The Looming Tower summary

In the 1940s, Egypt was under British occupation, with the complicit King Farouk at its head. While Egypt was staring down crippling poverty, unemployment, disease and illiteracy, Farouk was driving around Cairo in one of the 200 red cars that only he was allowed to own, openly flaunting his wealth.

It was this blatant disregard for his people, combined with the British occupation, which caused the formation of an underground Islamic group called the Muslim Brotherhood. They founded their own hospitals, schools, welfare societies and even factories, rejected the idea of a secular, democratic government and fought for universal Islamic rule. By 1948, they had over one million members and supporters in a country of only 18 million.

When Qutb arrived in America, he was immediately disturbed by what he viewed as a corrupt and godless culture. He was mortified by America’s rampant sexuality, materialism, racism, superficiality and extraordinary emphasis on individual freedom.

But more specifically, he was offended by the way American capitalist society solely addressed the material needs of humans while neglecting the needs of their spirit. When he returned to Egypt in 1950, he was more radical than ever.

You can only openly defy those in charge for so long. Eventually, Qutb was imprisoned by the Nasser regime for his defiance. In 1966, his execution by hanging secured his place as a martyr in the burgeoning movement for an Islamist revolution.

Qutb, his martyrdom, and his ideas would have a particularly profound influence on Zawahiri, whose uncle was a pupil and protégé of Qutb. At the trial that resulted in Qutb’s execution, Zawahiri’s uncle even served as the future martyr’s lawyer.

So, Zawahiri was a key figure in the development of radical Islam and his revenge on the government of Egypt took a powerful form. After getting out of prison in the early 1990s, Zawahiri launched a campaign against Egypt’s government, making frightening use of the suicide bombers that would become key to radical Islamism.

In 1995, Zawahiri planned a suicide bombing at the Egyptian embassy in Pakistan. In this incident, 18 people were killed, including the two bombers.

Today, the name Osama bin Laden is synonymous with terrorism, murder and Islamic fundamentalism. But that wasn’t always the case.

Born in 1957 to the heir of a tremendous Saudi fortune, Osama was a shy boy with a deep love for American TV. As a teenager, he became more solemn and religious and eventually came under the influence of a charismatic Syrian gym teacher who belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood.

When al-Qaeda was formed, it was from the remnants of several underground Islamic groups that had once fought some of the greatest enemies of the United States. These included the mujahideen, or insurgent Jihadists, who fought in the Soviet-Afghan War, which took place from 1979 to 1989.

So how did these groups become the sworn enemies of America and why did they launch the attacks on 9/11?