Holy Wars Inc: Inside The Secret World Of Osama Bin Laden (2001) By Peter L. Bergen
 
Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Bin Laden is a book by CNN investigative journalist and documentarian Peter Bergen. It was published in November 2001, two months after the September 11 attacks, and was a New York Times Best Seller in 2001.
 
In the book, Bergen discusses the meteoric rise of Osama bin Laden during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and the subsequent evolution and expansion of his terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda. Bergen interviewed bin Laden in person with former CNN journalist Peter Arnett in Afghanistan in 1997.
 
Holy War, Inc. provides a multi-faceted context that details:
(1) how jihadist terrorism evolved from being primarily state-sponsored groups to the independent and sophisticated multinational organization that is Al Qaeda;
(2) who made up the groups of people that were willing to leave behind the comforts of home to join what would later become Al Qaeda;
(3) where the US went wrong in its covert sponsorship of militants who fought against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s;
(4) what motivates bin Laden and his disciples to attack the US and other Western targets; and (5) why bin Laden is revered by many throughout the Muslim world.
 
As Bergen finds, the Soviet-Afghan War had the dual result of making bin Laden famous while also giving bin Laden a feeling that he could go toe-to-toe against a superpower with his "holy warriors" and prevail. These factors, coupled with bin Laden's strong feelings of resentment toward the US for its presence in Saudi Arabia (or the "Land of the Two Holy Places" as he called it) during and after the Persian Gulf War, led to his plotting multiple attacks against the US, and then later to an all-out declaration of war against the West. Ultimately, by green-lighting the September 11 attacks on the United States, bin Laden would then get his desired war.
 
Soft Cover
292 Pages
In Good Condition