• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1284 0

law firm in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, working to represent the families of the victims of September 11, has created an unparalleled resource on al Qaeda and Islamic extremism, and its lawyers shared material with me that would never have seen the light of day without their efforts. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston endured a great deal of hassle in making documents from the Boston Al Kifah Center available to me, and I want to thank Aloke Chakravarty and Christina Dilorio-Sterling for their help and their patience. Terrorism investigators J. C. Brisard and Evan Kohlmann generously provided key information and documents relating to Bosnia. Peter Lance provided transcripts of the World Trade Center bombing and the “Day of Terror” court cases.

Several people helped on the back end of the book as well. David Hebditch and Ola Flyum, the makers of the television documentary Sarajevo Ricochet, gave me the opportunity to go to Bosnia and to conduct on film several of the interviews used in this book. The outstanding Bosnian Muslim journalist Esad Hecimovic shared both information and insight. Jody Jenkins, the writer and the producer of the American Jihadist documentary, helped with advice on sources at various points and with a screener copy of the excellent film, which was directed by Mark Claywell. Roxanne Euben and Aaron Zelin provided me with invaluable help in understanding the complexities of jihadist ideology, and Aaron also provides notes on an early draft of the manuscript. Thanks are also due to Lawrence Wright and Marissa Allison for facilitating conversations with some of their own valued sources.

Chris Heffelfinger, of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, introduced me to Hilary Claggett of Potomac Books, Inc., who gave me the chance to write this book. She and Katie Neubauer of Potomac helped turn it around fast.

Anne Berger transcribed hours of audio with amazing accuracy, expending extraordinary effort to get down often-obscure Arabic terms, sift through accents, and enhance source files that were often less than ideal. At various points, she enlisted most of the rest of my family to assist in this effort.

Geneva Berger has read probably tens of thousands of pages of things I have written over the years, always providing support and encouragement, even when the material never made it out of my desk drawer, and I am incredibly grateful for that.

Rachel Milton helped in more ways than I can count, talking out difficult issues, developing ideas, providing source material, and remembering who was who and who did what to whom, and she was always available with a phone number or e-mail address of someone I needed to talk to.

Finally, this book literally could not have been written without the assistance of Janet Walsh. Through a very long haul, she offered nothing but faith, support, and incredible patience. She helped me talk through problems and issues, listened to stories, read through drafts, and allowed me the freedom to carve out a niche in a very challenging profession, even when it seemed like a long shot. Not to mention the marathon editing session in 95-degree heat. I can’t express how much I appreciate all of this and more.

NOTES

Introduction

1. State Department Cable, “Execution of Mosque Attackers,” JIDDA 00210, January 10, 1980; Yaroslav Trofimov, The Siege of Mecca (New York: Doubleday, 2007), 240–241.

2. Trofimov, The Siege of Mecca; J. M. Berger, ed., The Siege at Mecca Sourcebook (Intelwire Press, 2006), ii–iii.

3. State Department Cable, STATE 012300, no subject specified, January 16, 1980.

4. Steve Emerson, “Abdullah Assam: The Man before Osama Bin Laden,” International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, retrieved August 25, 2010, http://www.iacsp.com/itobli3.html.

Chapter 1. The Early Years

1. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Jane Idleman Smith, eds., Muslim Communities in North America (Albany: SUNY Press, 1994), 31.

2. Jonathan Curiel, “Muslim Roots, U.S. Blues,” Saudi Aramco World, July–August 2006, retrieved August 10, 2010, http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200604/muslim.roots.u.s.blues.htm.