The Search for Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future - Hardcover

Riedel, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0815774141 ISBN 13: 9780815774143

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2008

Synopsis

Al Qaeda is the most dangerous terrorist movement in history. Yet most people in the Americas and Europe know very little about it, or their view is clouded by misperceptions and half truths. If the first rule of war is to know your enemy,” then we have a long way to go. This important book fills this gap with a comprehensive analysis of al Qaeda the origins, leadership, ideology, and strategy of the terrorist network that brought down the Twin Towers and continues to threaten us today. Bruce Riedel is an expert on the Middle East and South Asia, with thirty years of intelligence and policymaking experience. He was actually in the White House Situation Room during the 9/11 attacks, serving as special assistant to the president and National Security Council senior director for Near East Affairs. He draws on this insider experience in profiling the four most important figures in the al Qaeda movement: Osama bin Laden, its creator and charismatic leader; ideologue Ayman Zawahiri, its Egyptian coleader and principal spokesman; Abu Musaib al Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq until his death in 2006; and Mullah Omar, its Taliban host. These profiles provide the base from which Riedel delivers a much clearer understanding of al Qaeda and what must be done to counter it. The Search for al Qaeda reviews how al Qaeda was created and developed, presenting authoritative and chilling background on The Manhattan Raid,” but Riedel focuses more closely on what has happened to it since that awful day. He outlines al Qaeda’s ultimate goals, which are to drive America out of the Muslim world, to destroy Israel, and to create a jihadist caliphate larger than the Ottoman Empire at its height. The profiles and subsequent analysis reveal the network’s multipronged strategy for accomplishing those goals: Draw America into bleeding wars” like the one that drove the Soviets from Afghanistan. Build a safe haven for al Qaeda in Pakistan. Develop other franchises” in the Islamic world that can overthrow pro-American regimes. Conduct more Western attacks along the lines of 9/11 or the transit bombings in Madrid and London. The book concludes with a strategy for dealing with and defeating this most dangerous menace.

About this title

About the Author

Bruce Riedel is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. He served in the U.S. intelligence community for nearly thirty years, advising three U.S. presidents as a senior adviser on Middle East and South Asian issues in the White House. From 2003 to 2006, Riedel was an adviser to NATO in Brussels.

Review

"Riedel's argument in favor of greater U.S. involvement in the Arab-Israeli peace process is persuasive, and his prescriptions are well-evidenced, unfailingly sound and refreshingly sensible." — Publishers Weekly

"Mr. Riedel argues that a new American president should tackle al-Qaeda by undermining the "narrative" of Muslim oppression. He provides several sensible recommendations, such as making a renewed effort to settle the festering disputes over Palestine and Kashmir." — The Economist

"Bruce Riedel's The Search for al Qaeda is in parts alarming and in parts reassuring. Yes, we need to be worried Riedel argues.... Yet the situation is not hopeless: good policy would ameliorate the problem. In a literature tending towards either the blithe or the fatalistic, Riedel's book stands out.... an extremely valuable primer." —Clive Crook, Financial Times

"What puts The Search for al Qaeda in the "must read" category is its length. In just 150 pages, Riedel explores the networks ideology and motivations through tightly drawn profiles of Osama bin Laden, the Egyptian-born strategic thinker Ayman al-Zawahiri, Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who outsmarted Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld in Iraq.... Riedel may not have all the answers, but his book is a critical primer for those who will have to find them." —Raymond Bonner, The Guardian

"As Bruce Riedel argues in his slim but provocative book, Al-Qaeda has returned to the site of its genesis: the badlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The book serves as a quick recap of the Al-Qaeda story to date, but Riedel takes the terror tale forward on a number of fronts. One conclusion he forcefully makes is "that Pakistan is the country most critical to the development and survival of Al-Qaeda."" —Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Hindustan Times

"If you are tired of the same old talking heads blathering on TV about things they don't really know about, this is the book for you. Bruce Riedel is the real expert on Al Qaeda...this is a fascinating and important account of the whole Middle East problem with a focus on Al Qaeda by someone who has had firsthand experience in the region for the last thirty years." — Leadership Development News

"Riedel offers no easy solution for how to defeat al Qaeda, but he does put the threat in perspective." — Macleans

"Riedel manages to distill the essence of Al Qaeda in just 150 pages. Among other things, he notes that the Islamic fundamentalists do not hate America's values, only its policies.... a starting point for a much-needed debate." —Ray Bonner, New York Times Book Review

"In a fast-paced narrative, it offers the reader much of what he might want to learn about Al Qaeda." —Amir Taheri, Asharq Al-Awsat

"While there have been numerous books on international terrorism and al Qaeda since 9/11, few have done such a masterful job of presenting essential knowledge about the organization in such a correspondingly insightful, detailed, and straightforward way. This book by a gifted analyst and strategist deserves the attention of readers seeking a strategic outlook." —W. Andrew Terrill, US Army War College, Parameters

Edition details

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0815774141
• ISBN 13: 9780815774143
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224