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theseventhl's review
5.0
One of the best books about Al-Qaeda and the FBI's investigation of them post-9/11 and onward that I've ever read. Ali H. Soufan's story is an essential one for anyone who wants to understand how we could have prevented such a tragedy in 2001; it is also a startling portrait of multi-level incompetence in the U.S. intelligence agency. You'll also read about John O'Neill, Soufan's mentor and best friend, who saw Al-Qaeda's attack on U.S. coming but whose warnings were dutifully ignored by his superiors and who was unfortunately one of the many American victims of 9/11 in the Twin Towers. I can only hope that the redactions in the text will be overturned by the courts as Soufan fights the censorship of his book by the U.S. government; this information is so essential to the public.
zazen's review
3.0
Lots of great information here unfortunately marred by a couple things, the first being the CIA redacts. Some sections were impossible to read,and led to some hilariously ridiculous lines like "[58 words redacted] It worked. [12 words redacted]." These aren't Soufan's fault of course, and hopefully, eventually, we'll have a complete version of The Black Banners. The other fault was the way Soufan told his story. For me personally, I didn't care for his recreating certain conversations or adding in events that were irrelevant. He also never criticizes himself, and often brings up how he was one of the few guys who knew what was going on, almost an FBI paragon or something. It honestly made me more suspicious than anything.
Still, there's a lot in the book that's worth reading, and if the subject is one you're interested in, check it out.
Still, there's a lot in the book that's worth reading, and if the subject is one you're interested in, check it out.
taylorcali's review
4.0
Finally, some “new” (to me) information regarding AQ and the attacks they carried out over the years. I’ve read many books on 9/11, OBL, and AQ, and for the most part, they’re all just the same recycled information. This book, however, gives an insider’s story on the FBI’s investigation of the Kenya bombings, the USS Cole bombing, and, of course, 9/11. The author being Muslim and from Lebanon served him well in his career with the FBI. The only thing that really bothered me about this book was the amount of redacted information. If this was for effect, great, the blacked out pages did their job creating the “classified” appearance. But so much of what appeared redacted in a number of chapters were the pronouns I, me, and my. At that point, I felt like my brain was filling in the blanks to match the verbs.
eldiente's review
3.0
This audiobook was difficult at times to follow given the large number of redactions ordered, according to the author, by the CIA. The occasional name or place being redacted wasn't so much of a problem, but when a larger section was missing, the audio version left me wondering - a sentence, a paragraph, or much more.
I left angry at the folly of politicians (Barbara Bodine - former ambassador to Yemen) and stupidity and arrogance of some military leaders (General Miller - Abu Grahb prison ). But I was impressed with the tenacity and intelligence of investigators devoted to justice.
The book could have been shorter, but was interesting.
I left angry at the folly of politicians (Barbara Bodine - former ambassador to Yemen) and stupidity and arrogance of some military leaders (General Miller - Abu Grahb prison ). But I was impressed with the tenacity and intelligence of investigators devoted to justice.
The book could have been shorter, but was interesting.
eelsmac's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
4.75
legohelmet's review
4.0
Soufan was an FBI agent who specialised in Al-Qaeda long before 9/11, in fact even before the attack on the USS Cole. His experience as an interrogator revealed significant findings of their organisational structure and plans, which helped to break up a number of terrorist plots.
Soufan showed through his interrogations that Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, such as waterboarding was entirely the wrong way to interrogate people, using knowledge gained from previous interrogatted people was the best way to find out further intelligence.
It appears the CIA chose to undermine all the good work carried out and proceeded to use EIT's in Guantanimo Bay. Using EIT's enabled the CIA to find a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda that didn't actually exist. Preferring to use EIT's meant killing Bin Laden took years longer than if the FBI interrogators could have interviewed various suspects.
The CIA does not come across well in this book, from not sharing information pre 9/11 with the FBI to having large sections of this book Redacted (both the FBI and US state dept give the book the OK in its original format). Some of the Redacted words are ridiculous, can easily be worked out what is missing, but large chunks of text are also missing making sections harder to read.
But this is still a fascinating insight into Al Qaeda and highly recommended for anyone interested in 9/11 attacks and Al Qaeda.
