The Base: In Search Of Al-qaeda

Corbin, Jane

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0743230736 ISBN 13 : 9780743230735

Editeur : Simon & Schuster, 2002

Présentation de l'éditeur :

The late 1990s saw a number of attacks against American military and governmental offices, most notably the US Embassy bombings in Africa in 1998. On 11 September 2001, however, the scale of this conflict changed dramatically. The kidnapping of four commercial airliners led to the deaths of some 3,000 people. As in 1998, the terrorist group responsible for this devastating campaign was Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, or 'The Base', a loose network of extremists many of whom are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their cause.
Jane Corbin has been studying Bin Laden's organisation for four years and has followed in his footsteps through the Middle East, Africa, Europe and America. She has conducted hundreds of interviews with key eyewitnesses, investigators and intelligence officers around the world. Tracing al-Qaeda's roots back to the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan, Jane Corbin picks up the complicated trail that led to the collapse of the Twin Towers and beyond.
And as President Bush's 'war on terror' in Afghanistan poses more questions than it answers, Jane examines the West's response to the threat of al-Qaeda and declares it a failure. THE BASE is essential reading for anyone interested in the history and likely future operations of arguably the biggest threat to democracy since the Cold War.

Revue de presse :

'Alarming . . . Corbin, a BBC journalist who has made several documentaries about al-Qaeda, credits the group for its skill and cunning. But the cascade of missed chances to detect the conspiracies form an equally important counterpoint to her gripping narrative . . . Despite lingering uncertainties about the scale and nature of the threat, her book suggests a clear path for Western governments'
THE ECONOMIST
'Corbin has visited Kenya, Egypt, the Emirates, Germany, the Florida aviation schools where the hijackers learnt their flying skills and Afghanistan itself. One depressing conclusion from her travels is that, for all the terrorists' hatred of the West, Europe and America are an extremely convenient centre for their activity'
DAILY TELEGRAPH