My Jihad: One American's Journey Through the World of Usama Bin Laden--As a Covert Operative for the American Government

This was an excellent book no matter how you look at it. I did not purchase the book because I was interested in analyzing and assessing Aukai's moral framework. And I am not going to give this book a poor rating because Aukai left his wife (wives) or butchered poor Russian conscripts in Chechnya. I bought the book to read about his experiences fighting in the armpits of the world. Aukai writes with passion, writes with anger, and writes from the heart, regardless of his views or the context of his actions. In this light, My Jihad is a raw account of one man's twisted, horrible, violent journey through the jihadist underworld. I could not put the book down and appreciated the often unflattering frankness of the author. Any person interested in learning how guerrilla organizations operate needs to read this book after leaving their moral reservations and ethical code of conduct at the door. This book is a valuable look inside how guerrilla organizations recruit, transport, infiltrate countries, train their men, and then conduct combat operations. Aukai's look inside international jihadist movements rings true for anyone with experience fighting Arab/Muslim extremist guerrilla organizations in the Middle East. I recommend My Jihad for anyone who wants an uncensored, uncompromising window into the world of Islamic guerrilla warfare. Don't be surprised if you don't like what you see and if you don't like the messenger. (Note: Aukai is currently serving time in a Mexican prison for a weapon violation during his subsequent bounty hunter job.)

Anyone who wants to understand the U.S. intelligence failures in the War Against Terrorism needs to read this book. The author, an American jihadi who could pass without question among the most extreme elements of the Islamist movement, was frustrated at every turn by his efforts to act as an undercover agent for the U.S. among the Islamists. So extreme were the self-imposed limitations on the use of counter-intelligence agents by the FBI and CIA that the author had to vow not to be engaged in military activities when acting as a CIA spy in Chechenya, even though he would be going there as a purported guerilla fighter. Then the CIA insisted that it would have to inform both the Russian and Azerbaijan governments that the author would be entering Chechenya through Azerbaijan due to an agency rule requiring the "host" government be informed any time a U.S. agent entered its territory. This despite the author's first hand experience that both the Russian and Azerbaijan governments were thoroughly penetrated by the Islamists and their organized crime colloborators. Finally the author's opportunity to meet directly with Bin Laden himself is vetoed by his CIA/FBI handlers. If these are reflective of policies imposed by the Clinton Administration then clearly Clinton merits the charge that he sabotaged U.S. intelligence gathering activities in the 90s. However, it is by no means clear where the policies in question came from nor whether the current administration has jettisoned them. Indeed, what make Collins's account so plausible is that he himself makes no efforts to relate his experience to the American blame game and instead is simply intent on telling his own story. I note that certain reviewers are rating this book according to whether they admire the author or not. This is not, in my view, an appropriate use of the review process. The author is the product of a severely disfunctional family and was well on his way to becoming a professional criminal when he found a religion which provided a means for sanctifying his already well-established proclivities towards violence. His performance in the jihad in many way illustrates all that is repugnant about U.S. foreign policy - strident self-righteousness, profound ignorance about foreign cultures, unwillingness to cooperate with others, open racism, and easy betrayal of friends. None of this changes the fact that this book offers a virtually unprecedented direct look into the life of a genuine jihadi, as well as a compelling illustration of why U.S. human intelligence has fallen into such a disasterous state.

I write this as a Muslim, who was born in the US, studied traditional knowledge in Eygpt, and believes in intellectual revival of Islam through spiritual and political revival. This book sheds light on the problem of Muslims from many different angles. It also shows the frustration many Muslims feel throughout the world. It is a book on the reflection of how our government has lumped all types of Practicing Muslims in one catagory. It forces the Muslims to think what is "my jihad"--- in a sense I never thought that the jihadi movements lack soo much discipline, knowledge, and the true Islamic spirit. The worst of it was how Muslims who were supposedly involved in Jihad were saying things, without meaning it.This book is a wake up call for the Muslims, every Muslim should read,and every Non Muslim should read it. I especially think people in authrority should read this book.

