Al Qaeda Declares War: The African Embassy Bombings and America’s Search for Justice

Hoffman, a former Canadian intelligence officer, presents a successful, suggestive, and significantly overlooked operation in the U.S. war on terrorism. On August 7, 1998, the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were destroyed in simultaneous, sophisticated bombing attacks mounted by a then unknown organization called al-Qaeda. More than 200 were killed and over 4,000 wounded, mostly local citizens. The Clinton administration launched futile missile attacks at near-random targets, but the serious work was done by the FBI. Treating the sites as crime scenes, the Bureau mounted “the largest overseas deployment in its history,” leading to arrests in half a dozen countries. In February 2001 four suspects were brought to trial in New York; those trials form the heart of this book. Hoffman focuses less on details of testimony and procedure than on the motives of the accused and the nature of their organization. True believers with “moral justification for inherently immoral positions,” they received life sentences. More significant, however, is Hoffman’s assertion that America’s legal system was adaptable and effective while maintaining respect for the defendants’ dignity and rights, which the author repeatedly contrasts with politicians’ post-9/11 fear-driven abandonment of “their moral obligation to the Constitution.” (June)