April 18, 2011
In this scattershot exposé, Fox News reporter Herridge surveys a grab bag of terrorist incidents involving American citizens, including accused Fort Hood mass murderer Nidal Hasan, Times Square attempted bomber Faisal Shahzad, "Jihad Janes" Colleen LaRose and Jamie Paulin-Ramirez. Connecting these individuals is now-exiled Yemeni-American imam Anwar al-Awlaki, who allegedly led an al-Qaeda "support cell" for the September 11 attackers, coached the "Underwear Bomber," made lecture tapes that inspired other jihadists, and consorted with prostitutes. Though disorganized and repetitive, Herridge's investigation raises serious questions about the failure of the FBI and others to capture al-Awlaki and his associates. Unfortunately, she frequently veers off to mount inconsistent attacks on Obama's policies, insinuating that the president is both coddling terrorism detainees and persecuting them like a "communist" tyrant. Herridge's findings are fascinating and important, but she loses the thread in moments of melodrama or irrelevanceâincluding seven breathless pages on her struggle to download an al-Awlaki tape from the Web. Photos.
May 1, 2011
Solid account of the growing threat of homegrown terrorists.
In 2009, FBI director Robert Mueller stated that American-born recruits to al-Qaeda posed a "real and growing" danger to the United States. Drawing on a six-month investigation for Fox News, where she is a national correspondent covering homeland security and the intelligence community, Herridge debuts with a revealing report on a new generation of terrorists and the American-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has inspired many of them to commit violent acts. Now believed to be in Yemen, al-Awlaki was targeted for killing by the U.S. government in 2010. He is linked to three of the 9/11 hijackers, the massacre at Foot Hood, the attempted Christmas Day 2009 bombing and the cargo printer plot in October 2010. Drawing on documents and interviews, the author shows how the charismatic al-Awlaki has become a leading al-Qaeda propagandist, using the Internet to recruit alienated American youths, many newly arrived in America, to join the terrorist cause. There are several hundred important jihadist websites, and al-Awlaki crafts messages ("44 Ways to Support Jihad," etc.) for them using rap music and other Western marketing techniques. His target audience consists of under-30 individuals who are unsure of their identity and welcome a chance to connect anonymously online. In recounting al-Awlaki's activities and the stories of young jihadists, Herridge notes that homegrown terrorists are often U.S. passport holders who travel abroad for training, and Americans who are radicalized at home in chat rooms. She offers evidence that al-Awlaki may have been part of a terrorist cell within the United States that paved the way for 9/11, and that American officials may have tried to turn the cleric into an informant.
A sobering view of why the 9/11 nightmare continues a decade later.
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June 15, 2011
The killing of Osama bin Laden by a team of U.S. Navy Seals in a compound near Pakistan's capital ended the career of al-Qaeda's notorious leader; however, new leaders emerge. One leader is Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born Yemeni cleric who has been linked to, among others, three of the 9/11 hijackers and to Major Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 personnel at Fort Hood in 2009. Herridge (national correspondent, Fox News) recounts the story of al-Qaeda's American recruits by focusing on the case of al-Awlaki and bases her account on Fox News reports as well as her travels across the United States and Yemen and to Guantanamo Bay to interview a handful of U.S. law enforcement and security agents. She did not interview any of the radicalized Americans. VERDICT Herridge writes with a sensationalist approach, unlike J.M. Berger in Jihad Joe, reviewed above, and does not provide much analysis or insight. Both books are largely descriptive and anecdotal, but Berger's is the better choice for those seeking journalism that is more objective and somewhat broader and deeper in scope. Fans of Fox News may want to seek out Herridge's book.--Nader Entessar, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile
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