This book brings out very clearly the modern distinction between a "soldier" and a "warrior"; Aukai Collins is clearly the latter. A soldier follows the orders of his superiors, goes where he is told, works as part of a team to perform a specific mission. A warrior on the other hand fights, anyplace, anytime, anyway he sees fit, ignores the actions of his "superiors" if he so chooses and stays on or goes home when he wants.Collins seems committed and showed unquestioning courage in fighting for his cause. His distinction between what he sees as legitimate jihad, what he did in Chechnya for example, and "a bunch of cowards in Egypt killing old ladies and kids in the name of jihad" (the attacks of April 1996 and November 1997) is important in possibly building a conceptual wedge between Islamic warriors defending unarmed Muslims and terrorist acts such as 9-11. This distinction or rather confusion is obvious in the videos made of would be "martyrs" among the Palestinians, who sport camouflaged uniforms and AK's and make martial poses for the video, only to in reality wear a baggy coat to hide explosives when they detonate themselves in a crowded place full of civilians. They obviously wish to see themselves as real jihadis and not as cowardly murderers. Not surprisingly Collins sees the latter as a threat to his religion.He converted to Islam while in a California Youth Authority prison and seems to have found peace in that religion, which only brings out one of its apparent paradoxes. How can the fastest growing religion on earth, one that appeals to so many millions on an individual level be so unable to deal with modernity or in separating the concepts of religion and the state at the macro level, that is "rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's"? In my view Islam is rapidly approaching a social/political crisis which has been a very long time in the making. When dealing with such a powerful sociological force, it is better for non-Muslim societies to step aside, let it "play itself out", rather than meet it head on.In addition his comments in connection with the attacks of 9-11 are interesting. He knew at least one of the highjackers personally and questions the government version of events. His description of a "terrorist training camp" in Afghanistan also calls into question what exactly has been accomplished with Bush's easy overthrow of the Taliban government. As in the past getting in to Afghanistan is the easy part, getting out in one piece and with something to show for it is the far more difficult. Just more indications that we need an independent commission to investigate the events which led up to and surround the attacks of 9-11, in order to get a better picture of exactly who was responsible and who are real enemies are.

I know the author personally, and provided one of the two pre-publication endorsements, but the publisher has done a poor job of presenting information about this book, so I want to offer both the table of contents plus the two endorsements (Robert Young Pelton, author of "The World's Most Dangerous Places", did the other one). This will also ensure the folks that follow my reviews ("See more about me" should really say "See my other reviews") are alerted to this really exceptional first-person story from a blond, blue-eyed American mujahid.Table of ContentsChapter 1: From San Diego to Afghanistan Through Frankfurt, Vienna, Pakistan, and Kashmir, 1993Chapter 2: Afghanistan, Winter 1993-1994Chapter 3: First Trip to Chechnya, 1995-1996Chapter 4: Youth (How an American Came to Islam and Jihad)Chapter 5: How the CIA (and the FBI) Betrayed Me, 1996-1999Chapter 6: Chechnya Revisited, 1999-2000Chapter 7: September 11, 2001Endorsements"This is a moving, detailed bird's eye view of both the realities of global conflicts in which innocents are called terrorists while governments do the terrorizing; and of the flagrant inadequacies of the CIA and the FBI, each full of good people trapped in monstrously politicized bureaucracies. I know and admire this mujahid--he is a loyal American, a faithful Muslim, and a speaker of truth. Hear him, and weep."Robert David Steele, former CIA case officer and author of ON INTELLIGENCE: Spies and Secrecy in an Open World"An important book that takes you deep inside the world of jihadis and a disturbing indictment on why 9/11 caught the U.S. intelligence community by surprise. If you want to understand the little-known world of Islamic jihad, read this book."Robert Young Pelton, author of "The Hunter, the Hammer, and Heaven" and of "The World's Most Dangerous Places"Now for an additional comment: both the author of this book, and Robert Young Pelton, among others, have published accounts of how the Russian government, and specifically its intelligence services, have been blowing up apartment buildings in Moscow and creating excuses for committing genocide against the Chechnyan Muslims. I myself had no personal knowledge of this until last week when I was in London and talking to very knowledgeable senior officers attending an intelligence seminar at Oxford University. Among the things we discussed: the public disclosure on Russian television that it was the Russian intelligence service that was caught moving explosives into the building of a basement. Tipped off by an alert citizen, the local police bagged all the perpetrators and went on television to claim credit for foiling a Chechnyan terrorist plot. To their shock, they shortly discovered it was the Russian FSB (successor to the KGB) doing the dirty work, and a profusely sweating police major general, reading stiffly from a prepared statement, was forced to go on television to state that the earlier report was in error, that the FSB was running an "exercis