Rating: 
Summary: A terrifying real life detective story
Review: This seems like an amazing fictitious detective story except for the fact that it's true and close to 3,000 people actually perished. John Miller takes us back as early as 1990 when Rabbi Meir Kahane was murdered in New York. The murderer and his cohorts were some of al Qaeda's earliest members and they left a trail of information revealing detailed plans for terrorist attacks on US soil. Over the next decade extensive information about these growing cells was available both to local law enforcement agents as well as to the FBI and CIA. How is it that they didn't see the September 11th attack coming? Reading this book will show you that there was no excuse.
Rating: 
Summary: Stimulating, clarifying, and disturbing
Review: This stimulating and disturbing book is full of terrific reporting and makes clear that September 11th did not simply come out of the blue. It had deep roots in prior events such as the 1993 bombing of the WTC, the embassy bombings in Africa, the counter attacks in Somalia, and, of course, the attack on our warship The Cole.In fact, according to the book, it goes back even further. But I won't go into the books entire thesis here. I will tell you that I think you will get a lot from this book. While I certainly am not one of those who is interested in the blame game for 9/11 or thinking that we should be able to guarantee protection from any other possible attacks in the future, I do think this book demonstrates clearly how bureaucratic group think, inter-agency turf wars, and the cross-purposes of the diplomatic corps, the justice apparatus, and intelligence gathering can create exploitable vulnerabilities. The writing is pretty good and at times compelling. I think it could have used a bit more editing to smooth things out a bit, but that isn't a significant weakness. The reason I gave this book four stars instead of five is that the only picture of the relevant people we get is a fuzzy shot on the dust jacket. The book would be twice as valuable with a few pictures of the main players in the story. Especially since there are a lot of names to keep straight. But the book is valuable enough without them. I recommend it highly and encourage everyone to read and think about it. Feel free to email me with your thoughts on the book after you have read it. I think you will find it stimulating and disturbing, and will make more clear for you what is going on within our government to create more alignment of purpose and the tearing down of bureaucratic fences. At least, if we don't get that done, you will understand why we are still in big trouble!
Rating:
Summary: eye-opening but frightening saga
Review: Up front let me apologize for being emotional in this review, as this true account is appalling in what should have been. The book describes the evolution of the 1990s through 9/11 of Bin Laden and the Al Queda that will haunt readers forever. The authors tie events together that show the magnitude of the failure of anti-terrorism efforts under three administrations including the present one. The authors claim several opportunities to stop the terrorists were available, but not acted on, as the threat had not incredulously surpassed the "acceptable level of terrorism". That is the frightening thought that especially Clinton and Bush II (even in his first year) could have done more and saved lives. Official inactivity and incompetence (the Attorney General cut the anti-terrorism funding) and missed opportunities led to irate agents unable to overcome politics as usual under presidents from both political parties. This book is not for those still raw, as it is quite an eye-opening saga. As the country's powers debate homeland security and claim the high ground, they should read this book first so they cannot sleep better at night. While the President vacations; the Attorney General cries security wolf; the Congress posters to gain reelection; and Clinton rewrites his place in history, perhaps each will finally understand the real goal: no future American should suffer like those who seemed to have died for no reason except politics and incompetence. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: The Start of the Story
Review: What a great book this turned out to be. The authors take you through the many headed investigation into the Osama / 1st WTC bombing events that lead up to the 9-11 attack. The authors cover all the events that lead up to 9-11 and how the separate events and people lead to Osama and his Al Qaeda group. I found the details on what the Clinton administration tried to do and the reasons they did not arrest Oasma before the Cole bombing enlightening. It makes for some very interesting reading and raises some questions as to the power / competence of the American intelligence machine namely the FBI and CIA. Like many people I have read a good deal on this topic and seen a number of TV shows, but this book pulled a number of different stories and facts together and put them in a nice order to make the reader really see how they all fit together. The authors were able to weave together a number of different story lines in a method that was very easy to grasp the big picture. Overall a wonderful effort that made the book read fast. I was concerned that with three authors the reader would get s somewhat disjointed and jumpy book with three different styles. The editor must have played a big role because the writing comes off in one voice and is very smooth.
