political science / political freedom & security / terrorism

The author shares her thoughts on the hate that is spread with the political left and right.

The Drone Memos collects for the first time the legal and policy documents underlying the U.S. government?s deeply controversial practice of ?targeted killing??the extrajudicial killing of suspected terrorists and militants, typically using remotely piloted aircraft or ?drones.? The documents?including the Presidential Policy Guidance that provides the framework for drone strikes today, Justice Department white papers addressing the assassination of an American citizen, and a highly classified legal memo that was published only after a landmark legal battle involving the ACLU, the New York Times, and the CIA?together constitute a remarkable effort to legitimize a practice that most human rights experts consider to be unlawful and that the United States has historically condemned.

Argues that radical sects of Christianity have inspired some of the most grotesque acts of violence in American history including the 1963 Birmingham Church bombing that killed four young girls; the "Mississippi Burning" murders of three civil rights workers in 1964; the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, the Atlanta Child Murders in the late 1970s; and the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995.

David Headley, the American-Pakistani also known as Daood Gilani, lived a double life. One day he would stroll through Central Park in his tailored Armani suit as a true New Yorker, and the next he would browse in the bazaar in Lahore wearing traditional Pakistani clothes. Born in 1960, the son of an American mother and Pakistani father, with one blue eye and one brown, Headley grew up between East and West. He was attracted to both worlds, even working as an informant for the US government, until one day he found he had to choose between the place of his birth and a radical form of Islam preaching global jihad. This is the disturbing story of the mastermind behind the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people. Two months later he flew to Copenhagen to plan another act of terror with the help of al-Qaeda sleeper cells in Europe.

On August 21, 2015, Ayoub al-Khazzani boarded the 15:17 train in Brussels, bound for Paris. Khazzani's mission was clear: he had an AK-47, a pistol, a box cutter, and enough ammunition to obliterate every passenger on the crowded train. Slipping into the bathroom in secret, he armed his weapons and prepared to launch his attack. But when he emerged, he encountered something he hadn't anticipated: three Americans who refused to give in to fear. Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, and Spencer Stone were childhood friends, taking a vacation together. They had some relevant training: Stone was a martial arts enthusiast and Airman First Class in the US Air Force; Skarlatos was an active duty member of the Oregon National Guard; and not one of the three was afraid of a fight. But their decision--to charge the gunman, then overpower him even as he turned first his gun, then his knife, on Stone--would never have happened if they hadn't had a lifetime of trust, support, and loyalty between them.

As a young boy, Awais Reza's family moved from Indian Kashmir to Lahore in Pakistan after Partition. Now middle-aged, Awais is a shopkeeper in the Anarkali Bazaar. Married, with three sons, he looks back on his journey from idealistic young nationalist to increasingly watchful and anxious member of the mercantile class at the heart of Pakistani life. Awais's eldest son has drifted, but returned to help his father run the shop; the middle one is involved in radical Islamist politics; and the youngest is a law student who believes that a secular future is Pakistan's last and only hope. Their lives unfold against an increasingly turbulent and violent background as suicide bombers enter the life of urban Lahore with devastating consequences. Haroon K. Ullah's portrait of a middle class family oppressed by a state falling apart around them shows that Radical Islam is confronted not only in distant mountain passes by the armed forces, but most personally and tellingly across the kitchen table as families like the Rezas debate their future.

While western media portrays the Islamic State as little more than a gang of thugs on a winning streak, ISIS is actually proposing, and implementing, a new model of nation building. Waging war to carve out a 21st century version of the original Caliphate (in theory taking the area back to the 6th century) and using a vicious brand of Sharia law by manipulating modern technology to recruit and fundraise, ISIS shows a deep understanding of Middle East politics. ISIS is not just another terror network but a formidable enemy that is very far from the "JV" status President Obama gave it. "Know your enemy" remains the most important adage in the fight against ISIS.

United Airlines Flight 93, which took off from Newark Airport the morning of September 11th, 2001, is perhaps the most famous flight in modern American history. This book offers the most complete account of what actually took place aboard Flight 93 and provides a riveting and complete narrative of the lead-up, event, and aftermath of the flight, based on interviews, oral histories, personal tours of the crash site and evidence recently made public.

"... traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents."--Provided by publisher.

"Terrorism expert Erick Stakelbeck pulls back the curtain on ISIS, the violent terrorist organization spreading death and hate in the Middle East. The rise of ISIS took the White House by complete surprise: President Obama called the group "JV," then was forced to reassess when ISIS began executing innocent American journalists. Now radicalized Americans and Europeans are joining ISIS' ranks. So who is ISIS? How powerful are they, and are they a threat to the homeland? Stakelbeck, a veteran national security reporter and a leading authority on the Middle East, has produced the definitive guide to America's most recent and most frightening enemy. "--.