Books by LAURIE MYLROIE and RAYMOND TANTER about the war against America and the terrorism of rogue regimes. ***************** The War against America: Saddam Hussein and the World Trade Center Attacks Author: Laurie Mylroie Publisher: Harper Collins November 2001 >From the Publisher The destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon -- all within one hour on September 11, 2001 -- demonstrated America's shocking vulnerability to terrorism. Yet terror had already emerged on America's shores eight years earlier, when the mysterious terrorist mastermind, Ramzi Yousef (arrested after a botched attempt to down a dozen U.S. airlines) bombed the World Trade Center in an attempt to fell the buildings. His attacks were viewed as the harbinger of a new terrorism, carried out by an elusive enemy driven by religious fanaticism to unprecedented hatred of the United States. But is that perception accurate? A real-life detective story, The War Against America engages the reader in a gripping examination of the evidence regarding Yousef and his terrorism. It reveals the split between New York and Washington that emerged during the investigation and tells a terrifying tale of America left exposed and vulnerable following the mishandling of what was once the most ambitious terrorist attack ever attempted on U.S. soil. Excerpt: Chapter One - Introduction Prior to September 11, 2001, Americans generally considered themselves safe from foreign attack. Two oceans, friendly neighbors, and a decade of peace and prosperity contributed to an unusual sense of security and well-being shared by most Americans. That illusion has been shattered. We are all very familiar with the terrible, bloody events of September 11. At 8:45 a.m., Mohammed Atta, an Islamic militant born in Egypt, crashed a Boeing 767 into the New York World Trade Center's North Tower. At 9:06 a.m., Marwan al-Shehhi, Atta's close friend and constant companion, flew another 767 into the South Tower. At 9:40 a.m., Hani Hanjour, a Saudi, drove an airplane into the Pentagon. And at 10:37 a.m., United Flight #93 crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside, when a heroic group of passengers prevented the pilot, a Lebanese named Ziad Jarrah, from attacking his intended target. It quickly became clear that Usama bin Ladin and his group, al-Qaeda, were involved in the planning of these attacks. Two of the hijackers, suspected associates of bin Ladin, were on a U.S. "watch list," supposedly prohibited from entering the country. But the critical question remains: Who was ultimately responsible for providing the direction, expertise, and logistical support for the attack? Could this complex plan have been executed by al-Qaeda alone, or did some other, more powerful entity underwrite the attacks? Mohammed Atta has been called the chief organizer of the September 11 assault. He was the conspirator who received a large cash transfer from abroad, and he hadgone to some effort to meet with senior Iraqi officials, once immediately before his first, fateful trip to the United States and again five months prior to the attack. While the initial blame has been pinned almost exclusively on the al-Qaeda network, there are many clues that point to a more powerful co-conspirator: the government of Iraq. Indeed, the history of Saddam Hussein's involvement offers an eye-opening blueprint to the September 11 attacks, in the form of the first assault on the World Trade Center'the bombing of 1993. The story of that bombing, and of its convicted perpetrator Ramzi Yousef, reads today as an early warning of the far more horrific events of September 2001. This book offers a detailed reexamination of the facts surrounding the first attack on the World Trade Center. It presents compelling evidence that the individuals involved did not act alone. And, in the process, it exposes the FBI in the "mistake of the century," as one distinguished former U.S. ambassador to the Middle East described it. And, ultimately, The War Against America argues that the first assault on the World Trade Center did indeed have state sponsorship'from Iraq. It presents the case that Saddam Hussein is the single greatest terrorist threat to America. And it concludes that his campaign against the allies of the Gulf War continues, almost undetected, to this day. How did Washington fail to see that Iraq was behind the first World Trade Center bombing? How did Saddam escape blame? The answers to these questions can be found in our changing definition of terrorism. Before 1993, the official view in Washington was that major attacks on American targets were, almost invariably, state-sponsored. After any major bombing attack, it was assumed that a terrorist state was responsible. For all practical purposes, that meant Libya, Iran, Iraq, or Syria. In those days, terrorism had an address. But over the past eight years'starting with the first attack on the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993'a new explanation for terrorism has gained widespread acceptance. This explanation holds that the nature of terrorism has changed radically. Major terrorist attacks against the United States are no longer state-sponsored. Rather, it is claimed, terrorism is now carried out by individuals in "loose networks," amorphous, ill-structured groups, the existence of which may scarcely be known before they burst on the scene with a spectacular act of terrorism.1 Usama bin Ladin and his organization, al-Qaeda, are but the most recent manifestation of this new terrorist phenomenon, said to have begun in 1993. The assumption that terrorism is largely the work of isolated networks can make the determination of sponsorship much more difficult. When it was thought that terrorist states were behind most major acts of terror, authorities had a relatively short list of suspects to investigate. There was a realistic prospect of determining which state had been behind the attack and punishing it. Thus, except in wartime, the risk of truly major attacks on the United States had always been slim, for the prospect of ferocious retaliation was all too real for any nation to risk. But in an atmosphere in which almost anyone may be thought capable of carrying out clandestine attacks, the list of suspects is so long that the chances of swift reprisal are almost eliminated. As this "loose network" theory gained currency throughout the 1990s, it had a paralyzing effect