The first two parts of the review of the book by Lawrence Wright were about the origins of al-Qaeda and the role of world Arabs, including bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, in the fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan and the civil war that continued for years after the retreat of the Soviets. The young Arabs who had trained for guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan were not often welcome to return to their home countries. They had been indoctrinated with a culture of martyrdom, and takfir, which was the declaration by one Muslim that another Muslim was an unbeliever. Those who returned to Saudi Arabia were immediately arrested for several days of interrogation. In that unwelcoming atmosphere bin Laden must have been pleased when Hasan al-Turabi, a senior official in Sudan, invited him to move to his country. Bin Laden seemed to be settling into a more quiet life there, but he continued to fret about the continued presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia and continued to agitate for attacks on America. Salafist (Salafi Muslims who support jihad) movements were arising across the Arab world, and they found a safe haven to organize in Khartoum. A new vision of al-Qaeda was born with a fatwa encouraging attacks on American troops and declaring that it was allowable for innocent people to be killed in the process.

Bin Laden had once remarked about the World Trade Center was “…those awesome symbolic towers that speak of liberty, human rights and humanity…” That must have been before he began financing Omar Abdul Rahman, the blind sheikh who conspired to bring the towers down. Rahman issued a fatwa allowing bank robbery and killing of Jews, and travelled the United States and Canada giving sermons to immigrant Muslims. He preached that Americans were “…descendants of apes and pigs who have been feeding from the dining tables of the Zionists, Communists, and colonialists.” Ramzi Yousef had been with bin Laden at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, and he was the man who was sent by Rahman to drive a rented van into the basement of the World Trade Center and light fuses attached to the load of explosives. He hoped to topple the towers and kill a quarter of a million people. The explosion did destroy six stories of structural steel and cement, killed six, and injured 1042. The towers shook and swayed, but did not fall. Yousef escaped to Manila where he plotted to blow up airliners, assassinate the Pope and President Clinton, and to crash a plane into CIA headquarters.

Zawahiri appeared on a speaking tour of California mosques a month after the bombing. His bodyguard was Ali Abdelsoud Mohammed who had joined the CIA as a spy in Cairo. He was almost immediately exposed as a double agent, and he was put on a watch list to prevent him from entering the U.S. He made it into the country anyway, joined the Army, and was stationed at a special warfare center. He copied maps and training manuals, and wrote the multivolume al-Qaeda terrorists training guide. He also approached the FBI and told them the location of mujahideen training camps in Afghanistan, mentioned the name Osama bin Laden, and an organization named al-Qaeda that was operating training camps in Sudan. Zawahiri may have been willing to sell out bin Laden to get access to American intelligence through Mohammed. However, nothing came of the meeting and the report about the meeting was lost.

Zawahiri also traveled with Dr. Ali Zaki while in California. Zaki was impressed with Zawahiri’s medical knowledge and disturbed by his religious views. Zaki told him that his jihadist views ignored the teachings of several great Muslim scholars who advocated more rational views expressed in both mystical and Sufism beliefs. He told Zawahiri, “Your brand of Islam will never prevail in the West, because the best thing about the West is the freedom to choose…the Salafis didn’t convert a single person to Islam!” Zawahiri couldn’t be convinced.

Zawahiri did face the prospect of being overshadowed by the blind sheikh in importance to the radical movements. Zawahiri hadn’t been able to pull off a single successful operation while the blind sheikh had arranged the bombing of the World Trade Center and his followers were creating a rampage of murder and pillage in Egypt. The plan was to drive away tourists, the mainstay of the Egyptian economy. However, all that accomplished was to prod officials to arrest 800 members of al-Jihad. Zawahiri was forced to join with bin Laden to keep his Jihad organization alive. Zawahiri did succeed at introducing the use of suicide bombers in August 1993 when he sent a man on a bomb-laden motorcycle to kill an Egyptian minister in his car. The minister was wounded and the tactic of “martyrdom operations” was born despite the religious taboo against suicide. Zawahiri also ordered a suicide bomber to attack Egypt’s prime minister. The bomb failed to harm the prime minister, but a little girl was killed. Her coffin was carried through the streets of Cairo by people shouting “Terrorism is the enemy of God!”

Bin Laden overcame the diversity of the terrorism trainees by directing them toward America as the common enemy. He told them America appears mighty, “…but it was actually weak and cowardly. Look at Vietnam, look at Lebanon. Whenever soldiers start coming home in body bags, Americans panic and retreat. Such a country needs only to be confronted with two or three sharp blows, then it will flee in panic, as it always has.” Bin Laden’s analysis proved correct when President Clinton withdrew all soldiers from Somalia after the downing of two American helicopters and dead crewmen were dragged though the streets. There were two al-Qaeda operatives who were in Mogadishu, and they ran when the firing struck the house next to where they were hiding. However, bin Laden claimed al-Qaeda under his leadership had driven the Americans out of Somalia.

Algeria and Yemen were experiencing increasing violence and blamed bin Laden. They pressured the Saudis to put a stop to his activities. The king canceled bin Laden’s citizenship and he lashed back with open denunciation of royal corruption. The king ordered Turki to “Bring this man to heel.” They seized his business holdings and cut off his monthly stipend. He had already sunk most of his money into various bad business deals. Jamal al-Fadal, one of his most trusted men, stole $110,000 dollars and disappeared after being confronted. He became al-Qaeda’s first traitor and sold information to several intelligence organizations, including the Israelis. He received a million dollars from the Americans to become a government witness and enter protective custody. He then won the New Jersey lottery.

Bin Laden languished for several years in Sudan, and al-Qaeda had mostly come to nothing, He began to be homesick, and inquired to the Saudis whether there could be reconciliation. A journalist who was a long time friend was sent to visit him, and told him he could come home if he would formally renounce violence. Bin Laden considered the offer, but remained silent.

In 1995 a report came to the Americans that Ramzi Yousef, the man behind the World Trade Center bombing had been seen in Islamabad. A massive plan to kidnap him was put in motion by Richard Clarke and John O’Neil. Pakistan wouldn’t allow a U.S. military plane to land, so O’Neil ordered a military plane repainted as a passenger plane. The rendition was successful. O’Neil also took note of bin Laden, and understood the threat he represented. The CIA had also begun to watch him more closely, and pressured the Sudanese minister of defense to turn over the names of all mujahideen that bin Laden had brought into the country. They also pushed to have him expelled from Sudan, specifying only that they didn’t want him to go to Somalia. They were warned that he probably would go to Afghanistan, and the Americans responded, “Let him.” Bin Laden lost all of his investments in Sudan, and he left for Afghanistan with his family scattered and broken. He held America responsible.