The book covers something extremely important; the Muslim Brotherhood. The latter is covered in Chapter 9 of the book, which SH has kindly put online What the MB stands for and the possible interface with Atta are discussed as follows:
"Mastermind of Terror" Khalid Sheikh Mohammed joined the Muslim Brotherhood at age sixteen. Mohammed Atta's father is a member, and researchers are almost certain that Atta himself was one as well. Atta was a member of a Muslim Brotherhood "unofficial base" when he joined an engineer's syndicate after studying architecture at Cairo University in 1990. Amanda Keller remembers Atta using the term of endearment "Brother" for his companion in Venice, Marwan Al-Shehhi, but not other Arabs. One of the Germans who partied with them in Key West, "Stephen," was also a "Brother."71
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded by a young Egyptian schoolteacher Hassan Banna. Banna railed against colonialism and argued for a government based on the Koran. The Brotherhood grew quickly, with a militia, oaths of allegiance, and a culture of secrecy. The Brotherhood worked for Third Reich intelligence before and during World War II. Banna was assassinated by the Egyptian state in 1949. Although the Brotherhood facilitated the rise to power of President Nasser, Nasser turned out to be committed to a secular state. When the Brotherhood made an attempt on his life, Nasser clamped down and imprisoned them by the thousands. Similar repression took place against the group's tentacles in Iraq and Syria.
Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian writer and fierce proselytizer, was a Muslim Brother, and a big influence on Osama bin Laden. His commitment to violence and terror were deepened by his experiences in Egyptian prison, where he was covered in animal fat and thrown into a cell full of attack dogs. He was hanged in 1966.
The Brotherhood split into two divisions in 1953, a militant and a political branch, the latter of which eventually elected some of its own to the Egyptian parliament. This is ironic, because this brand of Islam believes that democracy and representative government are contrary to the will of Allah. They believe that only a government built on sharia, or Islamic law, is justifiable. The stated platform of the Muslim Brotherhood is to ban national elections, once they actually win one.
I'm going to post a link to a video of him in the vids only thread because this guy is worth listening to. My only criticism of him is his voicing support (in the video) for Clinton as an alternative to the current shower in power. He does suggest it's a lesser of two evils choice but I'm disappointed to hear him say Clinton is a viable alternative. My understanding is Clinton was fully aware of the drugs coming in though Arkansas during his stint as Governor there.
I place a lot of credibility on Dan Hopsicker for the same reasons I like Sander Hicks' work.