on America's defensive stance. This "loose network" concept of terrorism emerged out of two major bombing conspiracies in New York City in the first half of 1993. The first of those plots was the February 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center. The mastermind of that plot, known as Ramzi Yousef, intended to bring both towers down, and though in practice his bombing fell short, the violence of his intentions was startling. In May 1994, in a stern address to the first four men to be convicted for that bombing, Judge Kevin Duffy reviewed the conspirators' aims at their sentencing hearing: to cause the North Tower to topple onto the South Tower amid a cloud of cyanide gas that would engulf those trapped in the first tower. "That's clearly what you intended," Duffy explained. "If that had happened, we would have been dealing with tens of thousands of deaths." *************** Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War against America Author: Laurie Mylroie Publisher: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research June 2000 >From the Publisher Terror emerged on America's shores with the World Trade Center bombing, intended to topple New York's tallest tower onto its twin. Masterminded by the mysterious Ramzi Yousef - who was later arrested after a botched attempt to bomb a dozen U.S. airliners - the Trade Center bombing has come to be seen as the harbinger of a new terrorism that is carried out by an elusive enemy, driven by religious fanaticism to unprecedented hatred of the United States, and inspired to kill American citizens in unparalleled numbers." "But is that impression accurate? A real-life detective story, Study of Revenge engages the reader in a gripping reexamination of the evidence regarding Yousef and his terrorism. It brings to light the split between New York and Washington that developed over the course of the investigation. And it tells a terrifying tale of America left exposed and vulnerable following the mishandling of the most ambitious terrorist attack ever attempted on U.S. soil. >From the Critics >From Booknews Reexamines the evidence regarding Ramzi Yousef, the man held responsible for the World Trade Center bombing, and brings to light the split that developed between New York and Washington over the course of the investigation. Argues that Yousef was an agent of Iraqi intelligence, and contends that Saddam Hussein was a major figure in the bombing attempt. Mylroie is publisher of the online newsletter, "Iraq News." She was an adviser on Iraq to the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) CUSTOMER REVIEWS A reviewer, a foreign policy wonk, November 28, 2001, A complete crock This book tries to make the case that Iraq was behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. It strings together some interesting reportage on things like phone records of the terrorists involved, but ultimately is deeply tendentious and wrong-headed, coming to conclusions that the vast majority of mainstream analysts of the subject (including the professionals in all major U.S. national security bureaucracies) reject. Basically, Mylroie ignores the abundant evidence that convinces others the WTC attack was carried out not by traditional state sponsored terrorists, but rather by loosely connected Islamic extremists or freelancers. A fun conspiracy theory, perhaps, but not a good basis for serious policymaking--and certainly not a good rationale for making Iraq the target of 'Phase 2' in the war on terrorism. The bottom line is that we still don't know the exact role Iraq played in the 1993 WTC attack (or the 2001 WTC attack, for that matter), but it was most probably not what Mylroie makes it out to be. Mahdi Al-bassam, MD, Founding member, Iraqi National Conference, December 7, 2000, Study of Revenge This book is one of the best referenes of recent events of the relation of the Clinton Administration to Iraq policy. The information contained is both accurate and well studied. It poses major questions to be answered by the present administration on their dangerous positons vis-a-vee Iraq. It shows at great lengths the potential abuse of power entrusted by the American people to the Administration endangering not only the peoples of Iraq, Middle East but also the United States, by refuseing to take action when no other course would work. ************** Rogue Regimes: Terrorism and Proliferation Author: Raymond Tanter Publisher: St. Martin's Press, Inc. February 1999 >From The Publisher In Rogue Regimes, Raymond Tanter explores U.S. foreign policy with regard to nations such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya, uncovering the reasons why these countries are so menacing to the United States. In addition, Tanter examines U.S. policy toward the governments of Cuba and North Korea, which continue to promote their own forms of communism. Reviews >From Booknews Addresses the post Cold War debate about the nature of threats in the current international system -- state-sponsored terrorism, drug trafficking, and a desire to acquire nuclear biological and chemical weapons. Tanter (political science, U. of Michigan) discusses US foreign policy with regard to nations such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya, exploring the reasons why these countries are perceived as threats. In addition, he examines US policy towards the governments of Cuba and North Korea, which continue to promote their own forms of Communism. --Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. >From Library Journal A distinguished scholar, Tanter (research associate of the Middle East Center, Univ. Michigan, Ann Arbor) examines the sponsorship of terrorism and the creation of weapons of mass destruction by six "rogue" regimes: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Cuba, and North Korea. Tanter's analysis focuses on the personalities of the leaders in those nations to explain why they choose to support terrorism or to create terrible weapons and examines how they are perceived in the United States and the rest of the world. The end of the Cold War has elevated such rulers and regimes to center stage and encouraged them to pursue their own agendas with minimal interference. This is an important contribution to the post-Cold War redefinition of international relations. Recommended for public and academic collections.
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