Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11

by Gerald Posner

Book Overview

The story of the years leading up to 9/11 is the story of what might have been, and also serves as a call to the defense of America's future. Since 9/11, one important question has persisted: What was... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375508791
• ISBN13: 9780375508790
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

An Important Book That Every American Should Read

As a detailed, carefully documented exposé of ignorance, complacency, shortsightedness and negligence, WHY AMERICA SLEPT is perhaps the most important of the recent books addressing various aspects of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.A similar case could be made for James Bovard's TERRORISM AND TYRANNY, which examines not causes but effects, specifically the government's response to 9/11, which has consisted largely of an unprecedented assault on the Bill of Rights, especially in the areas of privacy and due process. It is a vastly important book that every American ought to read.Gerald Posner's concern, however, is with life-and-death issues, primarily the question of why the intelligence community failed to discover the al-Qaeda plot to hijack civilian airliners and crash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.Although Posner's approach is generally detached and restrained, he has conceded that he was "infuriated" by some of his discoveries and "disgusted" in particular by President Clinton's failure to neutralize the threat posed by the al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. Posner provides details of opportunities to capture bin Laden, opportunities that he says Clinton either ignored or rejected. Moreover, he says, Clinton declined offers by both Sudan and Qatar to arrest bin Laden and deliver him to the United States. Perhaps for purposes of comic relief, Posner also quotes Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, as saying that as early as 1996 the administration was "trying to get bin Laden with everything we had."In this carnival of boneheadedness and floundering incompetence, Posner recounts one outrage after another. Among the worst, in terms of consequences, was the unwillingness of the FBI and CIA to cooperate and share information. Each had information of vital importance to the other, but the rules of their long-standing rivalry prohibited mature behavior. An FBI agent who asked the CIA for information about Zacarias Moussaoui received an official reprimand for doing so. Moussaoui was one of those aviation students who wanted to learn how to steer large airliners but had no interest in learning how to take off or land. The FBI agent was Coleen Rowley, one of the very few figures in this bleak history who behaved intelligently and honorably.WHY AMERICA SLEPT is filled with evidentiary specifics that attest to the thoroughness of Posner's research, and one suspects that this former Wall Street lawyer might have been happier as a prosecutor. But having turned to investigative reporting --- he is now the author or co-author of ten books --- Posner apparently finds sufficient satisfaction in fulfilling the imperative of the people's right to know, and in this book, most decisively, the people's need to know.He has pinpointed individual anomalies and systemic weaknesses that made America vulnerable to attack. This much and no more lies within the bounds of investigative reporting; readers have a shared responsi

A MUST Read!!!!

I have been reading many books on Bin Laden, Al Quada, Muslim extremist and also on the above in relation to law enforcement (CIA, FBI, INS, NSA, etc.), Our Presidential Administrations and to Congress (law makers) as it all relates to 9-11. Those books include Catastrophe by Chris Ruddy and Carl Linbacher, Jr., Breakdown by Bill Gurtz, The Sword Of the prophet by Serge Trifkovic, American Jihad by Steve Emerson, among others; and I must say this book; Why America Slept by Gerald Posner, is one of the best. It is completely documented and thoroughly sourced. It centers on the History of major terrorists attacks on the USA, and our allies in relation to the response of our intelligence agency's, State department, and the all our presidential Administration's dating from the Carter years (1976-80) to Now (2003). In Why America Slept by Gerald Posner, He details both the Political and Law enforcement's responses to Islamic based terrorism and what mistakes were made all along the way. the book does not make wild charges but details the mistakes so that we can learn from them. This book documents all of Al Quada's attacks on the US and American citizens all over the world; Documents the History of this declared war on US; and How each attack was handled my the FBI, CIA, INS And by the administrations. He shows how weak responses to terrorism emboldened the terrorists and He also documents some of the missed opportunities to get Bin Laden and Stop his organization long before 9-11. There is also a great chapter on the capture and interrogation of Abu Zubaydah which is must reading. Yes, the Book is critical; but not in any political way, there is no ax to grind hear, against any one individual or administration, its sober and reflective and is a must read for anyone and everyone who wants to know how 9-11 happened.

