Inside the Jihad or 50 Facts That Should Change The World 20

Inside the Jihad: My Life with Al Qaeda: A Spy's Story

Author: Omar Nasiri

For the first time, a first person account of life inside the jihad...

Between 1994 and 2000, Omar Nasiri worked as a secret agent for Europe's top foreign intelligence services - including France's DGSE (Direction Gйnйrale de la Sйcuritй Extйrieure), and Britain's MI5 and MI6. From the netherworld of Islamist cells in Belgium, to the training camps of Afghanistan, to the radical mosques of London, he risked his life to defeat the emerging global network that the West would come to know as Al Qaeda.

Now, for the first time, Nasiri shares the story of his life-a life balanced precariously between the world of Islamic jihadists and the spies who pursue them. As an Arab and a Muslim, he was able to infiltrate the rigidly controlled Afghan training camps, where he encountered men who would later be known as the most-wanted terrorists on earth: Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, Abu Zubayda, and Abu Khabab al-Masri. Sent back to Europe with instructions to form a sleeper cell, Nasiri became a conduit for messages going back and forth between Al Qaeda's top recruiter in Pakistan and London's radical cleric Abu Qatada.

A gripping and provocative insider's account of both Islamist terror networks and the intelligence services that spy on them, Inside the Jihad offers a completely original perspective on the ongoing battle against Al Qaeda.

The Washington Post - Peter L. Bergen

Inside the Jihad is the astonishing, well-told story of Omar Nasiri (a pseudonym), who penetrated al-Qaeda's training camps in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s as a spy for France's intelligence services. Nasiri never met Osama bin Laden, nor did he hear anything about specific plots against the United States, but he was able to gather a wealth of knowledge about the terrorist training going on in Afghanistan.

The New York Times

Inside the Jihad reads like a John le Carre novel. It is replete with tales of phony passports, envelopes stuffed with cash and cloak-and-daggar meetings . . . Mr. Nasiri's account of the camps is detailed and chilling.

Middle East Quarterly

A good read . . . the real value of Nasiri's memoir lies in the insight into the minds of young, mostly European Muslims.

CNN.com

It is a fascinating story of a man who says he betrayed his brothers to the police and then had contact with senior al Qaeda leaders at a terror training camp in Afghanistan -- all the while spying for French, British and German intelligence.

New interesting book: Stir Ups or Remembering Bill Neal

50 Facts That Should Change The World 2.0

Author: Jessica Williams

Jessica Williams revisits her classic series of snapshots of life in the twenty-first century. Revised and updated with lots of new material, this book is every bit as vital as the first edition. From the inequalities and absurdities of the so-called developed world to the vast scale of suffering wreaked by war, famine, and AIDS in developing countries, it paints a picture of incredible contrasts.

This 2.0 edition again contains an eclectic selection of facts addressing a broad range of global issues, now with added emphasis on climate change, the decline in human rights and democratic freedoms around the world, the unexpected global impact of corporate growth, sports and media madness and inequality, and lots of updated facts and figures. Each is followed by a short essay explaining the story behind the fact, fleshing out the bigger problem lurking behind the numbers. Real-life stories, anecdotes, and case studies help to humanize the figures and make clear the human impact of the bald statistics.

All of the facts remind us that whether we like to think of it or not, the world is interconnected and civilization is a fragile concept. Williams makes us think about some of the hard facts about our civilization, and what we can do about them.

Jessica Williams is a journalist and producer of the BBC's flagship international interview program, HARDTalk with Tim Sebastian, where she has researched and produced interviews with such disparate figures as the political philosopher Noam Chomsky, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Sir David Attenborough, and the academic Edward Said.