The 9/11 Commission Report: The Attack from Planning to Aftermath

by Philip D. Zelikow

“A document of historic sweep and almost unprecedented detail.”― Washington Post Published for the tenth anniversary of 9/11, this new edition of the authorized report is limited to the Commission’s riveting account―which was a finalist for the National Book Award―of the attack and its background, examining both the attackers and the U.S. government, the emergency response, and the immediate aftermath. It includes new material from Philip Zelikow, the Commission’s executive director, on the Commission’s work, the fate of its recommendations, and the way this struggle has evolved right up to the present day.

Genres: History, True Crime, Nonfiction

656 pages, Paperback

First published August 8, 2011

About the author

Philip D. Zelikow is an American diplomat, academic and author. He has worked as the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, and Counselor of the United States Department of State. He is the White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia and was American Academy in Berlin Axel Springer Fellow in the autumn of 2009. He has written on terrorism, national security, public policy, peace settlements of WW1 and many significant events of the 20th century.

Reviews

[Rosianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

An absolutely brilliant, thorough, clearly written and thankfully jargon free account of both the historical events in the decade or so leading up to the attacks on the WTC towers and the events that followed. Although parts are particularly harrowing (with phone call transcripts and such) the most difficult part of this book is stopping yourself from becoming frustrated at the lack of communication between certain agencies or the fact that certain signs of such an attack were there but either unnoticed or not taken as gravely as they might have been. The book helps by reminding its readers of the benefits and failures of hindsight when analysing the lead up to 9/11 and the afterword breaks down the practical reaction to the commission report effectively. For any interested on the subject of US government from the past 20 years or specifically al Qaeda this is a worthwhile read.

[Pete Kerksiek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I read this book I thought I knew everything there was to know about 9/11. I knew nothing!

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

BLUF: all Americans over the age of 40 should read this. Thought I would skim read the 9/11 Commission report but I quickly realized that I was being sucked in by the authors. Initially, I was surprised by the very large staff listed in the front of the report but it didn't take long to realize that the Congress did this act very well. The text of the report is very thorough (but not excessive), and is exceptionally well written. Having been an Army leader (company commander) when 9/11 hit us all, the emotions of the day hit me once again as the Commission's report worked through all the details. Most surprising was the actions of the 911 operators when the calls started coming in that something hit the first tower in NYC. Apparently some of the replies were to remain in the towers until others above the damaged section could be evacuated. Certainly not blaming those decisions as no one had experienced such an event previously and few expected the towers to fall. While 3000+ plus did perish in the towers when they fell, I do find it amazing that the first responders safely evacuated thousands of others in the time they had. The loss of life could easily have been several times worse if those responders didn't react the way that they did. Overall, an amazing historical document that should be read by more people.

[Jakob Jasin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is powerful. It thoroughly analyzes global trends and events up to and immediately following 9/11, including the life of Usama bin Laden, and how his type of radical thinking was allowed to flourish and why it was able to gain influence. This book allowed me to glimpse into the atrocity that I had never remembered, and because of this book, I will remember it forever.

[Jarred Goodall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a solid analysis of pre, actual, and post 9/11. I found it difficult to contemplate the afterword in some spots, but the authors tackle a complicated subject, and provide a fair and understandable analysis.

[Stanley Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great work by the commission.

[ػᶈᶏϾӗ]

TLDR version: The terrorists won.

Why would I say that? Let me begin by saying this is a spectacular book. One of the blurbs says it's the best book written by a committee since the King James Bible, and I'm willing to bet that's true. The "house style" adopted by the committee is fresh and simple, accessible. Part of the reason the terrorists win is because, frankly, this book was supposed to be read by every conscientious participant in our alleged democracy. Republic. Whatever. Reading the lessons and recommendations from this commission, I can guess that most people haven't even seen this book in the bookstore. No matter how good the house style is, this is a book that was in vogue around 2004 when it was published and hasn't been read, or much thought about, since.

Some of the perspective of this book is downright frightening. While the commission admits that it couldn't find out everything, it was able to reconstruct an incredibly detailed narrative. Seeing the lives and actions of the hijackers did not come as a comfort to me; I found it disturbing that the daily lives could be inferred so well. By logical extension, that means *anyone's* life can be reconstructed by the government with such particular detail. After all, while many of these hijackers were being watched, nobody was exactly sure what they were doing. Intel gathers much, much more information than it analyzes. It felt uncanny to read about the lives of these fanatics, as if I could almost see my own life from the government's eyes. That is creepy and wrong. I get that a) I am ostensibly nothing like these dudes and b) the reader isn't supposed to empathize with these characters. Coming from a literary perspective, though....

Lastly and most importantly, however, the terrorists win because they have achieved their objectives. Was their objective to overcome the United States by force? No. They had/have insufficient forces, vehicles, and technology to launch anything remotely like an invasion. They are not a conventional army. Their tactics are psychological. The goal is to create an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty that undermines our political system. The PATRIOT Act did a good job of rewriting the domestic rules of our freedom. Do the terrorists hate us for our freedoms? Hardly. Different cultures have a different idea of freedoms to begin with, and our ideas are as unintelligible to them as theirs are to us - FFS, the ideas of freedoms between democrats and republicans are hardly intelligible. So. All this about security, about "making America safe again," about restoring law and order, about empowering our police, it's by and large a reaction to 9/11. The commission talks about overseas strategies, revamping the intel community, working with Muslim allies. But all the foreign policy stuff got chucked out the window once ISIS started executing attacks on the regular.

The hawks are winning. They *will* win. There's too much support for taking the fight to the enemy, even if it costs us everything we stand for. Slowly, this war will turn America into something it has long been in danger of becoming. When you play into the enemy's hands, they win. The commission saw that - nobody else seems to be conscious of the fact. But fear is powerful, and today fear spreads like never before.

This book truly marks a phase change.