Book Review: The Looming Tower (2007). Lawrence J. Wright.

I read this very good book and Pulitzer Prize winner after seeing the same-named HBO mini-series (starring Jeff Daniels) based on it. It is an absorbing account of some of the key events in the late 1990s and early 2000s which led up to the Al Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

The story is told through the experiences and perspectives of a few important characters, particularly in the F.B.I., C.I.A. and Al Qaeda. It gives a disturbing view into how bureaucratic infighting between the F.B.I and C.I.A., and a lack of comprehension (by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence groups) of the nature of the Islamic Jihadist movement, organizations and leadership led to the intelligence failures before the Nairobi Embassy bombings in 1998, the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, and the 9/11 attacks.

It may seem that these events are all well-worn or tired stories by now, but I found the book (as well as the TV series) provided a fresh perspective, and some valuable new insights into the human and institutional fallibilities that allowed Al Qaeda's terrorism to carry out its most successful attacks on our country and its people. Recommended.