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Oxford University Press
February 2011
On Sale: February 15, 2011
288 pages
ISBN: 0199738661
EAN: 9780199738663
Kindle: B004JU1WJK
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Biography
9/11 almost instantaneously remade American politics and
foreign policy. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the
Patriot Act, water boarding and Guantanamo are examples of
its profound and far-reaching effects. But despite its
monumental impact--and a deluge of books about al-Qaeda and
Islamist terrorism--no one has written a serious assessment
of the man who planned it, Osama bin Laden. Available biographies depict bin Laden as an historical
figure, the mastermind behind 9/11, but no longer relevant
to the world it created. These accounts, Michael Scheuer
strongly believes, have contributed to a widespread and
dangerous denial of his continuing significance and power. In this book, Scheuer provides a much-needed corrective--a
hard-headed, closely reasoned portrait of bin Laden, showing
him to be a figure of remarkable leadership skills,
strategic genius, and considerable rhetorical abilities. The
first head of the CIA's bin Laden Unit, where he led the
effort to track down bin Laden, Scheuer draws from a wealth
of information about bin Laden and his evolution from
peaceful Saudi dissident to America's Most Wanted. Shedding light on his development as a theologian, media
manipulator, and paramilitary commander, Scheuer makes use
of all the speeches and interviews bin Laden has given as
well as lengthy interviews, testimony, and previously
untranslated documents written by those who grew up with bin
Laden in Saudi Arabia, served as his bodyguards and drivers,
and fought alongside him against the Soviets. The bin Laden
who emerges from these accounts is devout, talented,
patient, and ruthless; in other words, a truly formidable
and implacable enemy of the West.
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