Brothers in Arms: The Story of Al-Qa'ida and the Arab Jihadists

by Camille Tawil, Robin Bray (Translation)

Examines the evolution in ideology of al-Qa'ida and fellow Arab jihadi groups since the late 1980s up to today.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[Jeff Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comprehensive look at Muslim terror cells and movements from Europe to Afghanistan. What’s interesting to note is that for some time, these terrorists has the same goals as Western Governments, the toppling of Arab dictators and other occupiers.

Getting rid of Libya’s Gaddafi, Tunisia’s Ben Ali, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, the Algerian government, and the Soviets out of Afghanistan were all major goals. Ironically, two of those governments fell without any help from them.

I think that point sets the tone for most of the book. Most of the events in the book take place pre 9/11, and most of those events are the groups forming, failing, and internal struggles that only lead to disaster. Only the last 50 pages covers post 9/11 and mostly documenting the destruction of most of these cells in the terror sweeps, stating that 9/11 has thrown much of the terror leadership into the incinerator of history.

Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaida don’t take a prominent role into the last 50 pages, even though he is mentioned throughout. If not for the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, 9/11 wouldn’t have happened and many of these terror groups wouldn’t have had a safe place to plan and train.

Even though this book was originally published in 2003 with a dated ending, it still predicts the folly of going into Iraq and ignoring Afghanistan. Even today the Afghanistan government cannot eliminate the Taliban threat. The author also highlights Bin Laden’s goal in all of his activity, to drag the United States into a protracted war in the Middle East and Afghanistan, helping to topple Arab governments that supported the United States, and villainizing all of them. Even the 9/11 report stated that we needed to have a limited activity in these events as the military presence only makes things worse. Without a common enemy, many of these terror cells would have nothing to work against.

"Bin Laden and his associates therefore decided that they had to draw the US into a conflict with the Islamists; this would force Arab governments and the religious establishments of the region to defend the Amercans, which would in turn destroy their legitimacy in the eyes of the public." P 151

The author has unprecedented access to major players and that analysis is very interesting. What western analysts would guess at, Camille Tawil would have hard evidence. Overall, a very detailed history, highly recommended for a background on Muslim terrorists, but it needs a major update to cover 2003 to present. Too much has happened and the information just becomes an interesting history on the time period, not current events.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sorry that it took me so long to review this book. It took a while to finish reading it because there is SO MUCH information. It's a fantastic book. Very, very eye-opening. Camille Tawil is quite brilliant and the information in here is interesting, scary, and enlightening.

I really think this book is for everyone. There is so much information on the story of how al-Qa'ida was formed, and it covers so many groups throughout the Arab world (and some places and people outside the arab world.) If you want to truly understand not only the Arab world, but the way underground groups throughout the world work, this is the book for you.

Thank you to Goodreads and SAQI books for choosing me as a First Reads winner of this incredibly powerful book!!!


Posted 5/2/11 -- What incredibly crazy timing!! I just started reading "Brothers in Arms" late last night (and by the way, it is very, very good so far), and then this morning I saw the news that Bin Laden is dead. I really thought I was imagining it, because I was reading the book right before I went to sleep.

Posted 3/18/11 -- I just won a copy of "Brother In Arms" by Camille Tawil through Goodreads' First Reads giveaways!! I'm really looking forward to receiving and reading this book. Thank you to 45th Parallel Communications for listing this book as a giveaway here, and thank you to Goodreads for selecting me as a winner!!

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an exhaustively detailed account of Al-Qaeda, from its origins in Afghanistan in the late 1980s into the post-9/11 "War on Terror". Osama bin Laden plays a surprisingly small role in the book; most of it centers on Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former leader of the Egypt-based group known as EIJ (and, according to some news reports, bin Laden's successor as head of Al-Qaeda.) In their early days, Al-Qaeda stood out among radical Islamic groups because they had a global agenda, whereas most groups were strictly interested in overthrowing the government of their home country.

The story is an interesting one, but the author gets excessively bogged down in detail, and getting all the way through the book was a chore. It's very dense and very dry, with lots of unnecessary details about minor squabbles within and between the various groups. Every page has at least 2-3 footnotes, with more information on the background of the hundreds of people named in the book. For someone who is serious about learning more about Islamic terrorist groups, I would definitely recommend this book, but it is not an easy one to follow.

[YYY]

Thank you First Reads for winning this free book. I will read and review soon.

[Luís Branco · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a great book to understand the development of the major Islamic terrorist group around the world.

[Pamela Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, explains a lot I did not understand before.