Chapter 3 - Mark Bowden and Killing Pablo

Chapter 3 is motivated by something I was able to attend this week. Monday afternoon I had the opportunity to go to a lunch and lecture by Mark Bowden here on Penn’s campus. A group of about 30 of us packed into the lounge area of the Kelly Writer’s House, one of the English department buildings, ate some sandwiches, and listened to Mark Bowden talk for about an hour about his career, his books, etc. He shared some entertaining experiences he has had as a reporter/author and talked a lot about his most recent book, Guests of the Ayatollah. But before I get carried away about my lunch on Monday, let me take a step back. Mark Bowden was born in St. Louis and attended college in Baltimore. He later became a writer for the daily paper here in Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer. He was a writer for the Inquirer for around 25 years. He started off as a daily reporter for the paper, and eventually moved into writing longer Sunday articles. From there, he started doing magazine articles and later on article series for various magazines. As he continued to write longer and longer pieces, he eventually wrote a full length book called Doctor Dealer. This book tells the story of Larry Lavin, a Penn undergrad and later Penn dental student who ran a cocaine ring in Philadelphia during and after school. His empire eventually made around $60 million annually in cocaine sales. When the drug enforcement figured he and his fellow dealers out, Larry was somehow able to escape while all the others involved were thrown in jail. Larry eventually was caught and spent 22 years in prison, just getting released last year. Needless to say, I don’t think he’s still cleaning teeth. Bowden has since written six other books, most notably Blackhawk Down, Killing Pablo and Guests of the Ayatollah. Each book, it seems, has gotten more complex. Many of you are probably familiar with, or have read, Blackhawk Down. I’ll save a review of this fantastic book for another day. His most recent book, Guests of the Ayatollah, came out last year and covers the 1979 U.S. embassy hostage crisis in Iran. I am planning on reading this book soon, so I won’t say any more about that one. I think it will be an incredible book.

Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw was the first book I read by Mark Bowden. During the summer of 2002 I was on a month long trip to Ghana, West Africa. We had a lot of down time and we were all able to read several books during the trip. One book that my brother Jared had there was Killing Pablo. The cover of the book shows some American military members celebrating around a half-naked dead body. My first thought was, “Why would I want to read a book about the military hunting down and killing this guy?” (You may be asking yourself the same question right now). However, once Jared had read it and told me what a great book it was, I went ahead a read it. I wasn’t disappointed. Killing Pablo tells the story of Pablo Escobar, one of the most successful, most powerful, richest, and nastiest of the Colombian cocaine kingpins. While building his incredibly successful drug empire (Forbes once listed him as the 7^th richest person in the world), he used an incredible amount of violence to influence police, politicians, judges and others who would not accept his bribes. His violence peaked when his men planted a bomb on a plane that killed 110 people, including two Americans. As Escobar continually evaded Colombian officials and their attempts to capture him, the U.S. government put its resources into stopping “public enemy number one in the world” and dismantling his drug cartel. Much of the book follows the U.S. involvement in this chase. One very interesting aspect of this story is that many Colombians, especially those from Escobar’s home neighborhood of Medellin, really loved Pablo Escobar. He spent some of his drug money investing back in the community and as a result became very respected and admired by some Colombian citizens, even while committed such violence and terror to others. This is a thrilling story and very interesting look at the Colombian drug business and the main man running the show. The account of the manhunt and eventual murder of Pablo Escobar gives a fascinating insight into U.S. special operations and reads like a novel. If you liked Clear and Present Danger, you’ll love this true story.

Back to Mark Bowden for a minute. He was a very interesting guy and shared some great stories. His motivation for writing Killing Pablo came when he was working on writing Blackhawk Down. In the course of writing that book, he did many interviews with the members of Delta Force who were involved in the siege in Mogadishu. One man he interviewed had the picture I described above, of military personnel celebrating around a half-naked dead body, hanging in his house and was incredibly proud of it. When Bowden asked him about it, he gloated about being part of the hunt to find and kill Pablo Escobar. Bowden said he scribbled down and underlined in his notebook the name Pablo Escobar since he wasn’t familiar with him or his story. It was also members of Delta Force that inspired Bowden to write Guests of the Ayatollah. They wanted him to recount the story of the first operation undertaken by this highly-trained branch of secret operatives, the attempted rescue mission of the Iranian hostages. Bowden didn’t think that that story alone was too interesting since the mission failed miserably, but he did think the larger story of what went on in the U.S. politically and in Iran with the hostages was a fascinating story. And really, he points out, it is very relevant today because it is the first U.S. encounter with militant Islam in modern times. Anyway, like I said, I very much look forward to reading this book.

Bowden also did say that he has sold the film rights to Killing Pablo and Guests of the Ayatollah, so hopefully those will come out before too long. Finally, Bowden told us that his next book will be about the 1958 NFL championship game. Yes, he’s a big sports fan and even has a previous book about the Philadelphia Eagles.

So, I highly recommend checking out Mark Bowden’s books and when it comes to Killing Pablo, I recommend you…Buy the Book!!!

Chapter 2 - The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, which came out last August, is a fantastic look at the history of al-Qaeda and it's key leaders bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri. This book was written by a writer for The New Yorker, Lawrence Wright. He started working on this book just after 9/11. Five years, numerous trips to and from the Middle East, and more than 500 interviews later, he has compiled the facts and his insightful opinions in this wonderful book.

The Looming Tower traces the beginnings of radical Islam and the ideas that inspired and motivated groups such as al-Qaeda. It begins by telling the story of an Egyptian man named Sayyid Qutb who comes to the US in the 1950s to study. He returns to Egypt a few years later, disillusioned by America and the "evils" of the western world. He starts sharing his wild ideas, eventually ending up in prison and later on being executed. A book he wrote while in prison inspires a young Egyptian doctor named Ayman al-Zawahiri, who eventually creates his own radical group called al-Jihad. Their purpose is to overthrow the Egyptian government and establish an Islamic government in its place. Eventually, (and I'm skipping MANY of the details) he meets a rich young Saudi named Osama bin Laden. The book follows their interactions in Afghanistan as they fight the Soviet occupation, and as they eventually merge their two groups to form al-Qaeda. The author gives great insight into the personalities of the these two men and explains how the goal and design of al-Qaeda evolved into a deep hatred for, and a desire to destroy, the United States. (The motivation in a word: modernity.) They come to blame America for all the problems that, in their view, are plaguing Islam.

On our side of the world, The Looming Tower also tells the story of John O'Neill. He is a dedicated, passionate man who for many years worked on the FBI's counter terrorism unit that tracked Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. He was frequently misunderstood and wasn't always able to do what he wanted in tracking bin Laden and his followers. In an incredible twist of irony, O'Neill left the FBI to become the head of security at the World Trade Center a very short time before 9-11, and died in the rubble when the towers collapsed. After years of fighting bin Laden, O'Neill is the one who ends up losing his life in the battle.

The book also describes the build-up to 9-11, including the US embassy bombings in Africa and the bombing of the USS Cole in the Persian Gulf. The author describes how bin Laden desperately wants to lure the US into a war in Afghanistan, so that he and his fighters can "bleed" America just like the Afghan freedom fighters did to the Soviets in the 1980s. There is also a lot of incriminating evidence about the lack of cooperation between the CIA and FBI. At times, the author asserts, more sharing of information and coordination could have prevented much or all of the 9-11 plot.

There is a lot more in this great book, but I won't write any more at the risk of losing the few of you who are still reading. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone is who interested in the background and motivation for radical Islamist groups and their deep hatred for America. As for The Looming Tower, I would highly recommend that you....
Buy the Book!!!