Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?

A young American documentary film-maker decides to find out what all the fuss is about global terrorism and religious fanaticism. Who better to ask than Mr. bin Laden himself ? So, he decides to go look for him. He doesn't find him, but in the end, he is much sadder, but also definitely much wiser. He travels from the U.K. to France, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, from Afghanistan to Pakistan, speaks to hundreds of people from all walks of life, who represent scores of cultures and a multitude of religions. Mr. Spurlock presents a very even-handed account of the rise of religious extremism and international terrorism. He looks at the causes that make ordinary people into killers of innocent people, he examines the role of developed countries in inadvertently fanning the resentment, he and he tries to figure out what measures should be taken to bring the world back from the edge of the abyss where it is tottering at the moment. This is a book which presents the present-day socio-political climate without resorting to any jargon. It is one man's attempt to understand how the world has become such a dangerous place in the space of a few decades, and his resulting narrative is also an impassioned appeal for humanizing the enemy, for improving the quality of life of millions of people who struggle just to put food on their tables every day, and the need to use the modern communications we have at our disposal to educate people all over the world. A must read for anybody; I am not a current-affairs buff, but even I enjoyed Mr. Spurlock's reasonable tone, his genuine effort to stay open-minded, and his honest attempt at looking at the world through the eyes of people driven to the extreme, who have gone off the deep end, and resorted to murder and mayhem in order to achieve their objectives.

This is a great book. I actually initially just thought it was going to be a humorous travel adventure similar to British authors Dave Gorman, Danny Wallace etc. With the title an obvious parody of those old 80's first computer programs they introduced us kids to computers with in the 80's ie Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and with the Australian version of the cover being more cartoony (see my cover in customer images), I assumed this book would simply be about an average American guy travelling to places he knows nothing about and his humorous culture clashes, observations of the culture etc. Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden is so much more than that though. The book actually delves into the cultures of Muslims, Islam as well as what actually happens to imigrants from these cultures when they move to the West. He also tackles the failure of housing commission/welfare housing suburbs (where a lot of these immigrants get placed) and the impact they have on those from all races who live there and their attitudes towards every other resident of their new/own country from living there and the impact of those attitudes towards committing crime. For those who have seen the film Supersize Me this book reads in the same sort of tone and uses vocabulary just like Morgan spoke in that documentary. For those who don't know much or anything about the Islamic religion this is also good introduction book to get an understanding of that unknown, often feared and misunderstood culture. Since Morgan Spurlock knew nothing either as he started his journey his lack of bias allowed him to get the facts from the mouths of different people within these cultures. As well he also met and interviewed FBI/CIA ex agents, political experts and so forth. Quite a controversial topic which Morgan Spurlock will no doubt get some flack from and negative reviews simply for the subject matter. I mean check out the Where's Wally (Waldo for North Americans) parody Where's Bin Laden, which is a great funny parody but the simple subject of Bin Laden results in people tagging it unAmerican and other stupid things. Good on Spurlock for writing this.

Spurlock has always been intelligent, funny, witty and humane, both in Super Size Me and on 30 Days, where for one episode he spent a month living as a devout Muslim. I therefore expected his take on the Global War of Terror (as Borat puts it...) would be well-informed, insightful, fair, and probably very funny. It is all of those, but what I did not expect was the wealth of really well-researched history of the Middle East. This book is as good a primer on the lingering injustices that fuel the region as any you'll find, and the presentation is readable and comprehensible (not easy with that subject matter!) You'll learn both sides of each issue, or more accurately, the myriad of sides seemingly to every issue. There are no easy answers, no trite moralizing, no assigning unilateral blame. Spurlock explains how decades -- centuries, even millennia -- of tribal rivalries led up to today's powerkeg situation, and how the events of the past 40 years have inflamed them. He does not lay all of the blame on current leadership (ours or theirs), although the disastrous consequences of recent blunders on both sides are made evident. Clinton's failures in the region are profiled, as well as Bush 1st and Reagan. Although not specifically name-checked, Spurlock traces a lot of the escalation back to the early 1980s when Charlie Wilson, himself the subject of a recent book and movie, arranged to supply high-tech weapons to the Mujahideen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. What once were sword encounters from the backs of camels suddenly became missiles and tanks, and these weapons have torn the region apart and are now used against the new occupiers of Afghanistan. He traces the origin of Al Qaeda and explains how fundamentalists and terrorists came to be intertwined. He draws the inevitable parallels between fundamentalists in any of the three Abrahamic apocalyptic religions, and shows us how over-zealous adherence to principles and so-called morality can lead ordinary people to violate their innate humanity. In all this is a fabulously-informative (and sobering) book while still being laugh-out-loud funny in many places. Morgan Spurlock has done a great service by informing Americans (and hopefully everyone else!) about the realities on the ground.

Kudos to Morgan Spurlock! This is a timely, well written, clever approach to where the global war on terrorism came from and is headed unless we change directions in a positive and proactive manner. The interviews the author collects along his journey are thought-provoking. Spurlock raises serious questions as to why we in America don't hear more from those who would truly like to work with the United States to bring about a peaceful resolution of those challenges we face than we do from those whose mantra has thus far proven a calamity of immense proportions. A soundly written, well researched, oblique approach to where in the world the Global War on Terrorism is headed unless we seek the answers we may not like to hear, and enact new policies and adopt new attitudes in order to bring this particular global war to a meaningful and honorable end. The final chapter of this book is the most powerful and the most human. In and of itself it reveals how important good choices and right priorities are in this life.

This book was a great primer on mid-east history and terrorism. I will admit that I knew little about the actual history of the region. For the past several years I have been a huge supporter of the "war on terror" and the policies of the Bush administration. I watch Fox News daily and listen to O'Reilly, Hannity, and Glenn Beck everyday on the radio. I have no intention of changing my political leanings or favorites any time soon. However, this book opened my eyes to many issues and perspectives that I had never considered. This book is a "light read" but very informative and engaging. Thanks Morgan!