Talking to Terrorists: Face to Face with the Enemy: A Personal Journey from the IRA to Al Qaeda

by PeterTaylor (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2011

  $3.25

  A controversial and important book by BBC reporter and terrorism expert Peter Taylor. Newly updated to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and to include the death of Osama Bin Laden.

  During his 40-year career, award-winning journalist Peter Taylor has come face-to-face with some of the world's most notorious terrorists. In 1972 he was sent to Northern Ireland to report on `Bloody Sunday' and in the aftermath of 9/11, he focused on Al Qaeda, breaking stories in the period up to the July bombings and the plot to blow up passenger planes mid-Atlantic.

  In Talking to Terrorists Taylor wrestles with a range of complex questions: What are terrorists like? What motivates them? Should governments talk to them? When does interrogation become torture? In this journey from Northern Ireland's Bogside to the notorious Guantanamo Bay, he uncovers this deadly phenomenon, unavoidably at the centre of our lives.

  Newly updated to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and in the aftermath of the death of Osama Bin Laden, Talking to Terrorists is controversial, revelatory and an unquestionably important book for our times.

• Used

  Paperback
  2011

  $3.25

  A controversial and important book by BBC reporter and terrorism expert Peter Taylor

  In 'Talking to Terrorists' Peter Taylor takes us on a personal journey, quoting from diaries written at the time, as he reveals what it was like to come face-to-face with killers such as the Brighton bomber, Patrick Magee, and Islamic jihadis.

  What are terrorists really like? How do states counter them? And should governments talk to them? Drawing on more than 35 years of reporting terrorism, Taylor asks these questions as he tries to understand the motives of the men and women behind some of the world's most notorious terror attacks.

  The reality behind terrorism is complex. As the saying goes, 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter'. Many former 'terrorists' have gone on to become statesmen: Menachem Begin of Israel's Irgun, Yasser Arafat of Palestine's Fatah, Nelson Mandela of South Africa's ANC, and Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness of Ireland's Irish Republican Army. Stripped of their masks, bombs and guns, terrorists are normal people - but they are prepared to kill in the name of a cause in which they believe.

  Taylor asks what lessons can be learned from the resolution of conflict in Northern Ireland in confronting the threat of Islamic extremism, and tackles head-on the highly topical issue of extracting actionable intelligence that could save lives. When does interrogation become torture? Often, he argues, there is little choice but to talk to the enemy.