Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Nine Lives My time as the West's top spy inside al-Qaeda by Aimen Dean Nine Lives: My Time as MI6’s Top Spy Inside Al-Qaida – review. W hen the Taliban regime in Afghanistan collapsed in November 2001, journalists who had been waiting in parts of the country outside the Islamist regime’s authority or in neighbouring Pakistan rushed to bombed-out and deserted training camps where al-Qaida had built the strike force that had carried out the 9/11 attacks. I was in the eastern city of Jalalabad as opposition forces still skirmished with al-Qaida remnants on the evening of the city’s fall. After a night in the one functioning hotel, I drove a few miles down the rutted road to Kabul. On several reporting trips into Afghanistan under the Taliban I had heard of a training camp near a reservoir called Darunta, a mile off the main road. It wasn’t hard to reach: a complex of mud huts and barracks down a short road. Darunta plays a key role in the extraordinary story told in Nine Lives . It is rare that western secret services place an agent within an organisation such as al-Qaida. It is rarer still that the identity of that agent becomes known. It is unprecedented that any such individual publishes a detailed memoir of more than a decade of his activity at very nearly the highest possible levels of Islamist militancy. Aimen Dean – not, inevitably, his real name – tells the story well. He has been ably assisted by Paul Cruickshank, a US-based researcher and journalist who has both a deep knowledge of the subject and the ability to transform the raw material of an agent’s memories into something digestible to the general public. (The other contributor, Tim Lister, is a CNN reporter with long experience in the topic.) Nine Lives works on many levels: as a human story of faith, violence, trauma and eventually a form of redemption, a deep dive into the inner workings of one of the most infamous terrorist organisations of all time and as a short history of the threat that we still face. Dean recounts his early life in Saudi Arabia, and how he is drawn into a religious study group that appears innocent but goes on to produce a large number of high-level militants. By 1994, still a teenager, he is in Bosnia, fighting with committed Muslims alongside Croats. He is involved in battles and atrocities. These mark him permanently but reinforce his commitment to the struggle to defend the Ummah , the global community of Muslims, against the supposed aggression of the west and its local allies within the Islamic world. He travels to Afghanistan, and to Darunta, where he becomes involved in the attempted manufacture of chemical and biological weapons. He also joins al-Qaida, and is interviewed by Osama bin Laden himself. Bin Laden is far from the only top-level militant Dean meets. every major figure active in Islamic militancy in this period – from preachers in the UK through to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who planned the 9/11 strikes, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who went on to found and lead al-Qaida in Iraq – feature in the narrative. These are amazing “up-close and personal” portraits of leading figures whose thinking and actions are essential for understanding how Islamic militancy evolved as it did. Particularly significant is the importance of eschatological prophesies to jihadists. For a long time, often well-educated al-Qaida higher command have been thought to have despised such apocalyptic thinking. In fact, Dean points out, the belief that they could hurry the coming of the end times was central to their worldview and strategy. Cookie Consent and Choices. 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In both a new book and an interview with NBC News, a British spy inside al Qaeda says his cover was blown by a leak to reporters that likely emanated from Vice President Dick Cheney's office. The leaked information ended his seven-and-a-half-year stint as a mole inside the terror group. The spy, who now goes by the name Aimen Dean, writes of his career and its dramatic end in "Nine Lives: My Time as the West's Top Spy Inside al Qaeda," co-authored by Tim Lister and Paul Cruikshank and released in the U.S. Tuesday. Dean, a Saudi national who went to Bosnia to fight for al Qaeda at age 16, was an expert in weapons of mass destruction as well as the terror group's complicated hierarchy. He writes in "Nine Lives" of meeting both Osama Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, on multiple occasions. He also met famed American jihadi Adam Gadahn, which would later come back to haunt him. After becoming disillusioned with al Qaeda, Dean flipped and became a mole for the British in 1999. American intelligence officials say that by staying inside al Qaeda and working undercover he thwarted attacks and saved lives. Ex-spy details his infiltration of Al Qaeda in new book. But his career as a double agent ended in June 2006 when details of some of his biggest successes showed up, without warning, in a Time Magazine excerpt of the book "The One Percent Doctrine," by journalist Ron Suskind. Dean, who traveled between the Middle East and Europe, was in Paris on vacation when one of his al Qaeda comrades sent him a text with a link to the Suskind story, warning, "Brother, go into hiding. There is a spy among us." The text didn't accuse Dean of being the spy but he believed it was only a matter of time before he was outed. "I was angry," Dean told NBC News. "I thought, 'The information was supposed to be under wraps! Why is it splashed all over Time Magazine?' Both MI6 and MI5 were shocked. Neither knew about it." His British handlers pulled him from