Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The War On Truth: 9/11, Disinformation And The Anatomy Of Terrorism

Rate this book
Originally intending this volume as a simple updated edition of The War on Freedom: How & Why America Was Attacked, September 11, 2001 , Ahmed (executive director, Institute for Policy Research & Development) explains that the amount of material added to his analysis of the events of the September 11 attacks justified releasing the text as a completely new book. In the work, he argues that US and Western foreign policy is the root of all aspects of the origins of the attacks from CIA promotion of Bin Laden in the 1980s to the failure of the US national security apparatus on the day itself, suggesting that the attacks may have been engineered or allowed in order to mobilize public opinion so as to expand US hegemony.

461 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2001

6 people are currently reading
197 people want to read

About the author

Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed

12 books64 followers
Nafeez Ahmed is an investigative journalist, bestselling author and international security scholar. He is the author of the forthcoming science fiction thriller, ZERO POINT.

Nafeez is an environment writer for The Guardian, the world's third most popular newspaper website, reporting on the geopolitics of interconnected environmental, energy and economic crises via his Earth Insight blog.

Nafeez has also written for the Independent on sunday, The Independent, The Scotsman, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Huffington Post, Foreign Policy, Le Monde diplomatique, The New Statesman, and Prospect Magazine, among others.

His journalistic work combines insider information from senior government, intelligence, industry and other sources with interdisciplinary analysis of specialist literature.

Nafeez is co-producer, writer and presenter of the critically-acclaimed documentary feature film, the crisis of civilization (2011), adapted from his non-fiction book, a user’s guide to the crisis of civilization: and how to save it (pluto, macmillan, 2010). The film was endorsed by BAFTA lifetime award-winning filmmaker Nick Broomfield

He is the bestselling author of The War on Freedom: How & Why America was Attacked: September 11, 2001, which won him the Naples Prize, Italy’s most prestigious literary award, in 2003. The War on Freedom (2002), the first book to critique the official narrative of 9/11, was described by Gore Vidal in the London Observer as “the best, most balanced, analysis of 9/11”.
The book is archived in the ‘9/11 commission materials’ special collection at the US National Archives in Washington DC – it was among 99 books made available to each 9/11 commissioner of the national commission on terrorist attacks upon the united states to use during their investigations.

Nafeez’s other books include The London Bombings: An Independent Inquiry (2006), which has been profiled in the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Times; The War on Truth: 9/11, Disinformation and the Anatomy of Terrorism (2005); (2003).

His latest non-fiction book, A User's Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It (2010) is a peer-reviewed academic study of the interconnections between climate change, energy depletion, food scarcity, economic meltdown, terrorism, the police-state, and war.

Nafeez and his writings are cited and reviewed in the New York times (Thomas Friedman), Sunday Times (Bryan Appleyard), Times Higher Educational Supplement, The Guardian (Steven Poole), The Independent (Yasmin Alibhai Brown), The observer (Gore Vidal), Big Issue Magazine, Vanity Fair (Christopher Hitchens), among other publications

Nafeez lives in London with his wife and children, plays guitar, and writes music in his spare time.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
41 (65%)
4 stars
14 (22%)
3 stars
5 (7%)
2 stars
1 (1%)
1 star
2 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Elliott Bignell.
321 reviews34 followers
May 7, 2022
Mosaddeq claims early in this book that some of the speculation surrounding the 11th September attacks has been "unhelpful". I would tend to agree, but I almost found myself railing at the man whose books have helped provoke so much of that speculation! Those of us who believe that there really was something suspicious about the Administration's responses to 9-11 have found Mosaddeq's books to be a valuable and disciplined resource, but so have those who in effect attributed it with a capacity for magic. This, the second in the series, is again a thorough and scholarly, if dry, catalogue of observations about the run-up to 9-11 that contrive to make a single point - the Administration was not telling the whole truth about what happened and what it knew.

First the flaw: Perhaps my critical thinking has matured in the years since I read the first book, but I noticed a weakness in Mosaddeq's case which I have often observed in creationists, AW-Deniers and other such groups. Mosaddeq poses lots of "questions", leaving the implication hanging that if the question cannot be answered, some kind of conspiracy becomes more credible as a result. I reject this kind of thinking outright and found it irritating once I perceived it. In fact, given the chaos of the day I would find it much more suspicious if every loose end were tied up as in a Victorian crime novel.

On the other hand, Mosaddeq is a relentless and thorough researcher and documents his findings exhaustively. He leaves no room for doubt at all that there is the smell of a dead rat about the events of 9-11 and the days immediately before and after. The fact of non-interception alone is dealt with thoroughly. Normally, when an aircraft deviates from its flight plan it is challenged in minutes. If it fails to respond, or any other reason arises to suspect a threat, it is normally intercepted in 10 or 15 minutes, and fighter jets carrying warshots can be scrambled if a threat is established. This is not a contingency but a routine event happening tens of times a year as a result of trivial things like instrument failure. The danger from a stray flight has been thought of, it's well known and the response is well practiced. On 9-11 these practised procedures collapsed entirely. Moreover, Administration figures claimed later to have been involved in the decision to scramble jets, although this normally happens automatically. Something is not right, and someone is not telling the truth about what really happened.

