In McCarthy's world, Arab militants apparently come out of a vacuum, or out of some passage from the Koran. What he and his admirers are willfully blind to is the brutality of U.S. foreign policy. Osama mentioned part of a long list of injustices - sanctions on Iraq that killed 500,000 children Iraq Under Siege, Updated Edition: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War, U.S. support of Israel's aggression against Palestine Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land: U.S. Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, and U.S. military bases in Saudi Arabia The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project). There is barely a word of any of this, and so much more, in the countless books like McCarthy's that seek to demonize our victims. Keep in mind, these allegedly evil people are the same people we were arming, training and applauding when they were killing Russians Terrorism: Theirs and Ours. Authoritarian Islamic fundamentalists are the same people that the U.S. is happy to work with in countries like Saudi Arabia The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity, or in Indonesia The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1965-1989.
The sort of denial that McCarthy perpetuates is not only dishonest, it is dangerous. Most people are more civilized than us, and they don't seek vengence for all the suffering we heap upon them (i.e. - Vietnamese, Guatemalans, Haitians, El Salvadorans, Iranians, etc.), but we may someday receive another attack of blowback and it may be worse than the horror of 9/11. By the way, there is another 9/11 that we are willfully blind to; that is the September 11th that the corporate jihadists Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger inflicted upon Chile Chile: The Other September 11: An Anthology of Reflections on the 1973 Coup (Radical History).

For those who choose to see inconvenient truths about U.S. militarism:
Our Own Private Bin Laden
Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians
Why We Fight

Everyone who doesn't want to learn Arabic and wants to keep their Bibles should read this book and think about what it says.

Keep a dictionary handy, however. He uses a few Bill Buckley quality words.

Willful Blindness by former prosecutor, Andrew McCarthy, is a must read for those who wish to inform their decision-making process. Although McCarthy's writing style is obtuse at times, he brings to the table a high level of credibility and this book should be read by all Americans and, especially by those who honestly believe that peace can be achieved through diplomacy or that "western style" democracy is achievable in the middle east. The talkers are necessary, but without our second-to-none military and our industrial capabilities, they have no power to pursuade. Let's all take the blinders off and see the world for the truly dangeous place it has become.

Thank you Andrew C. McCarthy.

I did not know the long history and total dedication as related here.

Again Thanks

Excellent account from the DA. This book should be read and discussed by every American.....good read!

This is an excellent book for those who want to find out why the US does not take terrorism seriously. It is not a legalism, it is terrorism.

Very difficult book to put down! A VERY important message for ALL: should be required reading for ALL members of the House & Senate!!!

Anyone who fails to heed the message of this book does so, not only of their peril, but the peril of all free peoples everywhere!

We are FOOLS to believe that the Fanatical Islamics will abide by ANY measure of human dignity, honesty, family values, or fair play. Those doing so are DELUDING themselves! This Fanatical Islamic group is DEMONIC and the ONLY authority they recognize is ... SUPERIOR FIRE POWER!

Trying them in an American Court of Law is LUDICROUS!!! A Military Tribunal, yes. A Court of Law? NO!!!

My opinion in a nutshell.

Bob Van Keuren
Williamsburg, Kentucky

This is an entertaining and informative book about the prosecution of terrorists in the 1990s, and specifically those who attacked the World Trade Center in 1993. You get a window into the inner workings of government and this knowledge will help you frame the current argument about where (US or GITMO) and how (courts vs battlefield) to defeat the current threat. Armed with the history of what happened in the 1990s, you will be able to separate logic from fantasy in today's highly-charged political environment. McCarthy even offers food for thought on the damages that could happen if we bring the war to our courts.

This guy can write!

If you are a non-believer they are compelled, by Allah, to kill you. If you are a nonbeliever in what Andrew McCarthy writes about you will be killed. This is a fight of ideals no different than Communism or Fascism or what ever "ism."

Hang on cause this show isn't over.

Ohmygosh, I just read this on the train and I'm glad I was moving when I did. I share friendships with many journalists who are not "liberals" with "agendas," both in the US, the UK and South Asia (India and Pakistan). My impression of Andy's book is that it lay somewhere on the continuum between Vincent Bugliosi's iconic memoir and analysis of the Manson case, "Helter Skelter," and Cracker Jack candy and gorp-entertainment for the right-wingers to gobble up. I will say that Andy is somewhat successful at avoiding the usual prosecutor/police procedural trope and heroics, yet the plunge in the other end of the pool without the float of context and analysis, and tossing away ideology, is a bit weird. It's almost a bugle call to arms against an evil empire of classic Hollywood vintage. Or perhaps Andy has has "channeled" Richard The Lionhearted and we must follow against the evil, ragged and Unholy Arabs. In short, I don't think it adds anything to the decourse beside this basic "Helter Skelter" review. I am sure the right wing will eat it up, however, and there it seems to have found it's only audience.

Andrew McCarthy writes with clarity, depth and self-effacement about the lead up to and the successful 1995 prosecution of Omar Abdel Rahman, the Blind Sheikh, and his terrorist followers. As lead Assistant United States Attorney, McCathy's knowledge and attention to detail fascinate. The intricacies in mounting the prosecution, avoiding the pitfalls and foibles of the FBI and New York's Joint Terrorism Task Force, keeping a difficult informant from refusing to cooperate, struggling with the rules of admissible evidence, rival the best in any police procedural mystery; this is not Sam Waterston spouting the script of "Law and Order," this is the argot of a real life Federal prosecutor and it is daunting. No Hollywood script can capture the nuance and judgment needed to bring a case like this to its successful conclusion.

McCarthy, a talented writer, draws deep insights from his experience into the shortcomings of prosecuting terrorists as criminals. He ends with a thoughtful exposition of the disconnect between national security and criminal law. He is a voice of clarity, reason and experience in the dialogue now going in America on issues of law and national security.