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Title:
Inside Al-Qae’da
Author: Rohan Gunaratna
Publisher: Columbia University Press, 240 pp.
Price: $22.95
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Inside Al-Qaeda is yet another book that perhaps provides an exaggerated view of the organization
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The
best part of Rohan Gunaratna's book on the history and workings of
Al-Qae’da comes just after the title page, where the publisher
prints the following disclaimer:
A
wide range of organizations … are referred to in this book as
having had contacts or dealings with Al-Qae’da or other terrorist
groups. Unless such references specifically state otherwise, they
should be treated as nothing other than a suggestion that the
organizations concerned were the unwitting tools of those who
attempted, successfully or otherwise, to infiltrate, use or
manipulate them for terrorist purposes.
Beyond
this magnanimous acknowledgement, however, Inside Al-Qae’da is
fairly cookie cutter as far as terrorism analysis is concerned.
Gunaratna,
a terrorism research fellow at the University of St. Andrews in
Scotland, has made a career of tracking terrorists. He functioned as
a chief investigator for the United Nations Terrorism Prevention
Branch and has consulted in both the private and public sectors. For
this book in particular, Gunaratna spent over five years researching
Al-Qae’da, purportedly interviewing various members of the
organization.
The
problem with Inside Al-Qae’da, as has been the case with other
recent books on terrorism, is that reader either is forced to either
take Gunaratna at face value with his assertions or toss them out
the window. That is because much of the book cannot be easily
authenticated. Although (much to Gunaratna's credit) there are great
deals of footnotes, the references themselves are often obscure,
confidential or lacking credibility.
For
instance, on page 103, he quotes Shaykh Hisham Kabbani's 1999
statement in which Kabbani claimed 80 percent of American mosques
were controlled by extremists. Kabbani had no foundation for that
assertion, one that was roundly criticized and refuted by the major
Islamic institutions in the United States at the time. That
Gunaratna quotes such material suggests that his research could very
well be a mix of fact and pure conjecture, leaving the reader unable
to decipher truth from fiction.
Inside
Al-Qae’da does, however, provide a narrative concerning the
development and operations of Al-Qae’da that is corroborated by
such other researchers as Yossef Bodansky. This narrative leaves the
reader with a picture of Osama Bin Laden and his organization that
suggests a high degree of sophistication on the part of Al-Qae’da.
In fact, one even gets the impression that Gunaratna has a certain
respect or at least acknowledgement of Al-Qae’da's meticulous
strategies and tactics.
From
Gunaratna's portrayal, one gets the impression that Al-Qae’da is
as organizationally robust as a government, as financially sound as
a modern multinational corporation and as militarily potent as a
modern army.
The
problem with this portrayal is that it smacks of exaggeration. If
Al-Qae’da is so sophisticated, then how is it that it was so
easily routed in Afghanistan? How is it that Al-Qae’da operatives
have been so foolish as to give interviews that betray their hiding
places, leading to their arrests? How is it that captured Al-Qae’da
agents have apparently been singing like songbirds under
interrogation? Why has Bin Laden been silent? Didn't Al-Qae’da's
sophistication include a contingency plan for his escape? If Al-Qae’da
is so wealthy, then why were hijackers wiring paltry sums of money
back to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) shortly before the 9/11
attacks? If Al-Qae’da is so meticulous, why did it carelessly
leave behind damning video and print documentation?
There
are just so many unanswered questions that suggest that Al-Qae’da,
in many instances, lacked the kind of sophistication that
researchers ballyhoo during television interviews. This leaves the
public guessing as to which picture of Al-Qae’da is most reliable.
Gunaratna
and his book do serve a purpose though. When the media choose to
focus on the palpable threat and danger of terrorism, Inside Al-Qae’da
provides a chilling portrayal of a tangible enemy. However when the
focus shifts to America's successes in the war on terrorism, Inside
Al-Qae’da can be shelved in lieu of stories showing how hapless
Al-Qae’da members have been rooted out by America's military and
intelligence efforts.
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