Mosaddeq documents the connections of 9-11 Commission figures to the Administration and to terrorist interests and the web of interconnections between al-Qa'eda and the state. Many states, in fact. Al-Qa'eda was born as a tool of US State policy and remained so right up to the events of that day. The question left hanging is whether it has ever stopped being one. That's a hard question in a world where the handlers of the Afghan mujaheddin worked so closely with them for so long and the Taliban have de facto control over part of Pakistan. Facile answers are likely to be misleading and one arm of the state does not always know what another is doing.

Most damningly, though, Mosaddeq traces the threads of Bush Administration policy and aspiration back to before 9-11 and even before its election and finds a group of "intellectuals" who had an agenda that 9-11 fitted very conveniently. They came to power with Iraq in their sights and when America were attacked by Saudi terrorists based in Afghanistan and trained in Germany and Florida they did what any reasonable person would do: They invaded Iraq. Mosaddeq shows that not only was this an aspiration which found the events of 9-11 condign, but that the "intellectuals" of neoconservatism just happened to want a Pearl Harbor climacteric to mobilise the nation into the phase of imperial expansion which they foresaw. This does not mean that they are complicit in 9-11 and it would be helpful if Mosaddeq were more fastidious in explaining this, but their responses to the event speak of crashing incompetence and cynical opportunism at the very best.

Mosaddeq is a serious author and this is a serious book. He refrains from nonsense about liquid thermite and secret mining of skyscrapers. If you wish to inform yourself about the side of the account which casts suspicion on the state's intentions and responses then this is an excellent source. Do keep in mind that it has that conspiracy-theoretical flaw of asking questions as if they were answers, though.
Profile Image for Christopher Rex.
271 reviews
August 28, 2011
"Here's to the land, you've torn out the heart of..."

Every American should read this book. And it is important to note immediately that this is NOT a "conspiracy theory" book. It is an expose of facts. The author does NOT claim that the US government carried out the 9-11 attacks (though, I personally cannot see how he doesn't make that connection). So, if you are a "No Way 9-11 Was an Inside Job" believer, you need not fear opening this book. All you need is even a small sense that maybe (just maybe) the US government didn't tell 100% of the truth about 9-11 (and other events). If you choose to blindly believe the government GW Bush on "all things 9-11", despite his lying about just about everything else from election fraud to Enron to the Iraq War to Katrina etc. etc. etc, this just might change your (closed) mind. It is also important to note this is NOT simple "Bush-Bashing", his analysis exposes Democrats and Republicans alike in their nefarious, sleazy ways.

A riveting, groundbreaking expose of the twisted, entangled world of the US Gov't, intelligence, military-corporate interests and the Scum of the Earth. The book is meticulously documented (using mainly "mainstream" and government sources) and clearly destroys the blatant lies of government officials in their claims that they "had no advance warning of 9-11" and "could never have imagined a planes-as-bombs scenario" (among other lies associated with the so-called War on Terror). In doing so, he unravels what is clearly a pattern of US (and western) propaganda and sleeping with the devil to achieve larger geopolitical (and economic) goals.

The author takes the reader on a whirlwind ride from the Balkans to the Caucasus to the Philippines to Central Asia outlined the clear geostrategic thinking behind securing American (and western) access to the world's diminishing oil-supplies while effectively encircling China and attempting to prevent their rise to preeminence.

This whole geostrategic thinking wouldn't necessarily be such a "bad" thing unto itself, but the reality is that in order to achieve these goals, the US (and west) has often aligned itself with The Scum of the Earth (ie Sleeping w/ the Devil). This alliance starts primarily in the USSR-Afghan War, but was continued in the post-Cold War in a near-sighted (and idiotic) strategy to maintain US global hegemony. As a result, the US has turned a blind eye to specific terrorists (and terrorist groups) and the states that sponsor them - including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and sadly elements of the US government system itself - in a belief that somehow this Scum of the Earth will eventually help to further US geopolitical goals and strategies. How else can one explain that someone who was on a US Terrorist Watch List since 1988 is somehow taking flight-training at US military academies (Mohammed Atta)? Or how can one explain a virtual stand-down by multiple US agencies, the President, Vice-President, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 9-11 (all in violation of Standard Operating Procedures)?

These disturbing facts, among thousands of others even more disturbing, are intimately exposed by the author in a manner which even the most ardent supporter of the "government theory" on 9-11 would find impossible to counter. The information therein is all pubic record, not "wild conspiracy wacko-ness"). His documentation is flawless and his argument virtually impenetrable as a result. You'll never look at the US government, acts of "terrorism" or even full-blown wars ever again. Nor should you.