A carefully balanced book - just what we need post 9/11

This book does not blame any one political party - and its very political balance shows how carefully it has been constructed. Sad to say it - but this book is all too true. People forgot that religion has become a major player in why people do terrible things, and September 11, 2001 showed us that all too clearly. We can't afford to ignore such extremism in the future. We must also do something, as many specialists in DC and elsewhere are now realising, about the way in which Saudi Arabia fuels the kind of extremism that caused 9/11. Let's keep looking at the real reasons behind 9/11 - as these authors are trying to do - and learn the right lessons for the future. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)

Why America Slept - America's Alarm Clock is Clanging

Why America Slept - America's Alarm Clock is Clanging Loudly (And Boy, Are They Annoyed!)From the time of the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon to the near-assassination of former President Bush to the destruction of the World Trade Center, the footsteps of a menacing enemy have grown ever nearer, and Americans have literally slept through the warnings. They stirred at each shaking of slumber, and then promptly went back to sleep again. Posner's new book is a wake-up call, a reminder of many things that we knew, and were able to read about for ourselves, but just as quickly dismissed again, and forgot about.Ostensibly concerned with the devastation of September 11, 2001, Posner guides the reader through a crucial analysis of the relationship between America's domestic and international intelligence agencies, the CIA and FBI. He details the inner political intrigues of both agencies, and the fundamental differences in their priorities and goals that set them at odds like two dissimilar, feuding brothers, and ultimately cause them to fail the country they're sworn to protect.Posner also chronicles the most significant of the many pre-September 11 terror attacks, noting America's failure to deliver a strong, decisive response. Conservative readers, weary of the media's love affair with liberals and the Democratic party, will be delighted with the way Posner holds Clinton accountable for his apathetic responses to terrorist attacks (his answer to an attempt on the life of former President George H. Bush was to bomb an empty building in Baghdad in the middle of the night) and the many opportunities he missed to capture Usama Bin Laden.The current President Bush is not entirely let off the hook, nor is former President Ronald Reagan. There is no one in America who ultimately does not bear some responsibility for the attack, including the American people themselves. But this book is such a page-turner for those fascinated by the political intrigue, the taking-to-task of politicians and bureaucrats, and by the inside look at the behind-the-scenes bureaucracies, the secrets the media failed to properly inform the American public of, that Americans don't realize how much they are to blame until they come to Posner's bibliography at the end, and see the endless list of news stories and books they could have read to keep themselves informed, and either didn't read or had forgotten about until it was too late.So Posner reminds us of the terrorist attack on the observation deck of the Empire State Building and how it was dismissed as merely the action of a loner. He takes us back to the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, the Kenya embassies, Pan Am Flight 103, which had three CIA agents aboard coming home for Christmas. He even returns us to the Oklahoma City bombing, teases us with a few eyewitness accounts that were ignored and then shows us how the distraction with the case led to such a strain of the FBI's resources that they were unable to follow

Concise and Energetic Reporting - Valuable Read

"Why America Slept" is excellent and vital reporting of the isolated, but mutually contributing failures of management, policy, regulation, politics, will, and luck that culminated in the awful tragedy of 9/11. It is concisely told in a clean style with energy to spare. Posner starts the book with a seemingly minor event (the murder of Emir Shalabi) that turns out to have major implications in the power shift among the participants in the extreme elements in the Islamist war against the West.We also get interesting information about the events around the trial of the Blind Sheikh Omar Rahman, the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the '93 bombing of the World Trade Center, the embassy bombings, the attack on the Cole, the lessons the terrorists took from our cutting and running from Somalia, and so many more of the preliminary incidents and battles in the War on Terror. More sad than the events themselves is our collective delusion at the time that these were isolated incidents (such as the shooting on the Empire State Building Observation Deck). The author reports these events clearly and with just enough intelligent analysis and insight to show us how all these flow into the same river of violence without ever letting the narrative getting bogged down.Posner doesn't play the easy blame game of trying to make any one person or any one agency or administration THE fall guy. There are so many failures leading up to the towers crashing to the ground that each and every one of us can take at least a cupful of blame. Yes, some of our public servants and political leaders deserve barrelfuls or even a lake full of blame, but when you and I paid more attention to the OJ Simpson trial or to the circus around the murder of JonBenét Ramsey than the trial of Sheikh Rahman, well; none of us can really claim innocence because we were telling our leaders we weren't serious about this issue.We can't hide saying we weren't told. There were voices in the wilderness warning us, but we at least have to be honest enough to admit that, at the time, we really didn't want to know. We wanted to continue believing everything would be OK. We wanted to believe that the first bombing of the WTC was done by some crazy dolts who couldn't get it right. We wanted to believe everything was somehow under control. This book helps us understand the consequences of such willful ignornace.Posner gives us the facts behind the scandals that led to the Congressional attacks on the FBI and CIA that put them on a short leash and gave what amounted to aid-and-comfort to our enemies. But there were (are) also inter-agency rivalries and deep-seated distrust that kept (keeps) vital information filed away and away from where it would do good. We learn about Presidential tough talk that carefully avoided tough action because of the possible political fallout. And when a decision to get real is finally made, the bureaucracy around the President moves too slowly until the horror f