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Name: The Looming Tower
Rating: 4.1 (43 reviews)
Author: Lawrence Wright

Lawrence Wright

Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

4.1 (43 ratings)

17 mins

Brief summary

"The Looming Tower" by Lawrence Wright tells the story of how conflicts within the FBI and CIA led to the inability to prevent the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It sheds light on the rise of Al-Qaeda and the flaws within the US intelligence community.

Topics

The Middle East US History Global Politics

Table of Contents

The Looming Tower
Summary of 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Learn the long history of 9/11.

For years, we’ve read reports of the increasing radicalization of Islam, of terrorist attacks and insurgent wars throughout the Middle East. The main narrative for many in the West began with the 9/11 attack over 15 years ago. Al-Qaeda became a household name, but was the attack on the World Trade Center really the starting point?

In these blinks, we’ll attempt to trace the radicalization of Islam in general and the formation of al-Qaeda in particular. We’ll follow the instigators and intellectuals who crafted the movement’s ideological base, why they did it and how.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

why mid-century Egypt was the perfect hotbed for a new, radical variant of Islam;
how Ayman al-Zawahri introduced a new ideology of religious violence; and
why the United States wasn’t al-Qaeda’s first target.

The 9/11 attacks were the culmination of longstanding tensions and the work of three masterminds.

The September 2001 attacks were an unconscionable tragedy in American history, but also the climax of a long conflict between Islam and the West. When two planes collided with the World Trade Center in New York and a third struck the Pentagon in Washington D.C., 2,996 people were killed, another 6,000 were injured, and the catastrophe launched the so-called “War on Terror.”

But how did such a horrific event happen in the first place?

Well, the emergence of al-Qaeda, the group responsible for 9/11, was the result of a unique convergence of three personalities. The first man to play a key role was Sayyid Qutb, the intellectual father of the Islamist movement and a great influence on the other two primary actors.

The second was Ayman al-Zawahiri, the current leader of al-Qaeda and a promoter of the apocalyptic idea that only violence and vengeance could transform history. The third, and most notorious, was Osama bin Laden, the founder and former leader of al-Qaeda.

When bin Laden first formed al-Qaeda in 1988, it wasn’t clear that it would become the powerful terrorist organization it is today. In the early days, there was disagreement about the organization’s trajectory. Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, another al-Qaeda founder, wanted to use the group to win back lands once held by Islamic peoples from Soviet Central Asia to Bosnia, while Zawahiri dreamt of beginning a vicious cycle of terror and repression in Egypt, a vision not necessarily shared by Azzam and bin Laden.

A long and complicated history led to the group becoming what it is today. Next up, you’ll learn all about these three key figures and the reign of terror they launched.

One of the pioneers of Islamic fundamentalism emerged from the hotbed of 1940s Egypt.

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.

Sayyid Qutb’s writings would become the intellectual framework for Islamic fundamentalism.

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.

Zawahiri, a key figure of the Islamic revolutionary movement, was deeply influenced by Qutb.

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.

Zawahiri was essential to initiating and justifying extreme violence in the radical Islamist movement.

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.

Osama Bin Laden’s path to the top of al-Qaeda was far from straightforward.

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.

Bin Laden attacked the United States because of its political and military actions in the Islamic world.

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?

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What is The Looming Tower about?

The Looming Tower (2006) is all about al-Qaeda, its formation, and the personalities behind it. These blinks detail the route taken to power by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the run-up to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack that devastated the United States.

Best quote from The Looming Tower

I hate those Westerners and despise them! All of them, without any exception: the English, the French, the Dutch, and finally the Americans, who have been trusted by many. - Sayyid Qutb

—Lawrence Wright

Who should read The Looming Tower?

Anyone interested in the global effects of national policies
Political science junkies
History enthusiasts

About the Author

Lawrence Wright is a staff writer at the New Yorker who has written a number of other non-fiction titles. He received the Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower.

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Politics History

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