A terrifying tale of terror right here, right now<\/p>\n
Rich Simons, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Seeds of Terror
\nMaria Ressa
\nFree Press\/Simon & Schuster, 2003
\n254 pp
\nUS$26<\/p>\n
The profundity of Maria Ressa's account of the inner workings of
\nal-Qaeda and their terror partners in Southeast Asia,
\nparticularly Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) in Indonesia and Abu Sayyaf
\nand others of their ilk in the Phillipines, is wholly mind-
\nblowing. She provides an on-the-ground picture of how those
\nrelationships developed in the 1980s and 1990s that is at once
\nnail-biting, frightening and intriguing.<\/p>\n
Most of the local groups were operating on shoestring budgets
\nand way below their own governments' radars, but al-Qaeda, with
\nits seemingly unlimited cash reserves emanating mostly from in
\nand around Saudi Arabia and Osama bin Laden specifically, brought
\nthem all together. It provided funding not only for weapons and
\ntraining, but also for exporting its austere form of Islam --
\nWahhabism -- by setting up well-funded schools all over Southeast
\nAsia.<\/p>\n
One of the great ironies, which she so eloquently points out,
\nis that in the 1980s, Southeast Asia was up to its ears in
\ndictators and the cry was for democracy, people power and
\nreformasi, which eventually won out. As Ressa says: \"Ironically,
\ndemocracy -- the nemesis of (extremist) Islam -- helped create
\nthe conditions under which their (extremist) ideology could
\nspread in Southeast Asia.\"<\/p>\n
Many of Indonesia's citizens, including folks such as the Vice
\nPresident, still have a hard time believing that JI really
\nexists, let alone that Java Island houses its main headquarters
\nand most of its top leaders. Many also have not come to grips
\nwith the reality that two of their own, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and
\nHambali (Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin), now in U.S. custody, are
\nextremely dangerous, high-ranking al-Qaeda leaders.<\/p>\n
In fact, Hambali, according to Ressa and others, is the only
\nnon-Arab on the al-Qaeda \"politburo\", or leadership council,
\nalong with such notable names as Osama, Al-Zawahiri, Khalid Shaik
\nMohammed, etc.<\/p>\n
She introduces into evidence some very damning information and
\nconvincingly proves to readers that Ba'asyir is the cofounder of
\nJI and its current emir and spiritual leader. Even though he is
\ncurrently in police custody (and was when it went to print), she
\ncalls him the \"most dangerous man alive\".<\/p>\n
Ressa is meticulous in demonstrating how al-Qaeda operatives
\nand \"sleepers\" like Omar al-Faruq always operated in the vacuum
\nof lag time, while the government intelligence agencies tried to
\nkeep up. It reminds one of the computer virus makers and their
\nconstant battle to stay a step or two ahead of the antivirus
\nsoftware makers, however the real foreboding part about this
\nanalogy is, not only that computer viruses do not kill
\nholidaymakers by the hundreds on Bali, but that the intelligence
\nand law enforcement groups are way more than one or two steps
\nbehind the bombers and assassins -- they are like several months,
\neven years, behind.<\/p>\n
One thing that strikes a reader is that while watching CNN and
\nRessa, in particular, there a seeming dearth of this interesting
\nand profound analysis. It often appears as if Ressa is just
\nanother of those attractive \"talking head\" types who provide
\nlittle deep understanding of what is actually going on. But such
\nan assumption could not be further from the truth -- this book
\ndemonstrates that she really knows the score, and is quite
\nobviously several steps ahead of most intelligence agencies in
\nSoutheast Asia and the world.<\/p>\n
Part of the reason for that, as she points out, is that in the
\nPhilippines and Indonesia the agencies do not maintain a
\nregularly updated comprehensive database, with analysts
\nconstantly piecing together all the seemingly unremarkable events
\nin various corners of the archipelago and around Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
Many agents -- and she knows just about all of them personally
\n-- actually ask her for intelligence information! She notes that
\nthe majority of the agents keep their data and reports \"close to
\nthe vest\" in their own offices, because inter alia, they want to
\npersonally score the big coup without sharing the spoils. So, as
\nthe petty rivalries continue, the suicide bombers laugh all the
\nway to \"paradise\".<\/p>\n
For the finale she launches into a bit of tirade against the
\nU.S. -- neither difficult nor original -- and concludes that the
\nU.S.-led war on terror will provide more recruits for terror
\ngroups across the globe. But this is a tenuous connection,
\nbecause the very premise assumes that people around the world are
\ninherently uncivilized and predisposed to random murder if
\nprovoked. It seems a tad patronizing and holier-than-thou, coming
\nfrom political analysts and journalists.<\/p>\n
And so they pontificate as if it were a foregone conclusion
\nthat the \"commoners\" among them -- those not as educated or
\nrational as themselves -- would \"naturally\" have the moral right
\nto blow themselves up in a crowd full of Jews, Americans or
\nAustralians at a nightclub or a supermarket.<\/p>\n
Aside from that, one of the best aspects of the book is its
\nvery peronal, narrative style. At one point she recounts a time
\nwhen she was having dinner in Manila and a small bomb went off at
\na nearby theater. She and CNN reported it at the time, but
\nnothing else was heard of it thereafter. She puts all the pieces
\ntogether, once again, in the book and details how it was a \"test
\nrun\" by one of the top al-Qaeda explosives experts.<\/p>\n
In parts, it reads like a riveting fiction spy thriller a la
\nIan Fleming with his monstrous, all-powerful evildoers intent
\nupon world domination. But we all know those stories are just
\nfigments of Fleming's wonderfully outlandish imagination. What
\nmakes this story so ominous and terrifying is that it is so very
\nreal and it is happening here and now.<\/p>\n
Alas, there is no James Bond on the horizon to save the day,
\nthe world or all of us who eat at pizza parlors.<\/p>",
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