The
Looming Tower (TV miniseries) 2018
The
main premise of the miniseries, The Looming Tower, based on Lawrence Wright’s
nonfiction book of the same name, is that Mohammad Atta of Egypt and his band of Saudi fedayeen aircraft hijackers
could have been nabbed before they carried out the 9/11 attacks had there been more trust and
cooperation between the CIA and the FBI. Perhaps there was no proper
appreciation of the magnitude of the danger that AL Qaeda posed to the US.
Agents
of FBI’s counter-terrorism unit (I-49) while investigating the USS Cole Attack
(October 2000) in Yemen were befuddled to note that an alleged mastermind, a one-legged Khallad, transferred some funds to Malaysia. The CIA, specifically their counter terror unit, Alec Station, had already covered and gathered intel
about this alleged Malaysian meeting in which Khalled was seen with two hijackers, Mihdhar and Al-Hazmi. But in order to maintain primacy over information they
simply blocked the sharing of photographs and other details with I-49. Had the two agencies cooperated with
each other on this, Ali Soufyan, the Lebanese-born I-49 agent and others could
have made the connection between USS Cole, Al Qaeda, the Malaysian summit and the
inordinately large number of Arab pilot trainees in US.
Mihdhar and Al-Hazmi
came to US in January 2000 and only by August 2001, could the FBI launch a manhunt
against them, but had the CIA cooperated, the two could have been intercepted before
9/11 and the big tragedy averted. That
was not to be. Even during the hearings before the 9/11 Commission, George Tenet
(CIA Director), Condoleezza Rice, and top Alec Station operatives admitted that
they failed to apprehend Mihdhar and Al-Hamza, the known Al Qaeda operatives as
they had freely entered the US, out of bona fide oversight. That they had kept
eyes on them, and still the duo managed to give Alec Station a slip was not revealed before the Commission.
The
CIA was wary that sharing intel with FBI might result in arrest by the latter of
many low-level operatives of Saudi and Yemeni origin, destabilize the House of Saud and lead
to its overthrow. The House’s close proximity to the Bushes was well known. Any danger to the House of Ibn Saud was perceived as extremely antagonistic
to long term US interests in the region. The feeling was that the US was anyways
at war, and that this should be proclaimed in unequivocal terms, and emphasis
must be placed on the elimination of Usama bin laden and top AL Qaeda leadership, and not on arresting the foot-soldiers of the movement thereby making needless low intensity noises.
After
the Embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania, Bill Clinton had authorized Operation
Infinite Reach in which cruise missiles were struck at Kosht camp (Afghanistan) and a pharma factory/leather plant in Khartoum, Sudan. The plan was to demonstrate to Al Qaeda and the world that
the US accepted the gauntlet of war against the terrorists and its determination
to act decisively against its enemies. CIA favoured a muscular response to FBI’s legalistic one.
The
Bush administration was more intent on North Korea, Iraq and Iran and somehow
did not place UBL and AQ very high on their list of priorities. Bush and
Condoleezza Rice even objected to the detailed initial briefings supposed to be given
by Richard Clarke and other senior officials. In a telling scene in the miniseries, after 9/11, Condy is even
heard suggesting to George Tenet that Rumsfeld wanted Saddam Hussian to be
connected with the Twin Tower bombings. Was it stuff of dreams, or worst
nightmare for the public officials is anyone’s guess!
Jeff
Daniels plays John O’Neill, chief of I-49, who foresaw that terrorists would
someday attack WTC again to try and accomplish the job left incomplete in 1993.
Beset with personal and debt problems, John fights his way in D.C.to get other
agencies to share intel with FBI. He investigated the WTC bombing 1993, Khobar Tower Bombing in Saudi Arabia 1996 and USS Cole attack in Yemen in 2000. Because
of his acerbic and pushy nature, he burnt many bridges and even rubbed the
Ambassador to Yemen, B.Bodine the wrong way. Finally, an internal enquiry proved
certain wrongdoings on his part and John was forced to resign. Ironically, he
became the head of security on WTC and was at work in the North Tower when the
planes rammed into thr towers. Jeff Daniels is a natural in the role.
Tahar Rahim plays Ali Soufan, the Arab speaking Lebanese American and I-49 agent, with
aplomb. Ali took leading part in USS Cole investigations and while in Yemen
after John O’Neill’s departure was a hair breath away from solving the 9/11 riddle. Later he investigated the 9/11 as well and had a major role in
Guantanamo too. His knowledge of Arabic and Islam helped him in establishing
rapport with the operatives and gleaning vital information from them. He also
represents the liberal and literal meaning of Islam in the mini-series as
against the AQ foot-soldiers, most of whom have never bothered to read the Holy
Quran.
Alec
Baldwin plays CIA director, George Tenet, while Michael Stuhlbarg plays Richard
Clarke, National Coordinator for Security. The actors playing Mohammad
Atta, Condoleezza Rice, Martin Schmidt and Arabic characters have done good jobs. Direction
and screenplay are of the highest order. The tone and tenor of the show unfold
at a perfect pace to keep the viewer hooked. One never gets lost in the
brightness of events, and the focus is maintained throughout on the rift
between the FBI and the CIA. The beauty of Americans is that unlike the Europeans they
don't get much defensive about their aggressive and manipulative role in global
affairs. This is a damn good show, and I hope they make a sequel to this one.
The
show obfuscates the answers to some main jihad-related questions. Ali Soufan in a scene claims that the mention of the promised seventy-two virgins for the martyrs is made in
the Hadith, and not in the Holy Quaran itself. Now it’s a fact that Quran doesn't
specifically mention the number, but definitely discusses the pleasures of fowl, flesh and fine to be enjoyed by
martyrs in Paradise. There is no gainsaying in pushing this fact under the
carpet. Ali Soufyan also talks about one of Prophet’s wives who was a Jew but had converted to Islam. She was asked by Mohammad to tell her detractors that ‘Aaron
is my father, Moses my prophet and Muhammad my husband.’ The miniseries delves
deep into the rise of UBL and AL Qaeda through the 90s, origins of their
enmity with the USA and the hijacking of Islam by extremists who misguide the
less literate coreligionists and use them as foot soldiers of jihad. In hindsight,9/11 looks like a self-inflicted tragedy by the
Americans, who, drunk in the arrogance of their invincibility could not foresee an
attack of such a huge magnitude by non-state actors on their own soil. UBL and
Ayman Al-Zawahiri succeeded because they had dared to conceive and execute what the
Americans had deemed well-nigh impossible.
#theloomingtower
#lawrencewright
#jeffdaniels
#alqaeda
#usamabinladen
#9/11
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