TEN YEARS HAVE PASSED since the shocking attacks on the World Trade Center, and
after seven years of conflict, the last U.S. combat troops left Iraq--only to mo
ve into Afghanistan, where the ten-year-old fight continues: the war on terror r
ages with no clear end in sight. In "The Longest War "Peter Bergen offers a comp
rehensive history of this war and its evolution, from the strategies devised in
the wake of the 9/11 attacks to the fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and beyon
d. Unlike any other book on this subject, here Bergen tells the story of this sh
ifting war's failures and successes from the perspectives of both the United Sta
tes and al-Qaeda and its allies. He goes into the homes of al-Qaeda members, roo
ting into the source of their devotion to terrorist causes, and spends time in t
he offices of the major players shaping the U.S. strategic efforts in the region
. At a time when many are frustrated or fatigued with what has become an endurin
g multigenerational conflict, this book will provide an illuminating narrative t
hat not only traces the arc of the fight but projects its likely future.
Weavi
ng together internal documents from al-Qaeda and the U.S. offices of counterterr
orism, first-person interviews with top-level jihadists and senior Washington of
ficials, along with his own experiences on the ground in the Middle East, Bergen
balances the accounts of each side, revealing how al-Qaeda has evolved since 9/
11 and the specific ways the U.S. government has responded in the ongoing fight.
Bergen also uncovers the strategic errors committed on both sides--the way th
at al-Qaeda's bold attack on the United States on 9/11 actually undermined its o
bjective and caused the collapse of the Taliban and the destruction of the organ
ization's safe haven in Afghanistan, and how al-Qaeda is actually losing the war
of ideas in the Muslim world. The book also shows how the United States undermi
ned its moral position in this war with its actions at Guantanamo and coercive i
nterrogations--including the extraordinary rendition of Abu Omar, who was kidnap
ped by the CIA in Milan in 2003 and was tortured for four years in Egyptian pris
ons; his case represents the first and only time that CIA officials have been ch
arged and convicted of the crime of kidnapping.
In examining other strategic b
lunders the United States has committed, Bergen offers a scathing critique of th
e Clinton and Bush administrations' inability to accurately assess and counter t
he al-Qaeda threat, Bush's deeply misguided reasons for invading Iraq--including
the story of how the invasion was launched based, in part, on the views of an o
bscure academic who put forth theories about Iraq's involvement with al-Qaeda--a
nd the Obama administration's efforts in Afghanistan.
At a critical moment in
world history "The Longest War "provides the definitive account of the ongoing b
attle against terror.
