The Black Banners: The Inside Story Of 9/11 And The War Against Al-Qaeda (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
If you have ever been on the fence about "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" you definitely need to read this book. Fascinating story of one man's experience as an FBI agent tracking, interrogating and investigating al-Qaeda over 20 pivotal years.Ali Soufan tells this story in a really beautiful, human way. He brings us into the room with him as he does intellectual battle with al-Qaeda operatives to gather actionable intelligence.I'll admit that I was kind of on the fence about EIT - but not after reading this book. Though it does not come off as very political - you can't help but draw the conclusion that superior intelligence is the way to get actionable information from terrorists - not superior force.@tomob This is a very interesting yet disturbing book that left me somewhat concerned about our country's future and its perception by the rest of the world community. The author is a former FBI agent who was born in Lebanon and is a naturalized US citizen. Because of his fluency in Arabic and as a practicing Muslim, he became heavily involved in the FBI's intelligence gathering efforts following the East Africa embassy bombings, the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, and then 9/11 and the hunt for Osama bin Laden.The history of these events presented by the author is interesting and sheds much light on how we were able to identify and track down some of the perpetrators. What is disturbing is the evidence of turf wars that went on between the FBI and CIA and the lack of information sharing that may have prevented some of these events, including 9/11, from happening. The story behind our use of enhanced interrogation techniques to extract intelligence information and the stories fed to the public by high ranking government officials makes me wonder about the integrity of those running the show here in America.As with most works of history, one needs to be a bit careful and consider the source or sources. On the surface, this book portrays the FBI as taking the moral high ground but that organization hasn't always been squeaky clean either. I'm left to wonder if the author isn't tooting his own horn (and the FBI's) just a bit too loudly. I'm just sayin'.
What do You think about The Black Banners: The Inside Story Of 9/11 And The War Against Al-Qaeda (2011)?
An excellent narrative although sometimes a bit too heavy on detail.
—mtb2002
