I've made it a point to never pen a review immediately after finishing a book. I do this because, as a critic, I don't want to feel as if I'm unintentionally overrating or underrating any author's effort. I try to let the work sink in a bit, to have it seep through all the corners of my brain, to soak it across all my consciousness. I do this in hopes that I'll give a more cogent, a more salient, and a more respectful analysis of the work. The longer I allowed Ali Soufen's "The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda" to float around in my head, the more frustrated I grew . frustrated with the tale . frustrated with the participants . and even frustrated a bit with the author.
For starters, it's a tremendous and personal work. Clocking in at just over 600 pages, it's a wealth of history about al-Qaida and the terrorist organization's various major (and a few minor) players. And, as Mr. Soufen repeatedly suggests to those around him, "it all starts back in 1979 when ." He provides outstanding context for the background, and he allows the story to build reasonably from there. Consequently, the book is a comprehensive accounting of names, dates, and places, and, no doubt, it's penned by one committed and impressive mind that have synthesized a vast canvass of data into the effective conclusions that our narrator does. In his bid to tell the definitive insider's story of 9/11, Mr. Soufen clearly is the best-educated, best-prepared, and best-suited to enlighten all of us with where the mindset of such an act began, and the first half of his book goes to great pains to bring the reader up-to-speed on how a few decades of history climaxed with that seminal moment: the destruction of the two World Trade Center towers.
For the reader, it's an at times frustrating experience in all of its 600 pages. This isn't intended as a slight toward Mr. Soufen - I think the very nature of exploring these events and the people who caused them strays into territory where some may fear to tread - but there may have been a better person to tell this story so that so much of it didn't appear so personal to him. Immersing oneself inside the story, by its very nature, brings the narrator to life, and that drags all the good, the bad, and the ugly into the spotlight and places it alongside the bad guys here. Whether he intended it this way or not, Soufen became the focus (for this reader, anyway) at key points in the narrative; as the story went on, I found myself mildly less-and-less interested in the war and more drawn to the narrator, in not a good way.
For example, Soufen almost lovingly (and dangerously) narrates the backstory of al-Qaida's leadership, exploring the men's history, hopes, and dreams, underscoring to the reader that, perhaps at some point in their past, they were not different from you or I . and, well, yes, I suppose that's true except for that whole little 'jihad to bring down Western civilization,' that is. In his bid to extract information as a lead interrogator, Soufen laughs with them; he cries with them; and he even prays with them . so long as it will get them one step closer to sharing intel and a confession to aid the United States in stopping al-Qaida's mission of destruction. And, just maybe, therein rests the only real problem I had with the book: Ali Soufen and his 'band of Untouchables' can do no wrong here. Indeed, Soufen's own actions take on almost mythic proportions as he al
11 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 31, 2011
If you're wondering how we could've prevented the attacks, then read this book.
6 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 19, 2012
This is a highly personal account of one FBI agent/interrogator's intense involvement in the war on terror. It not only gives a lot of inside detail on Al Qaeda's conspiracies and the attempts to thwart them, but also gives a lot of interesting personal background on many of the terrorists interrogated and often "turned" by the author. The author is an Arab American Moslem of Lebanese background, which in my opinion gives him additional insights. The second half of the book shows how the introduction of torture by the CIA and its contractors was actually counterproductive in getting good intelligence out of captives and probably delayed the final attack on Bin Laden by several years. This half of the book has many annoying redactions by CIA censors who obviously would have preferred if word of their vicious incompetence didn't get out at all. Not withstanding reader irritation, I think the author was right to go ahead and publish with the redactions rather than fight the censors for years and end up with a highly sanitized account if anything at all.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 14, 2012
This book is an excellent read.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 5, 2012
An easy fast read that shows the real inside story of how our inteligance agencies did not cooperate and it cost us in the long tun.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 20, 2011
Unquestionable expertise, detailed reporting, great insights and comprehensive review of Al Queda operations, but terrible indictment of CIA and Washington political hacks.
Souifan's book is documentation of incompetence and immorality at highest levels of government without accountability. The too many redactions by the censor of the text is even more upsetting. This is an important book, but one I would rather never have to read.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 31, 2011
Ali Soufan is an incredible story teller and an advocate for the truth. A true patriot, he tells the story without pulling punches. I am embarrassed and saddened on how our own U.S. Government chose to handle the intelligence and insights that we were provided prior to 9/11... though I'm not surprised. In the early 1980's, I had the opportunity to be "around" our intelligence communities. They were brash and full-of-themselves them, obviously in the late 90's/early 2000's this continued. Ali Soufan is a warrior and a true credit to the storied history of the FBI.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 11, 2013
Ali H. Soufan, former Federal Bureau of Investigation interrogator and counter-terrorism operative, discloses the successes, failures, bureaucratic incompetence and turf protection of some federal agencies from al-Qaeda's declaration of war in 1996 through the death of Usama bin Ladin in 2012. Soufan is a Lebanese American who graduated in 1995 from Mansfield University, a institution in the Pennsylvania university system.