Soufan showed through his interrogations that Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, such as waterboarding was entirely the wrong way to interrogate people, using knowledge gained from previous interrogatted people was the best way to find out further intelligence.
It appears the CIA chose to undermine all the good work carried out and proceeded to use EIT's in Guantanimo Bay. Using EIT's enabled the CIA to find a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda that didn't actually exist. Preferring to use EIT's meant killing Bin Laden took years longer than if the FBI interrogators could have interviewed various suspects.
The CIA does not come across well in this book, from not sharing information pre 9/11 with the FBI to having large sections of this book Redacted (both the FBI and US state dept give the book the OK in its original format). Some of the Redacted words are ridiculous, can easily be worked out what is missing, but large chunks of text are also missing making sections harder to read.
But this is still a fascinating insight into Al Qaeda and highly recommended for anyone interested in 9/11 attacks and Al Qaeda.
socraticgadfly's review
5.0
This is the most detailed account yet, from an insider, about how we might have been able to prevent 9/11 had politicians taken it more seriously (BushCo) and had the CIA, and even a few FBI agents, not believed in this "wall" of separation between intelligence and criminal investigation.
Ali Soufan also details not only how torture ("enhanced interrogation techniques") don't work, he at the same time describes how traditional police-type interrogations can and do work, with the right person in charge, even with people like hardened al-Qaeda operatives.
To refresh the memory of some, or to inform others who don't know who he is, Soufan was the FBI's top Arabic-speaking agent, who was already on the trail of al-Qaeda's growth before the East African embassy bombings in 1998. He investigated them, the Cole bombing in Yemen in 2000, and many al Qaeda operatives after 9/11
Well, the CIA felt "the need," as Soufan notes in the introduction, to redact/censor stuff that was already in the public record, probably out of petty spite over his mentioning the Agency's obstructiveness, time after time, with FBI agents. (This alone refutes some of the nuttery of former CIA agent Michael Scheurer.)
And, at times, this gets ridiculous.
In one chapter, describing the interrogation of al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah, due to the details of the pages, we can tell just what the CIA insisted had to be blacked out. The first word in the chapter is "I," with Soufan talking about how he was packing a suitcase for a vacation when he was ordered off to Pakistan. Also censored are other individual words such as "we," "me," "my" and "us."
(Soufan is charitable in general in the book but has not a lot of good to say about the CIA.)
Anyway, this is a definite 5-star read; I don't get why many people praised this book so much, then only gave it four stars.
Ali Soufan also details not only how torture ("enhanced interrogation techniques") don't work, he at the same time describes how traditional police-type interrogations can and do work, with the right person in charge, even with people like hardened al-Qaeda operatives.
To refresh the memory of some, or to inform others who don't know who he is, Soufan was the FBI's top Arabic-speaking agent, who was already on the trail of al-Qaeda's growth before the East African embassy bombings in 1998. He investigated them, the Cole bombing in Yemen in 2000, and many al Qaeda operatives after 9/11
Well, the CIA felt "the need," as Soufan notes in the introduction, to redact/censor stuff that was already in the public record, probably out of petty spite over his mentioning the Agency's obstructiveness, time after time, with FBI agents. (This alone refutes some of the nuttery of former CIA agent Michael Scheurer.)
And, at times, this gets ridiculous.
In one chapter, describing the interrogation of al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah, due to the details of the pages, we can tell just what the CIA insisted had to be blacked out. The first word in the chapter is "I," with Soufan talking about how he was packing a suitcase for a vacation when he was ordered off to Pakistan. Also censored are other individual words such as "we," "me," "my" and "us."
(Soufan is charitable in general in the book but has not a lot of good to say about the CIA.)
Anyway, this is a definite 5-star read; I don't get why many people praised this book so much, then only gave it four stars.
upthescene's review
5.0
This book was fascinating, and well written. I couldn't put it down. It's kind of hard to believe that many of the claims made by Soufan are true, although he gives plenty of support for them, I don't want to believe that the FBI could have prevented attacks if the CIA had shared a few tidbits of information. Definitely a must-read if you're interested in al-Qaeda and the story behind 9/11.