The author, an anonymous senior US intelligence official, maintains that contrary to official pronouncements, organizations such as al Qaeda are not fighting democratic systems of government, civil liberties, gender equality, or the separation of church and state. Some Islamic conservatives are offended by these aspects of western culture, but those who turn to violence are prompted by specific US policies that create American military, political, and economic strategies in the Islamic world. Those strategies convince many into believing their communities, lands, and religion are under attack. If US policies and rhetoric do not change, warns the author, the west will continue to lose the war on terror. Distributed by Books International. Annotation #169;2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

It's unclear how, in an age when even office workers must sign confidentiality agreements, an alleged CIA Middle Eastern specialist has gotten permission to publish a sprawling, erudite book on the origins and present state of the "war on terror." His main point is that Arab antagonism to the West (and even non-fundamentalist Arab regimes' winking at terrorism) has its root in real grievances that have gone unaddressed by U.S. measures. The actions of the Saudis, and their U.S. supporters, come in for some hard criticism, as does the elevation of Northern Alliance warlords to de facto governors of Afghanistan. The author makes some challenging remarks regarding Israel ("Surely there can be no other historical example of a faraway, theocracy-in-all-but-name of only six million people that ultimately controls the extent and even the occurrence of an important portion of political discourse and national security debate in a country of 270-plus million people that prides itself on religious toleration, separation of church and state, and freedom of speech") while playing down the extent to which the Taliban itself was a corrupt theocratic regime. But his annotated compendia of battles and skirmishes won and lost by the U.S. and al-Qaeda are gripping, and his engagement with his subject has made him a pundit-in-demand. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

"Anonymous" is a senior U.S. intelligence official with nearly two decades of experience in national security issues related to Afghanistan and South Asia Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction: "Hubris Followed by Defeat"	xv
1. Some Thoughts on the Power of Focused, Principled Hatred	1
2. An Unprepared and Ignorant Lunge to Defeat--The United States in Afghanistan	21
3. Not Down, Not Out: Al Qaeda's Resiliency, Expansion, and Momentum	59
4. The World's View of bin Laden: A Muslim Leader and Hero Coming into Focus?	103
5. Bin Laden Views the World: Some Old, Some New, and a Twist	127
6. Blinding Hubris Abounding: Inflicting Defeat on Ourselves--Non-War, Leaks, and Missionary Democracy	163
7. When the Enemy Sets the Stage: How America's Stubborn Obtuseness Aids Its Foes	209
8. The Way Ahead: A Few Suggestions for Debate	237

Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.