num_pages: 572
description:  A book that will change the way we think about al-Qaeda intelligence and the events that forever changed America.On September 11 2001 FBI Special Agent Ali H. Soufan was handed a secret file. Had he received it months earlierwhen it was requestedthe attacks on New York and Washington could have been prevented. During his time on the front lines Soufan helped thwart plots around the world and elicited some of the most important confessions from terrorists in the war against al-Qaedawithout laying so much as a hand on them. Most of these stories have never been reported before and never by anyone with such intimate firsthand knowledge.This narrative account of America's successes and failures against al-Qaeda is essential to an understanding of the terrorist group. We are taken into hideouts and interrogation rooms. We have a ringside seat at bin Laden's personal celebration of the 9/11 bombings. Such riveting details show us not only how terrorists think and operate but also how they can be beaten and brought to justice.
language: English
title: The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda
publisher: W. W. Norton & Company