The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright [262]
Kurt Kjeldsen, who on 9/11 was a reporter for Waters magazine, happened to be late for a meeting in the World Trade Center that morning, and because he fell asleep on the subway he survived to tell me his story, which became a part of The New Yorker’s now-famous black issue of September 24, 2001. Kurt also did me the favor, as a colleague, of attending John O’Neill’s memorial service and interviewing some of O’Neill’s friends and coworkers on that occasion.
Will Haber gave me valued assistance, as did Mona Abdel-Halim, who has become a trusted sounding board. Jan McInroy has been my preferred copy editor for many years, and I always count on her judgment. I am especially reliant on Nora Ankrum, who helped me organize the mass of information into fourteen boxes of note cards. Her cheerful presence lightened this sometimes daunting task.
I owe a special debt to Stephen Harrigan and Gregory Curtis, dear friends, who read the book in its rawest form and made extremely helpful suggestions. It was Steve who suggested writing this book in the first place. Peter Bergen, Rachel Bronson, John Calvert, Steve Coll, Mary Deborah Doran, Thomas Hegghammer, Michael Rolince, Marc Sageman, and Michael Welsh read all or portions of the book and gave me the benefit of their expertise. The errors that remain in the book are my responsibility, but there are fewer of them thanks to the generosity of these patient readers.
My friend and agent, Wendy Weil, campaigned for this project; fortunately, Ann Close, who edited three of my previous books, reunited with me on this one. I am grateful to have my team back together! My wife, Roberta, supported my decision to do this book, although it meant that we were apart for much of the nearly five years that it has taken to accomplish. I’m so happy to be home.
FOOTNOTES
* Wilson Teachers College merged with three other schools to form the University of the District of Columbia in1977.
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* Now the University of Northern Colorado.
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* The community of believers split after the death of Prophet Mohammed in 632 C.E. because of a quarrel over the line of succession. Those who call themselves Sunni supported the election of the caliphs, but another group, which became the Shia, believed that the caliphate should have passed through the Prophet’s descendants, beginning with his cousin and son-in-law, Ali. Since then, the two branches have evolved numerous theological and cultural differences.
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* He wrote a damning biography titled Ayman al-Zawahiri as I Knew Him, which was withdrawn by his Cairo publisher because of pressure from Zawahiri’s supporters.
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* Zawahiri’s brother Mohammed was sentenced in absentia, but the charges were later dropped. The youngest brother, Hussein, spent thirteen months in prison before the charges against him were also dropped.
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* More familiarly known to Westerners as Ibn Saud.
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* The company styles the name slightly differently in variant English renderings, as do members of the family.
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* Like his father, Salem died in an air crash. He was piloting an ultralight craft outside San Antonio, Texas, when he died in 1988.
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* He is not related to Ayman al-Zawahiri’s mother’s family, the Azzams of Cairo.
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* Interestingly, this former Palestinian guerrilla makes the case that Afghanistan takes precedence over the Palestinian struggle against Israel. The war in Afghanistan was intended to bring forth an Islamic state, he says, whereas the Palestinian cause has been appropriated by various groups, including “communists, nationalists, and modernist Muslims,” who were fighting for a secular state.
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* One candidate, in bin Laden’s case, is Addison’s disease, a disorder of the endocrine system marked