July 2002Issue 347



In the Name of Osama bin Laden

Global Terrorism and the bin Laden Brotherhood

Product information
by Roland Jacquard. translated by George Holoch
Star rating
***
Product number
Duke University Press ISBN 0 8223 2991 3

Since the attack on the World Trade Center in New York a torrent of books on Osama bin Laden has poured out of the world’s publishing houses, covering the whole spectrum from scholarly study to wild conspiracy theory. This book’s unique selling point lies in the fact that it was originally published in France in the week of 11 September and presciently discussed the prospect of terrorist attacks using ‘unforeseeable methods or techniques… calling on fanatical fighters ready to give up their lives’. Now translated into English and substantially updated, In The Name of Osama bin Laden attempts to explain exactly how this wealthy Saudi entrepreneur became the focus for a fundamentalist pan-Islamic movement. Jacquard tracks bin Laden’s wanderings in the 1990s through Sudan, Pakistan and finally Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and reveals the web of money laundering and drug smuggling he tapped into and used for his jihad. This is in essence a short and rather conventional biography which breaks no new ground but is a good summary of current knowledge. The book’s editor Samia Serageldin provides an excellent introduction and afterword, and much of the interest lies in an extensive appendix of over 100 pages of documents, many freshly translated from Arabic.

Given his track record, we would do well to listen to Jacquard’s sobering conclusion that al-Qaeda, bin Laden’s creation, no longer needs either his physical existence or his funds; alive or dead, he has become the talisman for a diffuse, self-sufficient terrorist network with every intention of fulfilling its mission to ‘lead the world into the apocalypse’.




Language Tools
Powered by Ultralingua

Join over 30,000 people just like you. Get e-mail updates about new content, action alerts, contests, and more!

other articles
FROM THIS ISSUE

A tale of two coups
What happens when a country offends transnationals? Greg Palast reveals the suppressed story of the military coup in Venezuela and compares it with the international financiers’ coup in Argentina.

The Naked Lobbyist
Corporate Europe Observatory uncovers the mightiest business lobby groups you’ve never heard of.

Earth summit for sale
On the eve of the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, Katharine Ainger finds out how the UN learned to stop worrying and love big business; PLUS deconstructing corporate eco-speak, with help from Orwell.

Interview with Mujeres Creando
The new NI interview section features feminist art guerrillas Mujeres Creando, from Bolivia.

The TAFOS project
Grassroots photos gathered by the TAFOS project in Peru.

recently
IN THIS COLUMN

Natural Selection
Szperling's short, punchy novel paints a vivid pen-portrait of the savage and amoral nature of this stratum of Argentinean society.

Thursday Night Widows
Nominally a thriller, Thursday Night Widows is less concerned with the 'whodunnit' aspects of plotting than with a psychological dissection of a social class obsessed with bickering and petty jealousies as the pillars of their world dissolve.

2666
It takes a singular talent to make a book of 1,000 pages that is as hard to put down as it is to pick up. Despite its size, 2666 retains the agility of a thriller.

Working
A graphic adaptation of the book by Studs Terkel by Harvey Pekar and Paul Buhle.

Murder In The Name Of Honour
A grim but compelling reading – a fitting testament to all the women killed who had sex outside marriage.






Voices from the margins:

Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.


Subscribe to NI now!