My Trip to Al-Qaeda

Compelling and Concise: Understanding The History, Culture, And Psychology That Led To 9/11
To be completely honest, I had very little interest in seeing another documentary film profiling Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, or even the events of 9/11. After ten years of watching every related news profile and non-narrative (and fictional) movie on these topics, I'm on complete information overload. What's left to say? I mention this in preface to my comments about Alex Gibney's "My Trip to Al-Qaeda" because the experience really took me by surprise. I found this film to be so smart, so insightful, so unusual, and absolutely riveting. I'm not prone to unnecessary hyperbole (like Best Movie Ever!), but I think this is nearly essential in understanding the history, culture and psychology that led to that fateful day. But it doesn't stop there, it offers further commentary about the aftermath of the event and critically examines actions in the war on terror that might have been a part of a master plan. And whether or not you take these conclusions as gospel, it certainly presents an...

Good documentary, but a bit of a stretch.
Overall, this is a decent documentary that sheds light on how Al Qaeda formulated. Like one other reviewer said, Lawrence Wright's monologues seem a bit forced an unnatural. The biggest criticism I have is that Wright more or less asserts that bin Laden turned on the United States because his pride was hurt when we turned down his offer to help with the invasion of Desert Storm. Maybe Wright didn't mean to state this as the only reason, but he focused on it like it was a main reason.

Superb Background
One of my students (I teach a violence and terrorism course at one of the CSU campuses) taped this from HBO for me. It is magnificent and this should receive an award. If you wonder why we have terrorism today, this tells a significant part of the story. Wright outlines how Egypt, our ally, a dictatorship, but our dictatorship, managed to turn Islamists into Jihadists. Thanks, President Carter. You managed to create Sunnis that are now willing to kill us and then in Iran, Shias willing to kill us. This should be mandatory viewing for everyone. I will buy it as soon as it is available. Very well done. TC

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