Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror - Hardcover

Burke, Jason

 
9781850433965: Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1850433968 ISBN 13: 9781850433965
Publisher: I.B. Tauris, 2003

Synopsis

On a hot summer's day in 1996 a plane carrying Osama bin Laden and a few friends and family landed just outside the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. The Saudi-born Islamic activist had little equipment, few followers and minimal local support. Yet within five years he had built an organization that was to carry out the most shocking and devastating terrorist attack in history. In Arabic, the term "Al-Qaeda" is an abstract noun meaning resource, network or base. In the West, it symbolizes a great threat to global security. Though its Afghan training camps have now been reduced to dust, no one believes that al-Qaeda was destroyed with them. But what is al-Qaeda? Is it a disciplined, motivated, structured terrorist organization led by a single criminal mastermind or no more than an idea, a language in which angry young Muslim men can articulate their rage? Bin Laden's aim to provoke conflict between militant Islam and the West appears closer to fulfilment than ever. But is al-Qaeda the catalyst of this conflict, or merely a symbol of it? This is an investigation of the al-Qaeda phenomenon by a recognized expert on the subject.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Jason Burke is the prize-winning Chief Reporter for The Observer, London. He saw many of the key events described in this book at first hand.

From the Back Cover

On a hot summer's day in 1996 a plane carrying Osama bin Laden and a few friends and family landed just outside the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. The Saudi-born Islamic activist had little equipment, few followers and minimal local support. Yet within five years he had built an organization that was to carry out the most shocking and devastating terrorist attack in history. In Arabic, the term "Al-Qaeda" is an abstract noun meaning resource, network or base. In the West, it symbolizes a great threat to global security. Though its Afghan training camps have now been reduced to dust, no one believes that al-Qaeda was destroyed with them. But what is al-Qaeda? Is it a disciplined, motivated, structured terrorist organization led by a single criminal mastermind or no more than an idea, a language in which angry young Muslim men can articulate their rage? Bin Laden's aim to provoke conflict between militant Islam and the West appears closer to fulfilment than ever!
. But is al-Qaeda the catalyst of this conflict, or merely a symbol of it? This is an investigation of the al-Qaeda phenomenon by a recognized expert on the subject.

From the Inside Flap

"Fascinating....packed full with totally new material". Gilles Kepel, author of Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam

"A book which vastly increases our understanding of the al-Qaeda phenomenon. Burke writes with admirable lucidity and the benefit of his frontline reporting and deep research". Peter Bergen, author of Holy War

"Jason Burke has undertaken an impressive amount of both desk and field research to challenge the myth of al-Qaeda as a monolith orchestrating terrorist activity world-wide". Peter Marsden, author of the Taliban:War and Religion in Afghanistan

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
I.B. Tauris
Publication date
2003
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1850433968
ISBN 13 
9781850433965
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
224