Rating:
Summary: It all started with Kahane
Review: When ABC News assigned John Miller to the case of the Washington sniper, it should have signalled to one and all that someone at ABC believed there was an Arab terrorist angle to the case. Miller is an expert on that.
In "The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It" Miller (with Michael Stone and Chris Mitchell) details the way the U.S. intelligence system failed to note the signals, including Miller's own "interview" with Osama Bin Laden (OBL) in which he had to prepare written questions and was not allowed any follow-up questions.
The book starts with the strange case of Meir Kahane (disclaimer: we were friends in the late 1940s) who was gunned down in a room full of witnesses by El Sayyid Nosair, who, like his accomplices, wore a yarmulka.
The accomplices abandoned Nosair, who fled alone. On the way, he shot a Irv Franklin, a Kahane follower, and a postal inspector (a federal offense). The get-away was bungled. The red-headed giant of a taxi driver who was supposed to pick up Nosair for his get-away somehow got lost but Nosair made it to the hospital on his own for treatment of the wound from the postal inspector's bullet.
Open and shut case, no?
The homicide cops quickly caught the accomplices and raised their homes, seizing documents and other treasures that pointed to an OBL plot against New York City.
But the higher ups in the NYPD, the chief of detectives Joe Borelli in particular, called Homicide's Lt. Ed Norris to a meeting at headquarters and asked:
"Was this the work of one man?"
Norris said, "No."
Borelli ended that discussion with "You shut up. You do murders; they do conspiracies."
And so Norris's files on al Quaida sat unopened and unread from November 1990 until after Sept 11, 2001. Nosair was acquitted of first-degree murder. His co-conspirators were not prosecuted.
The whole book is full of such examples, including the erratic behavior of Mohammed Atta, which did not raise eyebrows, and the "practice run by four terrorists who tried to find out how much they could get away with on an airliner, including successful attempts to be allowed into the cockpit.
But "The Cell" is a maddening book. It drifts in and out of the voice of Miller, recounting his own experiences, using the first person voice. Sometimes this is set off by typographical devices; sometimes you suddenly encounter an "I" and wonder where the quotation began.
The book has all the earmarks of being rushed to press, with lots of editing errors. It also lacks an index and a guide to the reader on all the Arabic jaw-twister names scattered throughout the book.
The interview with OBL is full of accusations against Jews, whom OBL equates with America:
"The American imposes himself on everyone. Americans accuse our children in Palestine of being terrorists-those children, who have no weapons and have not yet reached maturity. At the same time, Americans defend a country, the state of the Jews, that has a policy to destroy the future of these children. . . .
"We are sure of our victory against the Americans and the Jews as promised by the Prophet. . . . "
But there is no hint in anything OBL is quoted as saying that it included a mad sniper in Washington.
Rating:
Summary: Good, could have been great expose of intelligence failures
Review: With just a little more work, this book could have been the definitive expose of what Congress is now investigating, and what an independent commision should investigate: how did it happen, when U.S.intelligence knew the organization, its leaders, its foot soldiers and much of their plots and visions. It is a very entertaining book, in spite of some problems. It desperately needs an index and a chart or graphic showing the cast of characters: the Al Quaeda terrorists and leaders, the FBI and CIA people, and the JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force)agents. Adding those things would make it easier to follow. It's hard to understand how one can get that kind of thing regularly in a weekly news magazine, but not in a book that is intended to represent a more thorough study. Photographs would also be helpful, especially since some of the more interesting stories here are the "human stories",of those fighting terrorism, and yes, even the terrorists. Getting back to the book's strengths, it reveals a lot of things that have been ignored by the so-called "liberal" press, such as what appear to be failings by the Bush administration to take terrorism seriously. Since the authors are constantly commenting on the bureaucratic infighting that prevented coordination of intelligence, and on the emphasis being on making cases in court, not prevention, I wonder why there is no discussion of the role of the airlines.The book is well-written for the most part, and it will make you angry at government incompetence even as you admire some of the more imaginative and devoted government officials. Despite some of the problems, I highly recommend this book.
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