THE TERROR YEARS: From Al-Qaeda to Islamic State Reviewed by Mughiza Imtiaz

 

     THE TERROR YEARS: From Al-Qaeda to Islamic State

Reviewed By: Mughiza Imtiaz  

Author: Lawrance Wright

Publisher: Alfred A.Knop (New York)

 Year: 2016

Lawrence Wright (born August 2, 1947) is an American writer, a journalist, and a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, and fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. He is also an amazing fiction author as he wrote two famous novels and eight famous non-fiction books. His books have received many prizes and honors such as a Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower. For his best writing, he received 18 honorary awards. He is also a playwright and screenwriter.

 

Introduction of Book:

The Book “The Terror Years: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State” was written by Lawrence Wright, published by ALFRED A.KNOP in New York, 2016. The author generally acknowledges as one of the top journalists writing on terrorism in the Middle East. This book consists of 392 pages. Here, in ten powerful pieces first published in The New Yorker; he memories the path that terror in the Middle East has taken, from the rise of Al-Qaeda in the 1990s to the recent beheadings of reporters and aid workers by ISIS. In this book, the author draws several articles he wrote while researching The Looming Tower, as well as many that he’s written since, following where and how al-Qaeda and its core opinions have switched and spread. These influential analytical pieces, which take us from the religious police of Saudi Arabia to the rise of the Islamic State, comprise an important briefing on jihadist movements in the Middle East. In these chapters, Lawrence Wright examines Al-Qaeda as it understandings a rebellion from within and spins off a rising network of global terror. He has demonstrated the Syrian film industry before the civil war and gives us the tragic story of American children kidnapped by ISIS and Atlantic editor David Bradley’s struggles to secure their release. And he also particulars the roles of key FBI figures John O’Neill and his talented companion Ali Soufan in fighting terrorism. In an affecting conclusion, Wright shares his predictions for the future. On the 15th anniversary of   9/11, The Terror Years is at once a merging memory of the roots of modern-day Middle Eastern terrorism and is a study of how it has developed and spread worldwide.

 Chapter Discussion and Main Argument of Book:

The first three chapters tell about the growth of radical jihadism through the 9/11 attacks and useless attempts to stop it. The first chapter “The Man Behind Bin Laden” with the challenging history of Egypt since the 1950s providing the background, explores the life of Ayman al-Zawahiri and his connection with Osama Bin Laden. He shares the roots of Zawahiri’s rage in the torture cells of the Egyptian deep state and while maintaining the perspective of the horrible evil of his movement. He explores pre-9/11 Western responses with two profiles of remarkable FBI agents, John O’Neil and Ali Soufan.

 Next in chapter two “The Counter-Terrorist” describes O’Neil, a legendary but ultimately disgraced FBI agent whose obsession with al-Qaeda ended with his death in the World Trade Center. (According to Richard Clarke, it was a time when they constantly had to deal with the “dolts who didn’t understand,” p. 53).

Then in chapter three “The Agent” describes the remarkable Lebanese-American Soufan, and how his investigation into the USS Cole bombings nearly prevented the 9/11 attacks. And the argumentative relationship between the CIA and the FBI is front and center here. Wright asserts that 9/11 might not have occurred if the CIA had shared relevant information with the FBI.

The next two chapters “The Kingdom of Silence” and “Captured on Film” offer portraits of life under repressive regimes that led many young Sunni males to jihad. “The Kingdom of Silence” is a clear picture of life within Saudi Arabia, as Wright’s experience as an editor with The Saudi Gazette from 2002-2003.

While “Captured on Film” enlightened the silent existence of the Syrian film industry under the abusive Assad regime in the years before the Arab Spring. Syria’s filmmakers explain how Assad created a culture of suspicion and violence that would explode in revolt in 2012. As with Saudi Arabia and many other countries in the Middle East, the author finds that “abuse--and the consequent sense of helplessness and victimhood--had shaped their lives in defining ways” (p. 182).

 The next chapter is “The Terror Web” in which Wright tells the story of the Madrid train bombings, one of the few terrorist attacks to achieve its political objective. The chapter explains that the ever-changing nature of jihadist goals. Al-Qaeda’s stated goal for the attack on March 11, 2004, was to prompt the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, which was achieved. Three weeks later, they tried (and failed) to attack the same train system again. The author asks, “If the bombings of March 11 had accomplished the goals set by al-Qaeda, what was the point of April 2?” (p. 155).