On September 11, 2001, FBI Special Agent Ali H. Soufan was handed a secret file. Had he received it months earlier, when he had requested it, the 9/11 attacks may have been prevented. From his beginning employment in 1995 through his 2005 departure from the FBI, Soufan interrogated prisoners and elicited some of the most important confessions from terrorists in the war against al-Qaeda. His method of interrogation used conversation only and he never used violence. Soufan provides intimate firsthand knowledge of the investigation into the October 2000 attack on the USN Cole in Yemin. Al-Qaeda hideouts, CIA and FBI interrogation rooms, Guantanemo Bay and al-Qaeda in America are the environments are are revealed either by first hand observations or revealed in interrogations. Usama bin Laden's personal celebration of the 9/11 bombings, the mindset, personal lives of terrorists as well as their thought processes and operate style are each presented. The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 And The War Against Al-Qaeda essential and compelling reading. Words, phrases and paragraphs within the text have been blackened out by order of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Anonymous
Posted January 14, 2013
I look at today's events in the MiddleEast with an entirely new perspective. For me it was a gripping account of the behind the scenes
operations of our counter terrorism activities and a powerful indictment of enhanced interrogation. I highly recommend it for anyone interested
in the way things are done in that very turbulent part of the world.
Anonymous
Posted June 3, 2012
Mr Soufan does a tremendous service to our Nation and our children by publishing this book. It should be required reading for anyone who has to authority to restrict freedom of others, and who have the responsibility to protect the freedom of others. I cannot begin to explain all that I have learned about Islam, Cultural nuances and National Security in a single book.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 29, 2012
If you are tired of hearing pundits and "security experts" talk about al Qaeda and so called "enhanced interrogations" and would rather read the story of a man who investigated some of the biggest terrorist attacks of the past 20 years, read this book. Ali Soufan is the man and pulls no punches when discussing his disdain for certain members of the intelligence community (US or otherwise), but also doesn't hesitate to praise deserving agents. The CIA hates him and redacted huge chunks of the book, but by leaving the black bars in he exposes their ridiculousness (my favorite are the sections where they clearly only redacted personal pronouns as if that would prevent the reader from realizing that Soufan was there). He also makes a convincing case that doing research and out-witting suspects is far more effective than what all rational people agree is torture.
I short, if you are at all interested in the world we live in, recent history and how decisions made over the last 20 years will continue to impact our future, read this book. It's well worth your time.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 27, 2011
9/11 Was an inside job wake up people. The taliban help a press conference 10 days after 9/11 and said they are ready for the trial for usama bin laden if the united can provide evidence. And guess what we didnt because their is none. Look it up it was on CNN. 9/11 Isnt even mentioned on his FBI poster Wake up
0 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 26, 2011
Ali Soufan is a true American hero. I was introduced to him by his interview in The Rachel Maddow Show. If you were going to read only one book about the war on terror, this is it. He was thorughly objective and methodical in posing a number of critical theses in understanding pre- and post-9/11 zeitgeist. To make his case, he contains feelings and emotions but when he shares them he brings into his angst and powerlessness over the enemies within. As neocons attemp to rewrite history and go on book tours and talk shows to claim that current succeses should be attributed to torture, this book will counter that over and over.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.TheHam
Posted November 1, 2011
The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda by Ali Soufan is a gripping non -fiction account of the "war on terror" by one the the F.B.I.'s most qualified experts on the subject. Ali Soufan is an F.B.I. interrogator born in Lebanon who moved to the United States as a child. Soufan's incidental- and comical- arrival into the ranks of the F.B.I. arose from a bet he made with one of his frat buddies at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania. A friend suggest Soufan try out for the F.B.I. given his fluency in both English and Arabic. His friends laughed at the idea, one friend even joking that the Bureau would immediately throw away the application. In true frat-boy fashion Ali accepted the challenge and miraculously two years later Soufan was handpicked by top directors to work for the National Security Division. Soufan was among the first in the F.B.I. to call attention to what was at that time a fringe extremist group "al-Qaeda". His reports on Osama Bin Laden predicted Bin Laden's influence on the middle east and his impact on the United States. His vast knowledge of the Qur'an and middle eastern culture combined with his perfect English and American upbringing gave him a unique edge in his field. He interviewed the United State's top al-Qaeda captives and was the interrogator that implicated Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind behind 9/11. Soufan is renowned in the Bureau for his ability to outwit terrorist. Having convinced an al-Qaeda operative that he already knew who was behind 9/11 Soufan was able to get the prisoner to talk about the attacks as if he wasn't telling the F.B.I. anything they didn't already know. Soufan's unique aptitude for his work and multi-perspective nature gives the book an heir of inarguable credibility. He writes his accounts in plain yet very intelligent language and in a sort of narrative form that really brings you into the interrogation room. Soufan left the Bureau in 2005 after condemning the CIA from withholding information from his division that he believes he could have used to prevent 9/11. Soufan writes with an obvious integrity that really grabs the reader. It was hands down the most entertaining work of non-fiction I've ever read.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Mike_B71
Posted October 31, 2011
I picked this book up and never put it down. Ali Soufan is a true American Hero. Thank you for your service.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 27, 2011
Great and easy read. Sometimes there is a little too much detail on names but it supports the facts. Redacted material is a little frustrating, but again adds fact. Ali Soufan is an interesting character and good story teller. Can't wait for the movie!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.DisgruntledNonUS
Posted October 17, 2011
You wouldn't let New Zealanders buy this book due to copyright you said
I desperately tried to buy this book but after contacting sales you banned the book from being sold in New Zealand. I suspected there was more to this than copyright given the fortress American mindset which is closing in around this country.
