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Title: The Jihad Next Door: The Lackawanna Six and Rough Justice in an Age of Terror
ISBN: 1586484036
Author:
Dina Temple-Raston
Publicate Date: 2007-09-10
Publish: 2007-09-10
List Price: $26.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $0.41
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.41
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.40
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Solid, but wanting in some ways
I was on the 3-4 star borderline with this, and ultimately went down a star for two reasons. One is that enough people will 4- or 5-star it anyway. The other, more importantly, is that given Temple-Raston's background and experience, she could have done more.
One main thing lacking? More conversation with the group's lawyers. T-R never even names the lawyer for Faysal Galab, the first of the Six to plead, despite the Six's lawyers' pledge not to cut separate deals.
Second, the "ideological detonators" chapter was only loosely connected with the rest of the book; and, it was too short to go into enough depth on this issue.
Above all (and there may be government restrictions on this), interviews with the Six themselves are skimpy. But, if T-R couldn't interview them, she could have talked more with the families.
Or, what about Needham? Or somebody off the record out of the Buffalo FBI office? Or a retired agent from that office?
If you're going to write about the "detonators," anyway, you should, I would think, do more analysis of effective or ineffective FBI tactics are.
Part of me feels like reviewer B. Colson, too; continuity was sometimes hard to come by in the book.
The book does do a decent background setting of Lackawanna itself, as well as with Yemen.
In short, this is probably a good starter book about the anomie of second- or third-generation immigrant Muslim-Americans, but only a starter book.
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2: Don't be mislead by the title. . . .
I bought this book excited to learn something new about the war on terrorism, particularly through a case involving US citizens. Living in a city where homegrown terrorist Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building to prove a point, it hits home with me.
Though this book reads quickly, I agree with another reviewer that it does jump around a bit and never really focuses on one thing. People who aren't versed in the history of the case but are interested in learning something, this is not the book for you. To me, it seems like it's more about the injustices that are happening in the post-9/11 days but the author just hints at it, rather that focusing on it. I'd recommend "The Looming Tower: Al-Queda and the Road to 9/11" for true insight into the motivations behind terrorists intent of destroying America.
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3: Duped?
Being from Lackawanna, I felt the book was largely on the mark for describing the community and the Arabian populations assimilation, or lack thereof. I am still struck with wonder how the Arab brethren now jailed, 6, could not have realized the import of their adventure in Afghanistan in the months before 9/11. They now have plenty of time to ponder thier treasonous neglect. It is difficult to feel sympathy for them, and the book correctly did not overtly try to extract it. Arabs must learn to become Americans first, and Muslims second.
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4: The Danger of Innocence in America
Having grown up in suburb of Buffalo next door to Lackawanna and being an advocate for peace and justice, a book about the Lackawanna Six jumped off the shelf into my hands. And once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. Reading more like a good mystery than the well-researched investigative reporting that it reflected, this book kept me intrigued and reading well past my regular bedtime.
Dina Temple-Raston, National Public Radio's FBI correspondent and critically acclaimed, award-winning author of several books including Justice in the Grass, In Defense of Our America (with Anthony D. Romero) and A Death in Texas, gave this extraordinary accounting of the lives of six American Muslim twenty-somethings who never in their wildest dreams considered where a trip to Pakistan would lead them.
Temple-Raston created suspense as she sketched the characters, showing their immaturity, restlessness, and strong family ties to their Yemeni heritage. She moved the narrative along with short chapters, action, suspense, and intrigue. Her extensive investigations included traveling to Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Knowledge of FBI practices, as well as her ability to gain trust in order to extract information from the most reluctant witness, makes the reader feel like a welcome guest where formerly no one had ever visited.
Temple-Reston painted these alleged terrorists from the perspective of humanity and naivet??. Their travels to Pakistan before 9/11/01 led them to a nightmare during the era after 9/11 when government policies and procedures defied logic and justice. Photos of the six, the neighborhood where they lived, and scenes from Yemen including boys studying at a madrasa added to the interest and authenticity of the book.
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5: Insightful and revealing
The author approaches a difficult topic with the eyes of a reporter, cautiously, but clearly, presenting the characters, the context, and their choices.
Without pretending to know exactly the inner thoughts of a young Muslim from Lackawanna tempted by the urgings of a more radical islamist, the author shows the thread that leads to the choices made (and the doubts that later emerge.) This makes all the more meaningful and central the question of how the justice system should handle such cases.
In the process of examining this question, the author tackles with great insight and balance the issue of the post 9/11 political context and the application of justice. In the urge to satisfy the public thirst, to justify the machinery put in place to combat terrorism, are we creating a justice system and an administration consistent with our values, our beliefs, our concern for due process?
An easy read, and a highly recommend one.
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