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The Price of Fear

The Truth behind the Financial War on Terror
by Ibrahim Warde (Author), Charlotte Humphrey (Other)
Paperback
Price: $26.95
Publication Date: Nov 2008
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: Incl. US and Territ, Canada, Philippines
Pages: 288
ISBN: 9780520258150
Trim Size: 6 x 9
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About the Book

When the State Department claims to have struck a blow at the heart of the international terrorist finance network, even the most hardened of commentators takes the statement at face value. But as Ibrahim Warde argues in this myth-shattering book, the post-9/11 series of financial crackdowns initiated by the U.S. government has had virtually no impact on terrorism. This is because, as he demonstrates, these actions are based on a fundamental misconception of how terrorism works. Warde shows how operations such as the 9/11 attacks were actually financed, and he brilliantly juxtaposes the reality of shoestring budgets and envelopes of cash against the prevailing fantasy of a buzzing transnational network of seamless electronic transfers.

Copub: I.B.Tauris Books

About the Author

Ibrahim Warde is Adjunct Professor of International Business at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is a contributor to Le Monde Diplomatique and the author of Islamic Finance in the Global Economy.

Reviews

“A well-reasoned critique, amounting to a stinging indictment, of the financial ‘war on terror’ as it has been practiced by the U.S. government since 9/11.”
— Foreign Affairs
“Warde makes a compelling case against the Bush administration’s war on terror (despite its hollow claims of success everywhere). . . . Dealing as it does with the thinking and decision processes of Bush administration officials about the war on terror, the book makes a significant contribution to the burgeoning literature in security studies.”
— International Studies Review
"Ibrahim Warde exposes the Bush administration's much ballyhooed, but often duplicitous 'war on terrorist finances' which has nabbed few bad guys, ruined many innocents, frozen little hot money and vastly complicated worldwide banking for the greater glory of a burgeoning American bureaucracy."—Jonathan Randal, author of Osama: The Making of a Terrorist

"Ibrahim Warde takes a long overdue skeptical look at the widely held view that money is the 'oxygen' of terrorism. That conclusion has resulted in a financial war on terror launched by the US government that in many cases has produced meager or even counterproductive results. Warde writes with great clarity, and his book is very well reported. It is a welcome addition to a field that has been largely the preserve of alarmists with little interest in the kinds of reporting done by Warde."—Peter Bergen, author of The Osama bin Laden I Know

"A pleasure to read … remarkably informative about a subject that the press seems to have mangled. This ought to have a big impact."—Chalmers Johnson, author Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire

"Is it any wonder that with thinking like this, American policy went adrift in the war on terror, not able to find a solid base on which to move forward?"—Patrick Lloyd Hatcher, author of North Atlantic Civilization at War

"A witty, irreverent analysis of the financial 'war on terror' … A must read for anyone interested in the Middle East and the global economy."—Clement M. Henry, co-author of Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East