Let other countries beneifit from reading this e-book please!!!
0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 14, 2011
Thanks Ali for being a Warrior if Light
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Posted January 8, 2012
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 3, 2012
No text was provided for this review.
More About This Textbook
Overview
A book that will change the way we think about al-Qaeda, intelligence, and the events that forever changed America.
On September 11, 2001, FBI Special Agent Ali H. Soufan was handed a secret file. Had he received it months earlier—when it was requested—the attacks on New York and Washington could have been prevented. During his time on the front lines, Soufan helped thwart plots around the world and elicited some of the most important confessions from terrorists in the war against al-Qaeda—without laying so much as a hand on them. Most of these stories have never been reported before, and never by anyone with such intimate firsthand knowledge.
This narrative account of America's successes and failures against al-Qaeda is essential to an understanding of the terrorist group. We are taken into hideouts and interrogation rooms. We have a ringside seat at bin Laden's personal celebration of the 9/11 bombings. Such riveting details show us not only how terrorists think and operate but also how they can be beaten and brought to justice.
Editorial Reviews
New Yorker
In its cynical decision to censor the memoir of former F.B.I. Special Agent Ali Soufan, the C.I.A. is seeking to punish a critic and to obscure history.— Lawrence WrightMother Jones
“Soufan describes many instances in which he uses his knowledge and a savvy rapport to exploit the personal foibles and intellectual weaknesses of his subjects ... The story of America's most famous Arab American FBI agent couldn't come at a more poignant time.”New York Times
In a new memoir, a former F.B.I. agent who tracked Al Qaeda before and after the Sept. 11 attacks paints a devastating picture of rivalry and dysfunction inside the government’s counterterrorism agencies. The book describes missed opportunities to defuse the 2001 plot, and argues that other attacks overseas might have been prevented, and Osama bin Laden found earlier, if interrogations had not been mismanaged.— Scott ShaneBooklist Online
“… the revelations uncovered are worth it; this is a story that had to be told.”The Sunday Times
“... this is an absorbing account of America's fightback after 9/11, full of revealing or amusing details ... So ultimately this book is cheering as well as fascinating, because it reveals the dedication of those who defend us, as well as the weird frailties of those who try to kill us.”The Economist
“Although many have claimed to tell the inside story of the hunt for al-Qaeda, Ali Soufan has a better claim than most ... this is one of the most valuable and detailed accounts of its subject to appear in the past decade.”Harpers Magazine
“To those inside the U.S. government Soufan has long been something of a legend. He conducted the most effective and fruitful interrogations of Al Qaeda suspects during the war on terrorism, and save for some inexplicable failures by the CIA, he and his team might well have prevented 9/11. Soufan has since left the FBI and written a gripping account of his experiences, brimming with details about Al Qaeda and its historical development.”New Yorker - Lawrence Wright
“Unfortunately, we only have one Ali Soufan. Had American intelligence listened to him, 9/11 might never have happened. No one did more to unravel the story of al-Qaeda than Ali Soufan. Thankfully, he's left another legacy in this book. Anyone who wants to know what really happened should read it. It's an inspiring but wrenching story told from the heart of a great American.”New York Times - Scott Shane
“In a new memoir, a former F.B.I. agent who tracked Al Qaeda before and after the Sept. 11 attacks paints a devastating picture of rivalry and dysfunction inside the government’s counterterrorism agencies. The book describes missed opportunities to defuse the 2001 plot, and argues that other attacks overseas might have been prevented, and Osama bin Laden found earlier, if interrogations had not been mismanaged.”Robert Baer
“Superb. An education. And the best book on al Qaeda out there, bar none.”Library Journal
