By Gore Vidal
The Enemy Within    Full-length Essay from The Observer, UK, Oct. 27, 2002
"Far and away the best and most balanced analysis of 911."    La Repubblica, Roma, Sept. 26, 2002, in Italian.

Playboy Magazine, March 2003
Excerpt: "paints a dire picture with the statement that the Bush administration has set up a police state, with "unprecedented curbs on civil liberties and basic human rights, the crushing of domestic dissent, and the criminalization of protest." (If only that were a paranoid fantasy.) Ahmed has a solid grasp of history but ends his book with a deal with the devil - a "Backword" written by his publisher." Read more

Scholarly and Critical acclaim    Pre-publication comment.

Who Knew? by Michael Keefe-Feldman, The Missoula Independent, Dec. 5, 2002.
Initially skeptical of "wacko conspiracy websites," the reviewer is fascinated by the mass of evidence of Bush administration complicity in 9/11. www.missoulanews.com/AE/News.asp?no=2858    Cached

The Philadelphia Weekly, www.philadelphiaweekly.com.
"PW's Picks for the Week: Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002.
BOOKS
The War on Freedom
Forget what you think you know about Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Osama or even the United States --because you don't really know anything at all. So as Bush's cohorts sign off on Homeland Security drafts, I offer The War on Freedom: How and Why America Was Attacked, September 11, 2001 as a truly meaningful gift for the holiday season. But be forewarned: Until you finish this book, you may suffer from some restless nights, probably caused by an ever-growing guilty conscience. The self-reproach comes courtesy of author Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed's research, which unveils America's real agenda when we aided the Taliban against Russia, when we originally supported the idea of Al Qaeda and when we played dumb after being attacked. While the highly acclaimed human rights activist doesn't excuse the atrocity, his excerpts from worldwide media dispatches and policy-maker comments issued years before the attacks are undeniable evidence that Sept. 11 should not have happened, could have been prevented and was a long time coming. Sleep tight. (Gian Sachdev)
$16.95. Read at your leisure."
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/ae/alist/ Cached

Reader Reviews:
On Amazon.com:

This research will effectively recast history regarding 9/11 (July 30, 2002)
Reviewer: A reader from Washington, DC
I am going to be blunt: The research behind this book will effectively recast history with respect to September 11, 2001. This brilliant UK-based author has compiled the relevant research from over 700 resources in the mainstream media and methodically and meticulously presented what U.S. media and our government refused to do - provide a comprehensive analysis of the events that surround that tragic day in September.

I must confess, this is the most disturbing book that I have ever read, and the implications about this government are so dire that it will bring tears to the eyes of the most hardened of men. I am an American and a patriot, but what the current Bush administration has done is set this country on an unavoidable collision course into a national crisis the likes of which we have not seen since the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. This immensely important book is a virtual indictment of the current administration, and we will soon have a crisis of legitimacy, trust and confidence in our own government. I cannot begin to articulate the importance of this book to every American who wants to understand why 3,000 of our fellow citizens were murdered on that awful morning, thus I will simply post a few statements from the author and quotes from our founding fathers in the hope that God will bless this country during our impending national crisis:

"As far as the facts on record are concerned, the best explanation of them, in the opinion of this author, is one that points directly to U.S. state responsibility for the events of September 11th 2001. A detailed review of the facts points not only to Kabul, but to Riyadh, Islamabad and most principally, Washington. Furthermore, in the opinion of this author, the documentation presented in this study strongly suggests, though not necessarily conclusively, that significant elements of U.S. government, military and intelligence agencies had exclusive advance warning of the September 11th attacks, and were in various ways complicit in those attacks. This is certainly not a desirable inference, but it is one that best explains the available data. ... This study points to a host of unanswered questions and blatant anomalies that U.S. government, military and intelligence agencies must be forced to answer through a public inquiry. Such an inquiry is clearly a matter of the greatest urgency, and must be demanded as such by all sectors of society."
(From The War on Freedom, Conclusions, page 290.)

GREAT! July 29, 2002, Susan C Prock from Fort Pierce, FL
I received my copy and I have a hard time putting it down. The research is excellent. If I were a billionaire I would buy every copy published and send one to every household in the country. It's that important. I am going to buy a few copies and donate them to the library system that I work for. Every citizen should have access to this book!

