Book description
To most in the West, 'al-Qaeda' is seen as a byword for terror: a
deadly, highly organised fanatical group masterminded by Osama bin
Laden. But does this tell the whole truth?
Prize-winning journalist Jason Burke has spent a decade reporting
from the heart of the Middle East and gaining unprecedented access to
the world of radical Islam. Now, drawing on his frontline experience
of recent events in Iraq and Afghanistan, on secret documents and
astonishing interviews with intelligence officers, militants,
mujahideen commanders and bin Laden's associates, he reveals the full
story of al-Qaeda - and demolishes the myths that underpin the 'war on terror'.
Burke demonstrates that in fact 'al-Qaeda' is merely a convenient
label applied by the West to a far broader - and thus more dangerous -
phenomenon of Islamic militancy, and shows how eradicating a single
figure or group will do nothing to combat terrorism. Only by
understanding the true, complex nature of al-Qaeda, he argues, can we
address the real issues surrounding our security today.
Jason Burke is the prize-winning Chief Reporter for the
Observer
. He has covered the Middle East and Southwest Asia for a decade, and
saw many of the key events described in this book at first hand.
