How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban & the Hijacking of Afghanistan

by Roy Gutman

Focusing principally on events and policy missteps in Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s, award-winning journalist Roy Gutman weaves a narrative that exposes how and why the U.S. government, the United Nations, and the Western media "missed the story" in the leadup to 9/11. He advances this narrative carefully and persuasively and approaches his subject with an objective, journalistic eye, drawing heavily on his own original research and extensive interviews with key players both in the United States and abroad. Arguing that the U.S. government made a strategic mistake by categorizing bin Laden's murderous assaults prior to 9/11 as terrorism, he ultimately concludes that the core failure was in the field of U.S. foreign policy. Sure to attract a wide audience, this first-rate, deeply engaging volume makes a highly original contribution to our understanding of the events and mistakes that ultimately led to 9/11 and offers much-needed insight so that such a story is not missed again.

Genres: History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2008

About the author

Journalist and author. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, the George Polk Award for foreign reporting, the Selden Ring Award for investigative reporting, and a special Human Rights in Media Award from the International League for Human Rights.

Reviews

[Marika Kakaladze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice one 💫

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkably well detailed and research on how a country came to be controlled by a terrorist and how the world media and governments missed it, or did not care.
The suffering of the population was on a scale with Darfur or Rawanda, yet it never made the conscience of the wine and brie circuit. This failure lead to the most horrific act of terrorism.