Crescent Moon Rising

By Kerry B. Collison

At a time when Australians are wavering in support of a proposed US-led invasion of Iraq, more than six hundred US Marines rotating on R & R in Bali suddenly disappear; then, Kuta erupts in a fireball and Australia falls into line with America's demand to become part of the 'Coalition of the Willing'. Based on indisputable fact, a step by step account of the Bali bombers, the rise of extremist Islamic militancy across Asia and what the future might hold when terror is unleashed on Australia's doorstep, 'Crescent Moon Rising' relates the rise of militant Islam across Asia and how the US and other foreign intelligence agencies missed opportunities to arrest not only the instigators of the September 11 attacks on the USA but also those who created the Jemaah Islamiyah and carried out the Bali bombings. The Bojinka Plot is uncovered in Manila but the US ridicules the contents found on a white Toshiba laptop discovered after an apartment fire. The computer files lay out an assassination plot against the Pope who would visit that week, and the detailed plan to hijack 11 aircraft and crash these into the World Trade Towers and other US targets. The timing of this event was January 1995.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1921030399
• ISBN13: 9781921030390
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Sid Harta Publishers
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Disturbing reading

I have to say first that I was given this book for Christmas and I had not heard of it before. My initial reaction to the cover was suspicion that this was a cheap sensationalist effort and the picture of the author did not reassure me (apologies to the author). Having stated my prejudices, I have to say that I found myself turning the pages rapidly. It is an easy and enticing read, constructed as it is, of short segments dealing with characters, events and relationships that reappear through the book. By the final chapters, much of my initial suspicion was replaced with an awareness that this was written by someone who has a lot of personal inside information. That much of what is presented is plausible and disturbing. For the importance of this insight into a history of events which are shaping our world I have given the book its 4 stars. That is not to say that I necessarily think the book is great literature. I don't for example think that the blend of factual journalism and fictional narative are blended convincingly. Also one is constantly wondering where the facts end and the fiction begins which tends to undermine the credibility somewhat. Having said all that, I believe the most important aspect of this book is that it makes you think! And certainly a few beaurocrats and politicians should be losing some sleep over it!

Essential reading ( Washington Defense and Foreign Affairs)

Defense & Foreign Affairs [Washington D.C.] Special Analysis Volume XXIII, No. 98 October, 2005 New Study Maps Complex Web of Nationalist, Islamist Links and History of Indonesian, SE Asian Terrorism Analysis. Staff Report. A new book by veteran intelligence officer and author Kerry Collison1 has emerged as essential reading for any analyst or official attempting to make comprehensible the complex, and often contradictory, web of historical factors and relationships which led to the two sets of terrorist bombings in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002 and 2005, and the array of terrorist and nationalist unconventional warfare undertakings in Indonesia and across South-East Asia over the past few decades. The study makes clear that Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and its related organizations, such as Laskar Jihad (LJ) and Abu Sayyaf, are far from finished in their mission, or their relationship with the global al-Qaida movement, and remain sustained by many aspects of the nationalist and economic societies they seek to destroy. The book, Crescent Moon Rising,2 was, like a number of Collison's books, written as a "fact-based political thriller" to enable the author to get around Indonesia's delicate libel laws as well as to place all the historical facts into a narrative matrix which allows the broad sweep of cultures, historical developments, and characters within a framework where the events, and people, start to make sense. For the professional intelligence reader, the fictional narrative used to bind the historical data into a context does not get in the way of Collison's case presentation, but makes it easy reading and a way to get analysts - even those only marginally familiar with Indonesian history and politics - into a frame of reference which makes the topic intelligible. Collison has decades of experience in Indonesia, and knows virtually all of the key players on all sides of the Indonesian military and intelligence spectrum, for example. This earlier had made him perhaps the first commentator to highlight the fact that current Indonesian Pres. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would rise to the national leadership. Among the things which Collison highlights are: 1. The firm and clear linkage between the Indonesian Islamist movements and the al-Qaida movement of Osama bin Laden and the less-than-formal, and always fluid, way in which targeting, inter-group cooperation, and financing are achieved; 2. The linkage between the terrorist groups and some key elements of the Indonesian National Military Forces (TNI: Tentara Nasional Indonesia) in the constant battle for power between the "Red and White" (nationalist) and "Green" (Islamist) elements of the TNI; 3. The rôle of South-East Asian-based front companies in financing and logistical support for terrorist and insurgent groups across the region, linking Islamist activities in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Australia; 4. The breakdowns in trust and intelligence exchanges betw