The only problem w/ the book is that he casts his net a bit too wide for some folks. I enjoyed it from start to finish, but by going all over the globe in his analysis (Balkans, Caucasus etc.) he takes awhile to get to the actual events of 9-11. And, he adds a few chapters at the end which kind of drag simply b/c the preceding parts on 9-11 are so mind-blowing. The ending chapter about the US-Mexican War, Boston Massacre, Operation Northwoods, Gulf of Tonkin incident is interesting and should be known by every American, but it seemed a bit "thrown in at the end".

Essential reading. Get to it. Wake up. Real eyes realize real lies.


Profile Image for Joe Henry.
200 reviews29 followers
January 14, 2011
This is a troubling and troublesome, very disturbing book. I started and stopped reading it maybe a half dozen times. At first—maybe for the first 150 pages or so—I checked every footnote, suspicious of his sources. I kept wondering: is this a tale told with smoke and mirrors or is it a case of “where there’s smoke there’s fire”? Is this just another conspiracy theory that is fascinating but not substantial enough to make it credible? Is it worth my while? In the end, as in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, I came to feel in my heart of hearts that the American people have been defrauded and led like sheep…in this case deep into a world where national interests is spelled with just 3 letters: o-i-l.

This focus on natural resources—oil/gas—in Eurasia as central to US national interest stretches evidently back over multiple administrations, Republican and Democrat. The covert means of pursuing this “interest” through state-sponsored terrorism, however, while not new in kind in the George W. Bush administration, is notable, if not new, for its extremity. I want to say, “Say it ain’t so, Joe…and George and Dick and Donald and Colin.” But this work by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed makes the questions/hypotheses hard to ignore—unless you’re someone who is comfortable with the “stick-you-head-in-the-sand” approach to inconvenient and unpleasant truth.

For me the promo quote on the inside front cover that sums it up the best is by Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col. US Air Force (ret.), former director of Advanced Space Programs Development (“Star Wars”), Air Force Space Division, under Presidents Ford and Carter:

“The War on Truth is a monumental work of breathtaking scope and detail. Copiously documented, this book puts 9/11 in its historical context and shows that the American people have been subjected to a massive disinformation campaign. Every American interested in politics, history, and truth should read it. Of all the possible conspiracy theories about 9/11, the most unbelievable of all is the official conspiracy theory about Osama bin Laden and 19 fanatic Muslim hijackers taking the government of the United States completely by surprise and getting “lucky.” The War on Truth completely explodes this official myth and reveals the incredible hypocrisy and brazen lies of the government’s hand-picked self-investigators of the so-called ‘9/11 Commission.’ If you are a real patriot concerned for your country’s future, you must read this book and keep it handy as a reference.”

From Wikipedia.com (as of 2008 Oct 6): (For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nafeez_M...)

“Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed is a London-born author and political scientist specialising in interdisciplinary security studies. He teaches International Relations at the School of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, where he is currently engaged in Doctoral research on European imperial genocides from the 15th to the 19th centuries.

“Career: Nafeez Ahmed is a British-born Muslim of Bangladeshi ethnicity. He is the author of The London Bombings: An Independent Inquiry (London: Duckworth, 2006) and The War on Truth: 9/11, Disinformation and the Anatomy of Terrorism (New York: Olive Branch, 2005). His research on international terrorism was officially used by the 9/11 Commission in Washington DC, and on 22 July, 2005 he gave expert testimony in US Congress on the failure of Western security policies at the hearing,“9/11 Commission Report One Year Later: Did They Get it Right?”. In addition to his testimony, his written submissions on Western collaboration with Islamist terror networks were entered into the Congressional Record.”

Profile Image for Mark Welkie.
10 reviews10 followers
September 7, 2014
I missed the attacks on 9/11, learning about it after getting a phone call. I didn't know what to make of it all, but then the perpetrators made what for me was a fatal mistake. I am not an expert on anything. But ever since I saw my first controlled demolition of a standing building I have been in awe of them, watching them at every opportunity and reading all about them. When I watched the first tower collapse straight down like a perfectly executed controlled demolition a chill went through me. The idea that what I witnessed could in any possible way have happened as a result of anything
other than a well planned, well executed demolition never entered my head. When the 2nd tower came down exactly the same way I could only wonder what it all meant. This book started me on the path to 9/11 Truth. A MUST READ
Profile Image for Robert Kamer.
7 reviews
March 4, 2015
Few authors grasp the machinations behind the various wars that have brought us Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban, 9/11 and other plots and now IS. This is a complex and comprehensive account of events and decisions that led to 9/11 and its scope is breathtaking. A cornucopia of facts to battle the various fictions that surround it.
177 reviews9 followers
January 24, 2011
Very enlightening. I was not able to finish it, I had it on loan. I definitely intend to when I am able though. Highly recommended if you want to know what your leaders are *really* up to.
Profile Image for wally.
3,649 reviews5 followers
December 27, 2014
5-stars. there is a lot of information here. questions asked that everyone should ask...some have been asked...the answers haven't always been as clear.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.