AL-QAEDA IN THE 1990s

I finally finished The Looming Tower. Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright. Wright is a journalist, not a historian, and as a result there were a number of things I did not like about the book as he built his case. However, I would highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to get a feel for the events leading up to 9/11. During the Clinton administration there were a number of missteps and misjudgments. The FBI and the CIA (and even the State Department) do not come off well. So much pettiness prevailed. . .but this is government at work. It is not a book for idealists. Since Wright writes for the New Yorker and even has Dan Rather recommending the book, it cannot be labelled as a "right wing hatchet job." Wright even refers to the "sexual decadence of the Clinton administration" -- I haven't seen many liberal Democrats use this kind of description of Clinton's presidency.