Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda's Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia

In this fascinating book, investigative reporter for CNN, Maria Ressa traces the evolution of terrorist movements in Southeast Asia from the early 1990s to the present. While the American government slept, Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda helped Muslim terrorist groups form in such countries as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It organized these groups, trained them, armed them, and provided them with expertise which is often beyond anything that their host countries can conceive, much less deal with.With sparkling clarity, the author puts all of the known information about Muslim terrorism in Southeast Asia into chronological order, showing what was done, how and why. Most frighteningly, Ms. Ressa shows that these terrorist organizations are firmly entrenched in their host countries, sometimes with their governments' connivance, and are planning and training for more and bigger acts of terror.I must say that this is not a happy book! The author paints a frightening picture of the Muslim groups in Southeast Asia, their abilities and their plans. It does go to show that the war against terrorism is far from over, and round two might be heading our way.Admittedly, at the end the author drops her factual recapitulation of the history of these groups, and wanders into political editorializing. But, considering her position as an employee of CNN, this is hardly surprising. Overall, I found this to be a fascinating and highly informative book, not to mention a rather frightening one! If you are interested in the war on terror, and wish to read about a theater of operations not often talked about, then this book is for you!

Maria Ressa is a long-time CNN correspondent in Southeast Asia which is home to an underappreciated terrorist network. She has reported on numerous terrorist groups in the region, and in this book, she reveals the reasons for the rise to prominence of such groups as the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines and the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah. Most people are only aware of bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, but Ressa's book clearly shows that the extremist network in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore is just as dangerous.Ressa enumerates the reason for the reasons for the rise of Islamic extremism in Southeast Asia: establishment of religious schools that double as recruiting centers for terrorism, widespread police and military corruption, lack of strong intelligence, and the governments' unwillingness to crack down on terrorist groups for fear of being labelled anti-Islamic. 9/11 may have been the most significant terrorist attack in recent history, but the Bali blasts, the multiple simultaneous bombings in Singapore a few years back, and the terrorist-backed uprisings in places such as Ambon, Indonesia signify a possibly greater threat arising in Southeast Asia.Ressa clearly outlines the connections between terrorist groups in Southeast Asia with al-Qaeda. An Indonesian, Hambali, sits on al-Qaeda's governing council. Funds channeled from al-Qaeda helped fund both the bombings in Bali and Singapore. Many terrorists in the region trained under and met Osama bin Laden during the "jihad" in Afghanistan, and many are products of al-Qaeda's many training camps.The importance of this book is that it awakens us to the dangers that are arising in Southeast Asia. Ressa does a fantastic job on reporting on these pressing issues because she has access to many politicians, bureaucrats, and other leaders that few get to speak to, and she even presents evidence never before published. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the dangers that have not directly affected the US yet but are sure to hurt us in the future if not stopped now.

This is a frightening book, giving an authoritative view of Al-Qaeda and associated terrorist groups. It makes a convincing case that the danger of terrorism comes more from Southeast Asia than from the Middle East, where the US is focusing its efforts. It's well written and as timely as a newspaper report. It describes the amorphous structure of the organizations and the difficulties in combatting them, including the mindset and the fanaticism of the members and the weakness of the central governments in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines where they operate. The author knows a lot about this complicated organization and it's difficult to keep the individual terrorists straight but if it's hard to keep them straight in a book, how much more difficult to identify and track them in the world!? The book is excellent and a "must read" for anyone who wants to understand the threat that faces the US and the world.

The Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda;s Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia, Maria Ressa (Free Press: New York, 2003)Maria Ressa has walked the walk and now is ready to talk the talk and put pen to paper to tell the real story of terrorism in Southeast Asia. Few journalists, and for that matter, few military and intelligence professionals are as qualified to analyze and assess the threats in Southeast Asia as Maria Ressa. She has written a book that must be read by every professional in the military and the government who has a role in the War on Terrorism. However, concerned and interested citizens and anyone with business, family, social, or political connections to Southeast Asia will also find this book extremely enlightening and valuable. What she has done is to fuse together information and analysis from many sources throughout Southeast Asia that is in many ways superior to that provided by intelligence services of any single country. Her access to high level sources in and out of governments in the region as well as the trust she has established with many well-connected civilians from all walks of life has allowed her to piece together the complex mosaic of how Al Qaeda has emerged as the over-arching threat in Southeast Asia. No single intelligence service could match her work and unless all the intelligence services in Southeast Asia are willing to cooperate and share information they will not rival Maria Ressa's analysis of the War on Terrorism in Southeast Asia.One of the most valuable contributions this book makes is the assessment of the West's weaknesses that if not understood and addressed will allow Al Qaeda to continue to operate and expand its influence and connections with other terrorist organizations such as Jemaah Islamiyah, the Abu Sayyef Group, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to name a few. Her assessments also could rival any counter-insurgency expert. While the world focuses on the counter-terrorism aspect of the War on Terrorism she correctly understands that it must be viewed as an insurgency on a global scale and that the West must do a better job of fighting ideology with ideology because law enforcement and tactical military operations will not be enough to defeat this threat. The center of gravity is the moderate Muslims of the world and the West must embrace them and ask to help support their efforts to eradicate the radical elements that are perverting the Islamic faith for their own power and ideals. We have much to fear from Al Qaeda because according to its own manual Islamic governments "are established ...by pen and gun, by word and bullet..." Mao Zedong believed that power grew out of the barrel of a gun too, but despite this belief communism has been discredited and neutralized around the world because of the superiority of the ideology of freedom and self-determination. The real question that Maria implies but does not ask is can the West use the sam

This is an interesting book. Maria, in her work as a journalist, has gained the confidence of security officials throughout the region. She has seen what the officials know. But beyond that, she has been able to compare and integrate information on a regional level - something that we're not sure the region's security officers do. This is a disturbing book as well. It provides a wealth of information on a matter many of us would rather not think about. From the independent vantage point of a journalist, Maria found it easy to draw the conclusions demanded by the facts. That is an exercise not easily performed by security officials who might need to compromise conclusions with political correctness. Indonesia, for instance, tried to play down the perils posed by the growth of extremist Islamic movements within its borders. That despite a mounting series of attacks, one of which was directed at the Philippine embassy in Jakarta that nearly killed our ambassador. Then the Big Bang happened. Failing to execute original plans to bomb either Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, the operatives of al-Qaeda in the region hit Bali. That was followed shortly thereafter by the bombing of the Marriot Hotel in Jakarta. It was only recently that Indonesia acknowledged the threat posed by terrorist cells that have embedded themselves in existing, more mainstream, Islamic movements. But acknowledging the problem is only the first step. It needs to be followed by a demonstration of political will to crack down on extremist Islamic movements in a predominantly Islamic country. Although Muslims constitute a small minority in the Philippines, Manila has had difficulty dealing with the threat posed by terrorist cells. Since the early nineties, it was clear that international terrorist cells were operating in the country. They did bomb that plane from Cebu, didn't they? The traffic of Middle Eastern "missionaries" to Mindanao was evident. The plot to kill the Pope, blow up 12 planes in the air and bomb the World Trade Center were all hatched in dingy little apartments in Manila. When former President Joseph Estrada decided to launch an assault on MILF camps on strong evidence they were being used not only by criminal gangs but more importantly by foreign terrorist cells preparing suicide bombers for missions, that decision was strongly criticized as a "militarist solution" to a complex social and historical problems. Subsequently, the task was left half-done. For a while, the al-Qaeda inspired Rizal Day bombings were blamed on him. When former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, acting on the same information, decided to mount an offensive to dismantle training camps that prepared foreign militants for missions of destruction worldwide, he too was met with strong criticism.The criticism came from the usual peaceniks as well as from factions within the armed forces. He eventuality relinquished his post. When President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared that the threat posed on our soci