Masterminds of Terror

Book excerpt: A One-of-a-Kind Expose of the September 11 Terrorist Plot That Changed Our Lives and Our World Irrevocably. When star Al-Jazeera TV reporter Yosri Fouda received an anonymous call summoning him to a secret interview in Pakistan with al-Qaeda, he knew he could be walking into a deadly trap, as Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl had done only months before. But he took the risk, and hit pay dirt. For 48 hours, Fouda listened as two of the world's most wanted men, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, head of al-Qaeda's military committee, and Ramzi Binalshibh, the link between Mohammed Atta and the senior al-Qaeda leadership, proudly claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon -- the first time al-Qaeda took direct responsibility. During the course of the in-depth interview, they detailed exactly how, over a two-year period, the plot was conceived, planned, and executed. Among their many revelations: The intended target of United Airlines Flight 93. The code names used by the hijackers. Documents and souvenirs from Atta's Hamburg apartment. Actual e-mail communications between Atta and Binalshibh. The role both chief conspirators played in the slaying of Daniel Pearl. Mohammed's connections to the first World Trade Center attack. How Mohammed and Binalshibh built al-Qaeda's Far East network. Based on that interview and hours of follow-up investigation, Masterminds of Terror also contains dramatic accounts of the seizure of both Binalshibh and Mohammed and analyzes al-Qaeda's attempts to justify its actions on what it calls "Holy Tuesday." With the recent headline-grabbing capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, both masterminds are now being held by the U.S. government in secret locations. Here is the closest we may get to the full inside story of the plot, together with the most up-to-date and comprehensive account yet of the philosophy and actions of al-Qaeda Book jacket.