Lawrence Wright is the author of The Looming Tower, a Pulitzer Prize winning book that documents the rise of Al Qaeda. This morning, I had the opportunity to listen to him give a talk at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. about Al Qaeda. He spoke of the misunderstanding that many in the U.S. have of Al Qaeda.

On “homeland security” measures, he feels that our reactions to terrorism have been overblown. Simple measures like hardening cockpit doors are effective, but other measures are overly drastic and deprive us of freedoms. (e.g. the security measures required to go see the Liberty Bell) Yet, Al Qaeda is real, and needs to be better understood in the United States and the threat managed more properly.

Wright spoke about the “goals” of Al Qaeda, and how it differs from other terrorist organizations, such as the IRA (Ireland), Hamas, and Hezbollah. The latter organizations do have some political goals and it is possible to negotiate with them. With Al Qaeda, they do not really have political goals in that sense.

• One of their stated goals (from Bin Laden’s fatwas in the 1990s), is to get American troops out of Saudi Arabia. After the U.S. invaded Iraq, the U.S. government announced it would pull all troops out of Saudi Arabia (troops were there to provide security for Iraq’s no-fly zone). Al Qaeda’s response included the Riyadh compound bombings in May 2003, which killed 35 - mainly Muslims.
• When Al Qaeda attacked Spain with the Madrid train bombings, it’s stated goal was to get Spain to overthrow the Jose María Aznar government, and get Spain to pull its troops out of Iraq. Within days after the bombing, Aznar was voted out, and the new government quickly announced it was pulling troops out of Iraq. That’s just what Al Qaeda wanted, right? Al Qaeda’s response? Another attempted (but unsuccessful) bombing on April 2, with the target this time, a high-speed train (AVE).^[1]

Wright also spoke about reasons why young people in places like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, or Muslims in Europe, join Al Qaeda.

In Europe:

• There is serious alienation of Muslims in Europe, including those born in Europe of Islamic heritage. Young Muslims in Europe often do not feel welcome, have difficulty finding jobs, experience poverty and other social problems. Muslims are also severely over-represented in prisons; For example, they comprise 50 percent of the prison population in France.^[2] Being alienated, it’s common for European Muslims to turn to the Mosque. Some Mosques are radical, and are ripe recruiting grounds for Al Qaeda.

In Arab countries:

• The economic future for young people is often bleak. They have little to look forward to, and radical Islam seems to be a good option in the view of some young people.
• The lack of representation in government, and the oppressiveness of the regimes makes many young people feel alienated. The benefits of the oil economy often do not reach the people. Yet, America supports these regimes, and is a massive consumer of the oil.
• The ways of civil society in many places, particularly Saudi Arabia, alienates young people - few places to gather and socialize, few parks, also not possible to gather and discuss politics, etc.
• Gender apartheid strains society. Men are burdened with things like providing transportation for their wives and daughters, since women are not allowed to drive. This often means that men hire chauffeurs for their family, at significant cost. Wright also explains how the division between genders “deprives men of the civilizing effect that women can have” on them.

Wright believes there are things that can be done to lessen the reasons why young people join Al Qaeda.

• A major excuse that Al Qaeda uses and a “cause” that many young people have when joining is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Wright believes the content of the eventual peace agreement is largely known now. We know what it will be, but no one has had the political will to move on this. This is definitely a solvable problem. One, if solved, would not make Bin Laden very happy. Since, there would be less “cause” for many Arabs to join Al Qaeda. Wright believes that Al Qaeda would still exist, but lose substantial ground on recruitment.

From the perspective of the U.S., the government is having a very difficult time understanding the Arab culture and Arabic language, and thus is misguided on many efforts. One reason for that is the shortage of Arabic speakers and natives from those countries working in the U.S. government. For example, there are 12 Muslims currently working for the F.B.I., out of 38,000. The F.B.I. desperately needs more Arabic speakers. At the State Department, there are only 8 employees (out of 1,000) at the American embassy in Baghdad who speak Arabic. The security clearance barriers to hiring people desperately needed are much too high. He says that not hiring more of these people is a security risk for the U.S.

There are major disconnects and misunderstandings between Arab and American people, as well as grave problems in how Europe accepts Muslims in their countries. It is extremely difficult for Americans to understand just how different places like Saudi Arabia are, and the social/political problems and alienation that people there face, and how it creates a ripe recruiting ground for Al Qaeda.

Lawrence Wright is not only an author, but also a playwright and screenwriter. He is visiting Washington, for performances of his one-man show, “My Trip to Al-Qaeda” at the Kennedy Center.