Zacarias Moussaoui: The Making of a Terrorist (Paperback)

'with its pain and its humanity brings a stark answer to a fundamental question: how does one become a terrorist?' L'Humanite; 'A very courageous book that takes to task... a sectarian, violent strand of Islamic thought' La Tribune

The face on the cover of this book is notorious throughout the world; it is that of the so-called 'twentieth hijacker', Zacarias Moussaoui, faced with six charges arising from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. The first awareness that his brother, the author, claims to have had of his alleged involvement in the atrocity was when he was driving back from work, and heard his brother's name mentioned on the radio as a possible suspect. At first he could not believe what he was hearing, but soon it began to dawn on him that his own brother could very well be implicated. Following a year of media frenzy during which both he and his wife have been hounded by the press, this book is Abd Samad Moussaoui's moving attempt to 'get it all off his chest', to try to explain how his brother might have become caught up in such a horror. Although Samad had become increasingly alienated from his brother in the five years prior to the attacks, and confesses that he did not know where he was or why his behaviour had changed so much in recent years, he is now convinced, with the benefit of hindsight, that it was the early years of childhood which played a crucial role in shaping Zacarias's future. They were born in France, of Moroccan parents whose marriage broke up early on, leaving the family poor and vulnerable. During childhood and the teenage years, the boys were subject to constant racism, both in the form of verbal and physical attacks and the institutionalised racism which, in Zacarias's view, prevented him from receiving the education and employment he deserved and left him socially isolated. Both boys became interested in Islam, but as their mother refused to discuss religion with them, they had to turn to others for guidance and it was at this time that Zac fell under the spell of the Wahabi sect which would isolate him from his family and indoctrinate him with ideas extreme enough to persuade its recruits to sacrifice their own lives. As he became increasingly disillusioned with his prospects in France, Zacarias decided to make his way to England where he enrolled at the South Bank University and, so his brother believes, was recruited by the extremists who, owing to the lax attitude of the British authorities, have been allowed to flourish and pursue their activities unchecked. Samad can add little more other than to offer some heartfelt advice to North African families to try to prevent such tragedies occurring in the future, namely to 'make sure that their children have the foundations of religious culture. Knowledge is the only possible weapon in the face of ideologies of terror.' As far as society at large is concerned, he urges it to 'learn to fight racial discrimination and social exclusion'. (Kirkus UK)

Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested in the United States in August 2001. He is currently in a federal prison in Virginia, charged with "conspiring with Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda to murder thousands of innocent people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania". Zacarias Moussaoui, who trained to be a pilot in Oklahoma, admits to being a member of Al-Qaeda but denies involvement in the events of September 11th 2001. He has opted to defend himself. Written by his brother, this book tells the story of Zac's life from birth to the time in 1996 when he broke contact with his family and became deeply involved with Muslim fundamentalists. It is a unique document about what it is to grow up a Muslim in modern Western Europe, and how an extremist is made. Of particular interest to a British reader are the chapters in the book where Zacarias comes under the influence of Muslim fundamentalists in London where he lived from 1992 until his "disappearance".