Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11

by Gerald Posner

Since 9/11, one important question has What was really going on behind the scenes with intelligence services and government leaders during the time preceding that terrible day? After an eighteen-month investigation, Gerald Posner reveals much previously undisclosed information, including details about a secret deal between Saudi Arabia and Osama bin Laden; how the U.S. government missed several chances to kill or capture bin Laden; how the CIA tracked–and then lost–two of the hijackers when they entered the United States months before the attacks; the devastating consequences of the crippling rivalry between the CIA and FBI; and the startling account of top al Qaeda captive whose information subsequently led to a trail of mysterious deaths of Saudi Arabian princes and Pakistani military leaders.
Why America Slept exposes the frequent mistakes made by law enforcement and government agencies, and demonstrates how the failures to prevent 9/11 were tragically not an exception but typical. In the end, Posner makes a damning case that the terrorist attacks could have been prevented.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Terrorism, True Crime, Military Fiction, Political Science

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Gerald Posner is an award winning journalist, bestselling author and attorney. The Los Angeles Times dubs him "a classic-style investigative journalist." "His work is painstakingly honest journalism" concluded The Washington Post. The New York Times lauded his "exhaustive research techniques" and The Boston Globe talked of Posner's "thorough and hard-edge investigation." "A meticulous and serious researcher," said the New York Daily News.

Posner's first book, Mengele, a 1986 biography of the Nazi "Angel of Death” Josef Mengele, was the result of a pro-bono lawsuit Posner brought on behalf of surviving twins from Auschwitz. Since then he has written ten other books from the Pulitzer Prize-finalist Case Closed, to bestsellers on political assassinations, organized crime, national politics, and 9/11 and terrorism. His upcoming God’s Bankers has spanned nine years of research and received early critical praise.

ohn Martin of ABC News says "Gerald Posner is one of the most resourceful investigators I have encountered in thirty years of journalism." Garry Wills calls Posner "a superb investigative reporter. "Posner, a former Wall Street lawyer, demolishes myths through a meticulous re-examination of the facts," reported the Chicago Tribune. "Meticulous research," Newsday.

Anthony Lewis in The New York Times: "With 'Killing the Dream, he has written a superb book: a model of investigation, meticulous in its discovery and presentation of evidence, unbiased in its exploration of every claim. And it is a wonderfully readable book, as gripping as a first-class detective story."

"What we need is a work of painstakingly honest journalism, a la Case Closed, Gerald Posner's landmark re-examination of the assassination of John F. Kennedy," concluded Joe Sharkey in The New York Times.

Gene Lyons, in Entertainment Weekly: "As thorough and incisive a job of reporting and critical thinking as you will ever read, Case Closed does more than buttress the much beleaguered Warren Commission's conclusion ….More than that, Posner's book is written in a penetrating, lucid style that makes it a joy to read. Even the footnotes, often briskly debunking one or another fanciful or imaginary scenario put forth by the conspiracy theorists, rarely fail to enthrall...Case Closed is a work of genuine patriotism and a monument to the astringent power of reason. 'A'"

Jeffrey Toobin in the Chicago Tribune: "Unlike many of the 2,000 other books that have been written about the Kennedy assassination, Posner's Case Closed is a resolutely sane piece of work. More importantly, 'Case Closed' is utterly convincing in its thesis, which seems, in light of all that has transpired over the past 30 years, almost revolutionary....I started Case Closed as a skeptic - and slightly put off by the presumptuous title. To my mind historical truth is always a slippery thing. The chances of knowing for sure what happened in any event - much less one as murky as the Kennedy assassination - seem remote. But this fascinating and important book won me over. Case closed, indeed."

Based in the mixed realms of politics, history, and true crime, his articles - from The New York Times to The New Yorker to Newsweek, Time and The Daily Beast - have prompted Argentina to open its hidden Nazi files to researchers; raised disturbing questions about clues the FBI missed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; sparked a reinvestigation of the Boston Strangler; and exposed Pete Rose's gambling addiction, which led to his ban from baseball.

