Wherever you are, death will find you, even in the looming tower.
OBL
The Looming Tower
The Looming Tower, inspired by Lawrence Wright's 2006 book of the same name, was originally released on Hulu, but is currently available on Prime Video in Canada. The 10-part series traces the “rising threat of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda in the late 1990s and how the rivalry between the FBI and CIA during that time may have inadvertently set the path for the tragedy of 9/11.”
The series explores a range of issues like the validity of ABC’s interview with the al-Qaeda leader in 1997, which was a bizarre moment as OBL was eluding the American government, the most powerful surveillance state for years at a time. A news station can set up a meeting but the FBI and CIA can’t find him?
The motivation behind bin Laden's call for jihad and his increasing anger at the Western world's interference with Islam become separated from the fact that he had been a CIA asset in Afghanistan. During the '80s, bin Laden was trained and supplied with munitions and money by the Americans while the mujahadeen fought the Soviets. This history has been forgotten by many, making his vengeance for the United States and the creation of al-Qaeda following the Russians leaving the country all the more complicated.
Wright’s exhaustive research provided him with a nuanced comprehension of Bin Laden's thoughts and emotions, as manifested in various writings, audio recordings and other less-known sources. These sources included footage of the al-Qaeda leader recording a video, later discovered on a computer in Hamburg, which ominously foretold the imminent jihad that was to be unleashed on America. The series and Wright’s book take the phrase bin Laden repeats during the speech, which is taken from the fourth sura in the Quran.
The growing concern about radical Islamic fundamentalism seems obvious to most in the government who were zeroed in on chasing OBL but nailing down what that threat was would fall through the bureaucratic holes created by secrecy and infighting between the CIA, FBI and counterintelligence on the ground. Add that to the futility of fighting an ideology that has an almost unlimited supply of soldiers for jihad, coming from nearly any background or country, you can see how some of the pieces fit together. In this case, it just happened to be mostly Saudi nationals who seemingly slipped in and out of the country in the years leading up to the dreadful attack on the Twin Towers. The fact that the CIA was aware of two known al-Qaeda operatives in the US on legitimate visas was never shared with the FBI (with over 50 agents in the agency knew about the actionable intelligence that had been confirmed in Malaysia, where high-level members met to discuss the upcoming jihad in the USA.)
There’s no air of triumphalism informing the story, characters are treated with both skepticism and a dash of compassion, and there are efforts to make victims of terrorism more than props for the protagonists to mourn. Though a chyron at the start of each episode reminds viewers that the tale and people in it have been “composited,” the story does not seem to be unduly watered down. It’s been streamlined but not drained of moral or political complexity.
If you want to take a further trip down the 9/11 rabbit hole, skip all the talk about disappearing planes, Boeing autopilot, missiles, thermite dust, giant holes in the ground with little plane wreckage or directed energy weapons, head to Ryan Dawson’s diligently researched documentary, 9/11 and the War on Deception or the longer Empire Unmasked. The documentary, spanning over four hours, zeroes in on those responsible for the financial and logistical planning of the attacks. It presents fresh evidence obtained through public records requests from Florida field offices, including reports of several Middle Eastern men enrolling in pilot lessons prior to the attack. The documentary also uncovers surveillance of the movements of various hijackers, such as the group leader, Mohamed Atta, and two other 9/11 hijackers. A significant revelation shows documents indicating that Israeli government agents might have been monitoring different cells across the United States, even allegedly relocating some using a company as a cover for Israeli intelligence. These are documents directly from whatever declassified info he can dig up, often getting FOIA reports back that are all but blacked out as classified. Despite this, Dawson has been able to put various pieces to the puzzle together because of the inconsistency of what has been withheld across multiple departments, years, agents and bureaucracies. It also draws connections between the war on Iraq and the war on terror and the implications of US troops in the Middle East.
Dawson has produced an in-depth, more than four-hour-long documentary named Empire Unmasked through crowdfunding. It's a worthy investment of your time, alongside its associated podcast, should you desire a more complete understanding of the events that transpired on that tragic day and the circumstances leading up to it.