The Collapse of Objectivity: Looking at Recent Books About Terrorism

Zusammenfassung

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The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (Penguin, 2004) is the most comprehensive survey so far of America's exact relationship with Osama bin Laden and his fellow Arab Afghans in the two decades preceding 9/11. Why the West is Losing the War on Terror (Brassey's, 2004), is to construct Osama bin Laden as just such an enemy: rational not mad, driven by specific grievances such as America's support for Israel and the presence of American troops on Saudi soil.

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Auszug

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The Collapse of Objectivity: Looking at Recent Books About Terrorism

FEW among the explosion of books following the 'War on Terror' achieve objectivity. There is a sheen of ex post facto rationalization informing the best-known analyses by current and former spies, diplomats, government officials, and investigative journalists. A totally different narrative about the dimensions of terrorism prevailed just before 9/11 than the day after. Such an abrupt turnabout in historical reasoning cannot be justified by the weight of already existing facts. If there is a book of fiction, nonfiction, or memoir from a liberal perspective that vigorously maintains the goal of promoting freedom and democracy abroad in a way reminiscent of Woodrow Wilson, or from a conservative perspective that fully understands the need to preserve the very freedoms at home for which the war on terrorism is ostensibly being fought in the first place, it is still to be written. Nearly everyone affiliated with institutional journalism or connected in any way with government agrees that radical changes must be made to our way of life, and almost no one from these camps presents a case for the war on terrorism that looks as if it might be able to withstand the test of time.

Steve Coll's Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (Penguin, 2004) is the most comprehensive survey so far of America's exact relationship with Osama bin Laden and his fellow Arab Afghans in the two decades preceding 9/11. For sheer originality of presentation and meticulousness of research, including interviews with nearly all the key people still alive who were associated with the CIA's 1980s Afghan jihad, Ghost Wars has no match among current offerings. Led by anti-communist zealots like Reagan's CIA Director William Casey, the CIA let Pakistani dictator Zia ul-Haq's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) funnel money to mujahideen of its own choosing...

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