One of the Scariest Books You'll Ever Read, July 30, 2002
Reviewer: Richard Everett (see more about me) from Friendsville, TN USA
I judge a book such as this one by the quality of its footnotes and this one is top grade. If you want to maintain your illusions about your place in the world, you might want to watch TV instead. But if you believe that an informed citizen is the first step toward freedom, read it. Something very foul is afoot in our land and this book helps you make sense of it all. Fascinating and frightening.

Required reading, July 30, 2002
Reviewer: A reader from Weymouth, MA
This is a very well-researched, detailed and important work on the evidence surrounding the events of September 11. It collates data from the world press, foreign intelligence experts, experts on central Asia, the Middle East and Islamism, etc. in trying to understand the background to 911. The conclusions are surprising and frightening. Should be required reading for the Senators who are investigating the events of 9/11.

Chilling, informative, and thought-provoking, September 9, 2002
Reviewer: Midwest Book Review, Oregon, WI USA
The War On Freedom: How And Why America Was Attacked September 11, 2001 by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed (Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Research & Development, Brighton, United Kingdom) is a powerful and meticulously researched reconstruction of the background of events and the motivations of participants leading up to and following the infamous September 11 attacks on America. Numerous quotes and excerpts form the foundation of this carefully reasoned analysis of the recent history of the Taliban and Osama bin Ladin; fallout from the so-called "war on terrorism"; as well as a harrowing prediction of overly concentrated power in the United States leading to the rise of a new type of governmental fascism at home. Chilling, informative, and thought-provoking, The War On Freedom is very highly recommended reading and a welcome contribution to the growing library of information on contemporary international terrorism.

DON'T HIDE BEHIND SYMBOLS, PEOPLE!, December 25, 2002

Reviewer: Pawel Pawlowski from Charlotte, NC USA
I liked this book very much. It is easy to follow, and I could not put it down. The author has stressed that his book is not the last and definitive word on the subject of who bears responsibility for the attacks, but nevertheless, the facts contained in this book must be seriously considered.
If you are tired of the constant barrage of propaganda, disinformation and slant regarding 9/11, courtesy of the U.S. government and the mass media, this book is a breath of fresh air. It will undoubtedly enlighten anyone who reads it, and will have you demanding answers from our "leaders."
My parents grew up behind the "Iron Curtain" and know all about government propaganda, war- mongering, and about what happens to people who openly disagree with the party line. That's why they are shocked that these same methods are starting to come into play here, in the United States. But what's worse, is that back there most people didn't listen to that garbage, but here in the U.S. most people do.

We must all remember two things:

1.) Truth is always the first casualty of war

2.) No country can preserve it's freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

We cannot hide behind blind patriotism when faced with facts, because then we are only denying that a problem exists. The American people must hear all facts of 9/11 from both sides and then make a decision on what should be done. This also is needed when it comes to the current situation with Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
I highly recommend this book, and praise its author for a good, and much needed informative work.

On Barnes & Noble Online:
Carol Brouillet (cbrouillet@igc.org), an activist., July 26, 2002,
The Best Book on 9-11!!!!
This is absolutely the best book I've read on the subject. Clear, coherent, well documented, makes a compelling case for the need for a real inquiry into 9-11. This makes it perfectly clear how and why America was 'attacked,' how the Bush Administration, the multinational oil companies, the military industrial complex were the clear beneficiaries of the attacks. This is the book that could, should, and perhaps will bring down the 'Evil Empire.'

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WarOnFreedom/message/125
Josh Salans, 7/31/02,
I just finished the book and put my jaw back in my face. I am in awe of the information in this book. Not surprised but eager to share it with complete strangers (and family). So I was sitting in a fast food Chinese restaurant in Sunnyvale, and I stopped a young couple and asked them what they would think, if they learned our government was complicit in the 9/11 attacks.
We know, they answered! When I shook off my surprise I asked them how they knew. They were in Puerto Vallarta on September 9, when they learned they would not be able to go home, because the US Embassy said: either the storm that is brewing, or because we have word that Osama Bin Laden may be hijacking airlines!
Get the word out - our government's top officials should be held on treason for allowing harm to come to its citizens!

