousands of pages and go into far more detail about many issues, including the philosophy and influence of Qutb; the exceedingly complex political situation in Afghanistan in the 80’s and 90’s, the eerie parallel wordview between the neo-conservatives such as Frum and Perle who famously – and insanely – called for The End of Evil, and the manifesto writers of al Qaeda and al Jihad, who used the exact same phrase to attract recruits; and so on.

That said, for most of us, who don’t know Arabic or don’t have connections to the spy world, but who nevertheless want to get a good sense of what happened, and why, Wright’s book is probably one of the best places to start. Beautifully written, intelligent, and objective – meaning capable of genuinely careful analysis that in no way shirks the obligation to come to firm conclusions about errors and incompetence – it’s really worth your time.