500 words on something I learned from The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Lawrence Wright’s bestselling novel, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 is the first book that I have read regarding the attacks on the World Trade Center and the development of terrorism under Osama bin Laden. I have found myself often avoiding stories in the news regarding al-Qaeda because the history is so complex and dates back to a period before I became interested in news and definitely before I could understand foreign affairs.

            After going through The Looking Tower my belief that the history of al-Qaeda is complex is completely reiterated. So, to start at the beginning, I found it extremely interesting to examine what Wright considers, “…bin Laden’s ‘first terrorist blow’”, the National Guard Bombing. The bombing took place November 13, 1995 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The attack killed seven individuals, 5 of whom were Americans, and injured 60. Wright follows this story by saying the four men responsible for the bombing, lead by Muslih al-Shamrani, later confessed on Saudi television that they were influenced by bin Laden’s public speeches.

            Later in the novel, Wright describes the Clinton administrations view of Osama bin Laden in 1996 as an annoying public figure rather than a terrorist threat. The Clinton administration urged the Sudanese government to expel bin Laden and relocate him in Afghanistan.

When thinking about the existence of these televised confessions of people influenced by bin Laden, who was so closely tied to U.S. foreign affairs just three years later, the importance of media to provide context is highlighted. When I read about these two separate moments in the history of al-Qaeda, I feel as if the elements that led to the attacks and the coverage after the attacks did not delve far enough into the contextual history of who it was that attacked us, how long this war had been waging, and how bombings in Saudi Arabia six years prior were related.

When 9/11 struck, I was too young to really examine the news. But still years later, it seems that the news is constantly an update and does not always take the time to explain the terms of the story or the history behind the actions. I do not think that all reporters need to be investigative, but it sometimes seems that they are unable to separate their knowledge of something as complex as the middle east in a way that allows them to explain it to a less informed audience. Just as we talked about Haiti in class today, the relationship between the US and Haiti goes back to the 1700’s and will affect how we intervene during this crisis.

In a situation like 9/11 it also seems that the media was not actively piecing together a story such as al-Qaeda and makes me wonder about other stories that are in the corner of the paper that are interrelated. I am not skeptical of the news media but also believe with the constant updates and flow of information, the role of a journalist is increasingly important in deciphering the information and how relevant pieces of information mold into a cohesive context.