The Al Qaeda Reader or The March Up

The Al Qaeda Reader

Author: Raymond Ibrahim

The global war on terror is not just a military conflict but a war of ideas. Indeed it is in some respects primarily an ideological struggle.  Yet it is a war we cannot win without a broader understanding of al-Qaeda's goals and motives.
What do our enemies believe?  What motivates their war against the West?  What is their vision of the ideal Islamic society?  Surprisingly, more than five years after 9/11, there is very little understanding of these questions. 
Despite our tendency to dismiss Islamic extremism as profoundly irrational, al-Qaeda is not without a coherent body of beliefs.  Like other totalitarian movements, the movement’s leaders have rationalized their brutality in a number of published treatises.  Now, for the first time, The Al Qaeda Reader gathers together the essential texts and documents that trace the origin, history, and evolution of the ideas of al-Qaeda founders Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden. 
This extraordinary collection of the key texts of the al-Qaeda movement—including incendiary materials never before translated into English—lays bare the minds, motives, messages, and ultimate goals of an enemy bent on total victory. Al-Qaeda’s chilling ideology calls for a relentless jihad against non-Muslim "infidels," repudiates democracy in favor of Islamic law, stresses the importance of martyrdom, and mocks the notion of "moderate" Islam.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of these works is how grounded they are in the traditional sources of Islamic theology: the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet. The founders of al-Qaeda use thesesources as powerful weapons of persuasion, reminding followers (and would-be recruits) that Muhammad and his warriors spread Islam through the power of the sword and that the Koran is not merely allegory or history but literal truth that commands all Muslims to action.
In addition to laying bare al-Qaeda’s ultimate motives, The Al Qaeda Reader includes the organization’s propagandist speeches, which are directed primarily at Americans, Europeans, and Iraqis. Here, al-Qaeda’s many "official" accusations against the West are meticulously delineated, from standard complaints such as the Palestinian issue and Iraq to wholly unexpected ones concerning the U.S.’s exploitation of women and the environment.
Taken together, the Theology and Propaganda sections of this volume reveal the most comprehensive picture of al-Qaeda to date. They also highlight the double-speak of bin Laden and Zawahiri, who often say one thing to Muslims in their religious treatises ("We must hate and fight the West because Islam commands it") and another in their propaganda directed at the West ("The West is the aggressor and we are fighting back merely in self-defense").
Westerners from across the political spectrum will be fascinated and enlightened by The Al Qaeda Reader’s insights into the nature of Islamic texts and the ways in which al-Qaeda has used these texts to manufacture hatred against our civilization and our way of life.

The Washington Post - Steven Simon

Raymond Ibrahim, an archivist at the Library of Congress, has cobbled together the third anthology of bin Laden's pronouncements of which I'm aware. It largely overlaps the others, but usefully includes the editor's translations of al-Zawahiri's manifestos, in addition to bin Laden's. The organization of the book is thematic, rather than chronological, which is also useful, but which will make it hard for readers interested in the development of jihadist thought to discern its trajectory. For this, readers should turn to Bruce Lawrence's Messages to the World (2005)…The usefulness of anthologies such as this one is generally thought to lie in the importance of better knowing the enemy. But winning a war of ideas also requires understanding how others see us—and why it resonates with so many whose hearts and minds we are battling for. I'm reminded of a Hellenistic tombstone from Egypt that depicts a reclining skeleton and the phrase gnothe seauton: "know thyself." That's part of the challenge bin Laden poses to us.

Read also The Political Economy of East Asia or Age Discrimination

The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division

Author: Bing West

With unprecedented access and previously unreported detail, here is a first hand account of the 22-day march to Baghdad that takes you behind the scenes and to the front line...

No one reporting on the war in Iraq had the unique battlefield clearance afforded the authors of this dramatic eyewitness account. Unlike embedded journalists confined to a single unit, West and Smith acquired a captured yellow SUV and joined with whatever unit was leading the assault every day of the fight. The result is a report of what really happened from the heart of the action unlike anything you’ll read anywhere else.

“While we will move swiftly and aggressively against those who resist, we will treat all others with decency, demonstrating chivalry and soldierly compassion for people who have endured a lifetime under Saddam’s oppression.”—Major General J.N. Mattis, 1st Marine Division, Commanding

Here is the story that can be told only by those who actually witnessed the action of the famed 1st Marine Division’s march on Baghdad, from the shaky beginning of U.S. operations in southern Iraq to the capture of U.S. prisoners, the misreported “fierce Iraqi resistance,” and the aggressive assaults that led to a quick and decisive victory.

With over a half century of military and combat experience between them, bestselling author F. J. “Bing” West and Major General Ray L. Smith, USMC (Ret.), combine expert military analysis with dramatic battlefield reporting. They bring the reader on a march that ended in victory—but was shadowed by second-guessing, unexpected reversals, and the threat ofcatastrophe.


With access to three-star generals in the command centers and to privates in the field, the authors reveal how the strategic plan played out in battle, showing what went well and what failed, and detailing power struggles for military and political control never reported. The result is destined to become the definitive account of ground warfare in Iraq.

The Washington Post

The March Up should be required reading for everyone serving in the armed forces -- and for anyone exercising policy influence over the institution they serve. — Chris Bray

What People Are Saying

James Schlesinger
"This book will stand as the definitive account about the nature of ground combat as we enter the 21st century. A gripping and honest account of war as told by two distinguished veterans."
—former Secretary of Defense and former Director of Central Intelligence

John McCain
"This is the face of war as only those who have fought it can describe it."

Anthony C. Zinni
"An important and unflinching chronicle of contemporary warfare. Regardless of one's position on the war in Iraq-on any war-The March Up speaks with authority and legitimacy and cuts to the very bone to reveal the experience of the modern fighting infantryman."
—General, USMC (Ret.), former Commander in Chief, Central Command

Table of Contents:

	Commanding general's message to all hands
1	The Crown Jewel	7
2	Ambush alley	31
3	A land the color of dust	49
4	Screeching to a halt	73
5	The Afak drill	87
6	The non-pause pause	99
7	The making of veterans	113
8	Across the Tigris	133
9	Run and gun	153
10	Ring around Baghdad	167
11	Assault into Baghdad	189
12	Seizing the snoozle	209
13	A tyrant falls	231
	The mayors of summer	251
	Organization for combat	267