Posner was one of the youngest attorneys (23) ever hired by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. A Political Science major, Posner was a Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (1975), where he was also a national debating champion, winner of the Meiklejohn Award. At Hastings Law School (1978), he was an Honors Graduate and served as the Associate Executive Editor for the Law Review. Of Counsel to Posner & Ferrar

Reviews

[Regan Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Answer: Stove-piping, interagency turf wars, political correctness, Clinton's preoccupation with his scandals.

[Dr.J.G.]

It ought to be interesting to read more on the subject - there was Moore's Fahrenheit 911 (film and book), giving details about various factors of the whole event pointing to suspicious circumstances, to say the very least; and then there was an information channel documentary dramatised with actors to tell the story of how Ahamadshah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir who had been fighting the Taliban, had warned US and asked for help. He knew he would be assasinated by them and had said, when this does take place, it would be a matter of days until a major attack on US takes place. He was blown up on september 9th, and barely two days later came the attack on US.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated but interesting to see how bureaucratic incompetence and lack of imagination resulted in lack of preparation for the attacks. Specifically FBI management would not support a warrant requested by the Minneapolis office to search the computer of the "20th hijacker."

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, seriously. Fuck. Review to come.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Makes a very strong argument for a catalogue of errors by all the authorities involved in the lead up to 9/11. There are lots of names mentioned along the way which is confusing at times.

[Clay H · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, this book has a lot of information. The information is helpful in understanding the main points of the book but can be a lot to process. Second, the timeline of events and “mistakes” in the book was opposite of how I expected it to be. I expected it to be the earliest events/“mistakes” leading up to 9/11 but it was the reverse. Third or lastly, the author did lay a little strong in some areas and not touch other areas. There were areas that went deep into information and some where it just felt sprinkled in. Overall a good book to understand some of the “mistakes” of the federal government leading up to 9/11 and how future events could be stopped or investigated.

[Mike S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why America Slept is a book by Gerald Posner, probably best known for his book about the JFK assassination, Case Closed. The book was published in 2003 and details the lead-up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and what was known and missed by various entities, both in the US and overseas. Posner, in the author's note at the beginning of the book, states that he began investigating the attacks relatively shortly after they occurred. Of course, twenty years later a lot more is publicly known than was known in 2001-2003 when Posner was investigating and writing this book, but Posner was able to uncover a lot.

Posner argues that if the various agencies like the CIA, FBI, and INS would have worked together and not ignored red flags, if the Clinton and Bush administrations had done a better job going after al-Queada, and if local law enforcement in NY would have done a better job investigating what was essentially an al-Queada cell (although loosely affiliated) that pulled off the 1993 WTC bombing and the murder of the head of the Jewish Defense League a few years before that, 9/11 may have been prevented.

The book is relatively short, about 240 pages overall. Most fast readers can probably finish the book in a day or two (at most). The substantive portion of the book is just under 200 pages, then there are several pages of notes, a bibliography, and an index. The main text includes some footnotes that flesh out the material in the text, then there are a bunch of endnotes that mainly cite specific sources, but a few of the endnotes also provide some additional context to the main text. It is absolutely a book that I consider to be a must-read, even if you are someone who has read many of the other books and/or watched evens some of the many documentaries about 9/11.

[Adrian]

An investigation into how US intelligence missed the WTC attacks. Published in 2003 this book has now been superceded by others on the case of the 19 hijackers but Posner's longer view of history that looks at CIA-FBI antagonism, Clinton administration lack of focus and even how the Timothy McVeigh bombing through things off course is still pertinent. It's also clear we still don't know to what extent the Saudi royal family were involved.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last chapter is jaw-dropping. After the capture of Abu Zubaydah, CIA interrogators spared no expense in setting up an atmosphere that made him think he was handed over to Saudi Arabia. Instead of fearing an execution or torture, he calms down and gives his interrogators telephone numbers of Saudi royals who would vouch for him, assuming that he will soon be released. This says a lot about the relationship between al Qaeda and the Saudis.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A excellent book that looks into why we where attacked on September 11th and the start of the War on Terror.

[Dick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again - hard facts, well researched and exposes the total lack of political will or spine with regard to our political "leaders."

[Kathy Scantle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and informative!

[Christineporeba · Rating 4 out of 5]

terrifying

[Norbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read.