Palm Beach Post
Controversial book asks the 'hard questions' about 9/11

By Paul Lomartire, Staff Writer
Saturday, October 5, 2002

Of the more than 150 books about Sept. 11, there's one controversial volume most people haven't heard about: The War On Freedom: How and Why America Was Attacked September 11, 2001.

This book was put together using more than 700 news sources found on the Internet, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and Al- Jazeera.

Author Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed decided to write The War on Freedom after prowling the Internet and finding "a web of connections needed to be looked into." He sifted through worldwide print and TV news and academic papers, then verified sources to create the linking pieces of a puzzle.

"I'm not a conspiracy theorist," he says from his home in England. "I'm just offering some hard questions that could have horrible answers."

For example: Why did the United States hire Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda "as thugs" to do its bidding in Kosovo, the Balkans and Afghanistan? What are the details of past oil and construction deals between the Bush and bin Laden families? Why did the United States allow princes in Saudi Arabia to give protection money to Al-Qaeda that was used to pay for terrorism?    Cached

Reviews of "Backword," the 56-page afterword (copyrighted by John Leonard):

Centre for Research on Globalisation, Ottawa
Sept. 11: Day of Infamy or Day of Deception? by John A. McCurdy, Aug. 29, 2002
In his "Backword" Leonard weighs in with bold, unapologetic exposes of historical state deception, showing how the U.S., Israel and Russia have all manipulated "staged" events like 9-11 to enflame public opinion, and provoke elite wars against political and economic rivals. He envisions a revival of U.S. Constitutional ideals and finds in the European Union a worthy federalist model for a new United States, as an antidote to the bloated powers of the Executive governmental branch.

The Lebanon Daily Record, Missouri, Oct. 13, 2002
My criticism of the main text is that it is so repetitive as to be tiresome, but one can overcome this by judicious scanning. Where this book puts me off is the two sections gratuitously included by a John Leonard, apparently associated with the publisher, Tree of Life Publications. These are (1) "Foreword: a Synopsis," and (2) "Backword: Where would we be without our Wars?" The burden of these sections is that the Bush administrations have deliberately invited retaliation against this country so as to realize an excuse to go to war for the purpose of acquiring a pipeline route to the Caspian Sea oil fields, the objective being augmenting oil profits for certain members of these administrations.

These people are stated to have purposely withheld, and failed to act upon, information directly related to the events leading to Sept. 11, 2001, including names of possible perpetrators. He draws what he regards as a parallel with the supposed deliberate baiting of the Japanese through the oil and steel embargo of 1940-41 by the Roosevelt administration so as to create the Pearl Harbor attack, while deliberately withholding from General Short and Admiral Kimmel pertinent and timely information which had it been available might have enabled them to prevent the disaster.

I believe that such conclusions are completely unjustified, unnecessarily inflammatory, as well as being libelous. It may be certainly true that stupidity and lack of imagination and dedication had unintended consequences in both situations, and that kind of thing may make one unhappy. But accepting complicity is much too much of a stretch, at least for this reviewer.

In reading these parts of the book you will have to resist the temptation to throw it against the wall. I tried to search the Internet using Googol to find out more about this guy and Tree of Life, but this process turned up more than 2,000,000 listings for the name John Leonard, and life is too short. My impression is that he is at least a Bush/Roosevelt-hater.

The author of the main text is not, but he pulls no punches in telling about the official foul-ups. That part of the book is worth at least scanning, but the before and after commentary is not, unless you enjoy being angry.

Full Text

At the urging of one of my readers, I have just finished reading "The War on Freedom." When I was about half finished with the book I gave the reader a lukewarm review, mainly based upon my feeling that Ahmed had not dug deeply enough into 9-11, that he accepted too much of the official version as a given. Then I got to your neologistically-named afterword and most of my reservations crumbled. I really don't understand how Ahmed could not have taken note of something that Fox News, of all people, had reported and something that such a tame web site as antiwar.com has made much of, that is, the matter of the celebrating Israeli spooks, the Israeli spy ring, and the Odigo warnings, all of which bespeak involvement by the biggest beneficiaries of all in 9-11, that is, Sharon's Israel. - Dave Martine.