Looming Towers

Political Science - 1

The Looming Towers

From the moment that terrorists from al-Qaeda crashed the first plane into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center a new story began. This new story of international war would consume America for almost ten years. The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright is a collection of stories and vital information that explains the events leading to that clear, blue, fateful Manhattan morning in September 2001. This book is a clear and gripping account of the life and times of Osama bin Laden and the reasoning behind his ideologies. This book tells us the story of Bin Laden from his early days of fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan, to his re-exile to Taliban Afghanistan where he plotted the fall of the looming towers, to his escape to Tora Bora. In order to understand Bin Laden’s ideologies, religious beliefs and agenda against America, the author of The Looming Tower tells us the story of Sayyid Qutb. He seems to have a lot in common with Bin Laden and came to be a good influence in his path to al-Qaeda. Qutb opposed Communist and Capitalist systems. He also thought that Christianity was powerless in comparison to Islam. He believed Islam was a complete system with laws, social codes, economic rules and its own method of government. Going through the pages of the first chapter, I could not avoid finding a resemblance between Qutb’s and Bin Laden. However, Bin Laden took Qutb’s beliefs to a dangerous extreme. Wright does an amazing job explaining Bin Laden’s background. Bin Laden’s father built a company out of hard work and even became a favorite of the monarchy of Saudi Arabia. According to Wright through his clever alliance with powerful foreign corporations, “Bin Laden’s father began diversifying his company named “BinLaden Kaiser” which became one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the world” (Wright p.77). The Bin

Political Science - 2

Laden’s became a well known family and Osama was...