Hunting Bin Laden: How Al-Qaeda Is Winning the War on Terror

An author and journalist who's covered Afghanistan for Time, CBS News and others for more than 20 years, Schultheis (Night Letters: Inside Wartime Afghanistan) offers a devastating critique of U.S. foreign policy blunders, including his opinion that members of Saudi Arabia's royal family and the Pakistani government were the real ""powers behind 9/11."" Schultheis provides a vivid account of his experiences on the front lines, which include the brutal Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the pre-9/11 struggle ""between moderate Moslems and the Taliban and al-Qaeda,"" illustrating his contention the World Trade Center attacks were ""a sideshow"" in the long civil war between a moderate, forward-thinking Moslem majority and a minority of fanatic fundamentalists (whose main targets are other Moslems). U.S. strategies, he says, ""multiply the numbers of our enemies while doing little effective to counter the terrorist threat."" Schultheis wrote Waging Peace after spending six months with a U.S. Army Civil Affairs team working with Iraqis to rebuild a Baghdad neighborhood; he believes this kind of program could ""turn the country into a shining example of a strong, progressive Islamic state."" This passionate and persuasive book is an eye-opening personal tour for both laymen and policy wonks.