The next chapter “The Master Plan” reflects how al-Qaeda’s goals and strategies developed over the years. Al-Qaeda’s member Abu Musab al-Suri seems to have predicted the changing dynamics when he saw a movement towards a “leaderless resistance” (p. 191). But rather than legalizing some master plan, Wright argues for the lack of any such plan.

 In chapter eight, “The Spymaster” follows a series of interviews between the author and former Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell concerning the balance between security and freedom in the age of terror. “Captured,” tells the tale of Gaza under Hamas, Operation “Cast Lead,” and the capture and eventual exchange of Israeli army Sergeant Gilad Shalit.

The next chapter highlights the intense disagreements and divisions among the key leaders of al-Qaeda, including the often heated arguments between al-Suri and Osama bin Laden. These breakups are examined in “The Rebellion Within,” which focuses on “Dr. Fadl” (Sayyid Imam al-Sharif), an early spiritual leader of al-Qaeda. His rejection of the organization after 9/11 seems to have reduced a personality clash with Zawahiri. At the time of writing, Wright and other experts within the Arab world saw the split as a symbol of “the group disintegrating.” While in many ways they were correct, they failed to foresee that an ultra-violent strand would soon eclipse al-Qaeda and establish a physical state under jihadi control by accordance with “The Master Plan.”

Chapter ten “The Captives” explores Israeli efforts to bring back captured Israeli Defense Force soldier Gilad Shilat. Although the chapter focuses on the hostage negotiations and armed conflict between Israel and Hamas, Wright uses it to paint a tragic portrait of the Gaza Strip following the Israeli disengagement in 2005. Surprisingly, this chapter seems more out of place than any other in the book. Palestinian suffering in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s deep sense of insecurity seems almost entirely unrelated to the subjects covered in the rest of the book. Yet the Palestinian issue is an important put-off for many terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda. As the Islamist agenda evolved after 9/11, however, it seems to have become further and further separated from Palestine. Like the Gaza Strip itself, the Palestinian cause seems exclusively cut off from the rest of the world, relegated to another time.

“Five Hostages” represents the book’s emotional climax. The heartbreaking incident of the five American journalists and aid workers captured in Syria and the families’ private efforts at rescue, led by media-magnate David Bradley, owner of The Atlantic Media Company. Bradley’s team effectively replaced the dawdling U.S. government interagency process. With the help of Soufan and the Qatari government, they secured the release of Peter Padnos from the organization formally known as the Al Nusra Front. Tragically, ISIS executed the remaining four captives.

“The epilogue”, the last chapter of the book, seems unnecessary. Wright offers insightful observations throughout the book from a journalistic point of view, but the epilogue count on academic research to make points that have already been articulated much more effectively. And yet Wright seems to play down a common thread in this academic research, which is also a primary theme in many of the stories in the book. 

 Conclusion and Recommendation:

Wright lends emotional weight to separate headlines from the time period, and real dimension of the people that populate his stories. He also captures the moods, the intellectual and religious concerns, and the fears of many different peoples across many different countries. As a result, The Terror Years is less like The Looming Tower (Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book on al-Qaeda, 2007) and more like Barbara Tuchman’s The Proud Tower (portrait of the World before the War, 1890-1914), highlighting a wide range of events, personalities, and societal concerns, but always with an eye to the prime conflict. Throughout the book, Wright represents a movement that has grown increasingly with the intentions of its founders. ISIS is really not addressed until this final chapter (the chapter focuses more on the personal stories of the hostages and their families). This highlights one of the weaknesses of the book. While it certainly stands on its own merits. The book does not make much effort to actually connect the lineage of these two important terrorist groups. But that has been done effectively in other works (notably; William McCants’s ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State, 2015) and The Terror Years make their own distinct contributions to the story. The way governments treat their own people seems to be a key determinant in whether those people choose to use violence. Wright encounters one man in Saudi Arabia, for instance, whose cousin was killed fighting in Iraq. He captures the dynamic perfectly when he tells Wright, “It’s when you have this power inside you--and in this closed country you can’t get it out--that you go to such places” (p. 143). The Terror Years is an impressive work that truly captures the breadth and depth of the struggle between Islamists and the West since the 1990s. Wright has a talent for identifying almost every situation. He also tells the most important stories of this time period through the experiences and words of people who actually lived it. Although it covers seemingly disparate topics and The Terror Years offers a comprehensive and meaningful picture of a conflict that has shaped our world.