Holy War, Inc.

[dennisw]

A couple of weeks ago, my wife dragged me to a garage sale where there were thousands of books for sale. One of the books I purchased was called Holy War, Inc. by Peter Bergen.

Holy War, Inc. is about the secret world of Osama Bin Laden. The book was published in 2001 and it’s incredible. The amount of research represented in the book is impressive.

One criticism of the war in Afghanistan that has always bothered me was the notion that forcing the Taliban out of Afghanistan and destroying the al- Qaeda training camps caused these terrorist types to be spread throughout the World. There is also the notion that the CIA armed these terrorist and taught them how to fight, etc and is inadvertantly responsible for al-Qaeda. If nothing else, this book effectively dispels both these concepts.

The first part of the book discusses in depth the effect of the soviet invasion of Afghanistan and its impact it had on the jihad movement. The soviet invasion provided the impetus for Bin Laden and his cronies to organize. This organization became international focusing on recruitment of warriors, raising of funds to support the jihad, training their "holy warriors" and setting up an infra structure which has allowed them to inflict the worldwide terror which we see today. He documents their methodology and the fact that prior to 2001 they were already dispersed internationally.

From Bosnia to Somalia, from the Philippines to Indonesia, Mr. Bergen effectively documents the spread of Bin Laden’s radical influence. It is one of the best books I have read in a while.

The book also discusses one interesting al-Qaeda tactic which shouldn’t come as a surprise. It appears the organizers of the various terrorist acts are always safely out of harms way when the event occurs. The often under educated and economically poor martyr blows himself up while the organizer is on his way to his next gig. Apparently, becoming a martyr is a good thing for some and not others.

Let’s hope they all become martyrs as soon as possible.

[Jgood]

finished the book a while back enjoyed it. Peter Bergen has a couple of other books out that are worth a look. Names escape me as of know ill try and find the names when i get the chance.

He also does some work for a couple networks.