This book stands out among the numerous books published on al-Qaeda because it provides information not found in other volumes; many have relied on Soufan's information, at times anonymously, but none has offered all that is here. Soufan was the FBI's most knowledgeable special agent dealing with al-Qaeda's activities and became the source of the most useful actionable intelligence on this terrorist organization. As an interrogator with unique skills, Soufan gained firsthand, reliable information about many al-Qaeda operatives. What has been remarkable about the valuable information provided by Soufan to the FBI is that he obtained all of his data without resorting to torture and objected to the prevalent use of the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques that were devised during the George W. Bush administration. This absorbing book details accounts of Soufan's treasure trove of data that he provided to the U.S. government well before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, some of which were ignored. VERDICT The best and most original book published in the West on al-Qaeda, this is highly recommended. (Although Soufan never worked for the CIA, the FBI submitted a draft of this book to the CIA, which redacted several sections. The CIA did not sign off on the index, which is why there is none.) [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/11.]—Nader Entessar, Univ. of South Alabama, MobileLibrary Journal
In his years as an FBI agent specializing in counterterrorism, Soufan interrogated numerous al-Qaeda operatives and waylaid numerous plots worldwide. He even requested a report months before September 11, 2001, that could have helped avert the attacks but received it too late. Here he explains how terrorists think and how they can be stopped. For a true insider's view.Kirkus Reviews
Could 9/11 have been prevented? By former FBI special agent Soufan's account, the answer is a resounding yes. In this heavily redacted memoir--some pages contain nothing but crossed-out lines--the author recounts a long career on the trail of al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups, a quest that sometimes seems to have begun before those groups were even up and running. There is not a whisper of self-promotion in his narrative, but it is clear that Soufan was on the case early and often. He writes, for instance, that on reading of a fatwa signed by Osama bin Laden and Muslim clerics in 1998, he wrote a memo to headquarters recommending that the FBI "focus on the threat he posed to the United States. Al-Qaeda came into focus even earlier on: "Al-Qaeda trainers were on the ground during the Battle of Mogadishu (also known as Black Hawk Down)"--a defeat of American forces that bin Laden declared not only a great victory but also proof that the American enemy was weak and lacked the stomach to fight back. Not so, insists Soufan, though given the ineptitude he portrays within FBI and other intelligence agencies, it seems amazing that the country managed to survive the last couple of decades; 9/11 was virtually foretold, and yet federal agencies did nothing. Fortunately, he writes, the enemy was also incompetent, particularly when it came to training operatives in how to use explosives. Remarked one prisoner of a training program in Afghanistan, "we're graduating more people to heaven than out of the class." The author concludes that al-Qaeda is on the decline, but more groups like it are on the rise. Soufan provides a sobering, sometimes maddening view from the front lines.Dina Temple-Raston
The book goes behind the scenes of some of the most important terrorism interrogations since 9/11…Soufan describes the tension between two men sizing each other up on either side of a table. In those moments, which make up the bulk of the book, the narrative soars, as Soufan allows readers to experience the high-stakes intellectual dance between foes…Soufan's story provides a new and important window on America's battle with al-Qaeda.—The Washington Post
Product Details
Related Subjects
Meet the Author
Ali H. Soufan, a former FBI special agent, served on the front lines against al-Qaeda and gained an international reputation as a top counterterrorism operative and interrogator. He has been profiled in The New Yorker and featured in books, newspaper articles, and documentaries around the globe.
Table of Contents
Important Note Concerning The Text xi
Map xii
Prologue xv
Note To Readers xxv
Part 1 The Early Years
1 The Fatwa and the Bet 3
2 Osama Air 33
3 The Northern Group 56
Part 2 Declaration of War
4 The al-Qaeda Switchboard 75
5 Operation Challenge and the Manchester Manual 97
6 "You'll Be Singing Like a Canary" 121
7 Millennium Plot 131
Part 3 Uss Cole
8 A Naval Destroyer inYemen? 149
9 The Hall of Death 168
10 "We're Stubborn, but We're Not Crazy" 185
11 The Human Polygraph Machine 209
12 "What Is al-Qaeda Doing in Malaysia?" 228
13 Bin Laden's Errand Boy 254
Part 4 The Attack That Changed The World
14 The Binalshibh Riddle 271
15 "What Dots?" 284
16 The Father of Death 306
Part 5 A New World Order
17 Bin Laden's Escape 343
18 DocEx 350
19 Black Magic 356
Part 6 The First High-Value Detainee
20 Abu Zubaydah 373
21 The Contractors Take Over 393
22 "We Don't Do That" 411
Part 7 Successes And Failures
23 Guantánamo Bay 439
24 45 Minutes 484
25 The Crystal Ball Memo 502
Part 8 Final Missions
26 Leaving the FBI 511
27 Undercover 518
Postscript 525
Conclusion 531
Acknowledgments 539
Principal Characters 545
Key Documents And Articles Cited 569