Benjamin, Daniel & Simon, Steven. The Age of Sacred Terror. New York: Random House, 2002.

Date: 11 January 2004

Commentary: This book covers a range of topics related to the roots, politics, and activities relating to the war on terror. At times, the authors tend to defend the Clinton administration and question the Bush administration on issues related to terrorism, but they nevertheless provide a primarily objective history, review of policy, and commentary.

• Assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane by El Sayid Nosair
• The Blind Sheik: Omar Abdel Rahman
• Ramset Yousef and the WTC bombing
• Embassy bombings by martyrs from al-Qaida camps
• USS Cole and 911
• Ibn Timiya: classical Islamic writer and inspiration to al-Qaida. Born 1269 in Hara in Turkey (near Syria), he fled to Damascus to escape a Mongol invasion by the nephew of Genghis Khan. The invaders destroyed cities and butchered 800,000 people in Baghdad. As a preacher in his 20s in Damascus, ibn Timiya called for a return to basic faith, promoted joint rule between theocracy and the Sultan, declared the Mongol conflict to be a judgement for immorality within Islam, and in a tract on statecraft raised jihad to a level of religious significance equal to the five pillars of Islam.
• Bin Laden family's immigration from Yemen to Saudi Arabia and rise to prominence under Saud rule.
• Trend of increasing conflict of Islamists versus Arab states. They discuss the problem of establishing control in the context of population growth, growth in education without learning, water, poverty, and unemployment.
• Disjoint muslim minorities in post-WWII Europe, Africa, and the Middle East lend themselves to subversive teachings.
• US preparation and policy leading to the embassy bombings in Africa, internal workings of bureaucracy, FBI and Louis Frey's inexperience and resistance to conduct intelligence and analysis activities outside of criminal investigations of crimes already committed.
• Clinton launched tomahawks as limited response. Clinton and Sandy Berger sought to launch ground and special operations to hunt for bin Laden, but postponed rather than limit the options of the incoming administration. The authors contradict the accusations by Robert Baer that the Clinton administration was unconcerned with al-Qaida, but rather claim that Clinton lacked the opportunity and military support to act effectively. In contrast, the authors accuse the Bush administration (particularly Condoleezza Rice) of a lack of concern, of avoiding briefings on terrorist threats, and ignoring warnings by Sandy Berger.
• Commentary on political scandals, in which the authors minimize Clinton scandals and scold the press and Republicans for distracting the nation from real emerging threats. They scold the Bush administration for not raising public awareness of terrorist threats until after 911, even as Robert Baer scolds the Clinton administration in both of his books for doing the same.
• A New Strategic Order (NSO) must confront a virtual enemy who (1) cannot be pre-empted by military action, and (2) cannot be deterred by threat of reprisal. A NSO must (1) institutionalize imaginativeness, and (2) probe the enemy. It must also consider the threat to private (rather than public) assets, and that these assets must ultimately be secured by private resources. A NSO might require targeting killing of jihadists. Above all, it will require bi-partisanship and diplomacy.
• They distinguish al-Qaida, which seeks to use terrorism as a means to wipe out opponents of Islam, from other Islamic terrorists (such as Arafat) who seek to use terrorism merely to pressure opponents toward a political goal.
• The authors embark on a discourse in which they tie war to monotheism, pointing first to Judaism and the earliest Hebrews, the history of Christendom, and early Muslim history. Of course, one might immediately point to the bloody and constant warring of the Greeks, the regional dominance of the Egyptians, or the conquests of the Persians and Romans. Clearly, war is simply a part of almost all history, whether leaders or peoples are contending for land, resources, security, wealth or status. Nevertheless, the authors do make their point by describing how monotheists view world events through a belief in an eventual conclusion of the world, as we know it, and the establishment of God's ideal kingdom. Some individuals or groups, the authors explain, see it as their religious duty to actively fight the current order and usher in the new order, which for some includes violence.

The Islamic fundamentalist ibn Timiya declared the Mongol conflict to be a judgement by God for immorality within Islam. This was the same claim made by fundamentalist Baptists in the US following the 911 attacks. This notion of divine judgement against an immoral people is also found in the ancient Hebrew writings (which also comprise the Christian Old Testament), most notably in the story of God's destruction of the immoral cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. However, the teachings of Christ and his followers contained in the Christian New Testament discuss outward behavior neither (1) as an ends unto itself nor (2) as a means to anything else, but rather (3) as a mere reflection of inward spirituality - all in the context of a relationship with God. Therefore, it makes no sense for modern Christian speakers to condemn the behavior of the general populace from a religious standpoint, since morality in the Christian context has no meaning outside of faith in Christ. Such speakers therefore distort the message of Christianity.

J. Sprigg