Ben Rogaczewski

Moles, Spies and Terrorists

Prof. Gray
November 20, 2009

The Looming Tower

When the two towers of the World trade Center fell on September 11, 2001,

it was a major shock to everyone in the world. More so than that, it created a new

world hell-bent against terrorism. Airports changed their security measures almost

overnight, and many people found some of their rights slowly slipping away due to

the new measures. Arab phobia seemed to spread all over the United States of

America and the Middle East was becoming recognized as a powder keg ready to

blow at any moment. So controversial were the 9/11 attacks, that it was the cause of

several Middle Eastern wars, some still being fought today. Many wished to point

fingers at who was responsible for such a faux pas of intelligence, and no one

seemed to come forward to take credit for the lack of effort. The terrorist

organization Al-Qaeda, run by Osama bin Laden, took complete credit for the

attacks, and the American people saw a common enemy to be defeated. However,

many still wondered, “why were we attacked?” What did we do to antagonize them?

Psychologically, as Americans we could not accept vague answers and needed some

extra clarification on the matter. Very few pieces of work show excellent

consideration on the matter without showing signs of bias or racism within the

subject. Lawrence Wright’s “The Looming Tower” is one such piece of rare work.

Not only does it bring to light many of the answers we seek for clarification upon the

matter, but also it does it in a clear way. Wright, who writes for the New Yorker,
writes for the common person, and allows anyone to gather proper information.

However, there are several specifics involved with the “Why” of Wright’s piece of

work and in order to realize this, we must first start at the beginning of the book.

One of the impressive areas within this novel is its detail to events and

persons involved with the 9/11 attacks. Wright actually traces the first sparks of

major terrorism within the Middle East back to the 1930’s and 1940’s with Egypt’s

martyr of Islam, Sayyid Qutb. From the teachings of Qutb, we find that many

Muslims use the teachings as a means of justification to acts of violence, such as the

assassination of Sadat, leader of Egypt in 1981. This assassination leads to the

inclusion of Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor driven to bring Islam back to

Egypt. Zawahiri was placed under arrest for the assassination, not for participating

in the event, but because of an implication with the terrorist group he created, al-

Jihad. Wright tells about the atrocities that the inmates had to deal with while in

prison. Not to be surprised, Zawahiri deep down wishes revenge upon his Egyptian

captors but suppresses it when he is released from prison.

This of course leads us to the main character of the whole issue, Osama bin

Laden. Wright begins bin Laden’s tale with the novelty of his father, Mohammed bin

Laden. Bin Laden’s father became know throughout Saudi Arabia as a master

architect and construction deity of sorts. All these qualities he passed down to his

son, Osama bin Laden, but Osama had other ideas. He wished to purge the world of

luxuries brought forth from western civilization such as film and music. However,

there was one western ideal he did enjoy, and that was soccer. According to Wright’s

sources, Osama would often play soccer with his friends and while playing; test their
knowledge of the Prophet and the Quran. As Osama grows up, we see him begin to

form his group, al-Qaeda, and begin to fight within Pakistan along side the

mujahideen in the war against the Soviets. After that, we see Osama leaving Pakistan

to go to Sudan, all the way building up hostility to the United States of America.

The other main section of Wright’s novel is his explanation of the American

intelligence agencies, CIA and FBI. Wright shows that O’ Neill, the director of

counterterrorism within the FBI during the late 1980’s and 1990’s, and agents

within the CIA do not cooperate with each other, and consequently cause a lack of

intelligence within the Middle East activities, such as the bombing of the Khobar

Towers in Saudi Arabia. Wright shows just how dangerous common discord within

ones own nation, can be just as dangerous as the chaos within another nation.

Beyond all doubt, I have found that Lawrence Wright’s novel “The Looming

Tower” has very few flaws, if any. It is by far the best understanding of Middle East

activities before the 9/11 attacks, whether they be decades, or mere days before the

World Trade Center was attacked. I would highly recommend it to anyone.