the field immediately. They ordered him to take the Eurostar train to London as soon as possible. Within five hours, he was being greeted on the platform at Waterloo Station by one of his MI6 handlers. Dean noted that the book's portrait of the mole, a trusted member of al Qaeda who had provided details of a planned 2003 attack on New York's subway, identified the head of al Qaeda's WMD program and stolen the group's design for a terror weapon and given it to Western intelligence, was so detailed it could only fit a few people. The spy was even identified as "Ali" — his birth name and the one he used within al Qaeda. "Every paragraph provided another detail about Ali, until the full picture emerged looking distinctly like me," he writes in "Nine Lives." After a flurry of cables between British intelligence and the CIA, Dean said his handlers told him who they believed was responsible for the leak — someone in Cheney's office. "The whole saga of discussions took about two weeks for them to ascertain who was responsible," Dean told NBC News. "There were lots of cables that went from MI6 into the CIA and back. MI6 wanted to know why information that was shared in good faith had been leaked when there was no necessity to identify who the spy was. "The CIA defended itself by saying [the leak] had most likely come from someone in the political sphere who had access to the information," said Dean. "The book was centered around Vice President Cheney and burnished the image of Cheney." A former U.S. intelligence official tells NBC News that at the time "there was a lot of angst inside the agency about the Suskind book for a variety of reasons," without providing details on classified materials. When contacted by NBC News, Ron Suskind said, "Like all major disclosures in my books, the array in ‘One Percent Doctrine’ were vetted just prior to publication with CIA officials to ensure sources and methods would not be compromised." 'I was a powder keg yearning for a spark' Dean, a Saudi national, had been critical to British — and by extension U.S. — intelligence since the late '90s, when he soured on al Qaeda over what he says were moral concerns. He had gone to Bosnia as an idealistic teenage jihadi to fight the Serbs, following in the footsteps of a teacher who was a role model. Says Dean, now in his 40s, "I was imbued with an ideology, but I was also a powder keg yearning for a spark. I did not want history passing me by." The loss of more than 200 civilian lives in the East Africa embassy bombings of August 1998 had sickened him, he says, and al Qaeda leaders' justification of the attacks on Koranic grounds felt thin at best. "Amid these doubts," he writes, "the wrangling inside me, I did know one thing: The moral clarity I had felt setting off for Bosnia was gone forever." Dean, who had been in Afghanistan, flew to Qatar to get away from al Qaeda. Qatari intelligence officials pulled him aside and said they had identified him as someone who had used the cellphone of a top al Qaeda official. Dean told the Qataris that he no longer believed in al Qaeda and was ready to act as a mole inside the organization. The Qataris told him he should work for Western intelligence instead, and offered him the chance to work for the U.S., the British or the French. They gave him a half hour to decide. Dean, who didn't speak French and was wary of the Americans, chose the British. "I was suddenly and perhaps irrationaly excited about my new lease on life. My appetite for adventure and movement had briefly stifled any apprehension I might have had about such a sudden and drastic change of course." The Qataris flew him to London in December 1998, where he met his new British employers. Initially, he planned on working for "Her Majesty's Secret Service" for a few months, but British intelligence had different plans for him, particularly with his extensive knowledge of how al Qaeda worked. They sent him back to Afghanistan, where he trained in bomb making at one of al Qaeda's most notorious camps, all the while sending information back to MI6. His biggest coup was providing the Brits with the design of a chemical warfare dispersal device manufactured from parts that could be found in a tool shed and was capable of spreading deadly cyanogen chloride or other agents. He had carried the design out of the Middle East on floppy disks. His information was so detailed that the CIA was able to construct a copy and bring it to Cheney's office. Dean's belief he would eventually be found out was confirmed two years after his escape to London, when MI6 learned that there was a fatwah on him. Any Muslim who encountered him was ordered to kill him. Adam Gadahn had identified him. "Not for the first time I felt a stab of anger toward the leaker or leakers who had briefed Ron Suskind," Dean writes in his book. "With two terms nearly completed, many senior officials in the Bush Administration were looking forward to lucrative jobs in the private sector or six-figure book deals. I, on the other hand, was on al Qaeda's list of things to do, thanks to some loose lips in Washington." Nine Lives : My time as the West's top spy inside al-Qaeda. It took me a long time to get through this book. There's a lot to absorb here, and there are hundreds of characters that are easily confused. That said, this is an incredible look into the inner . Читать весь отзыв. LibraryThing Review. This was an absolutely amazing view into a world that few of us will ever really know. Reading this book hit me on a personal level, not only due to 9/11, but that the age of Aimen Dean, the author . Читать весь отзыв. Другие издания - Просмотреть все. Об авторе (2018) Aimen Dean now consults on security and counter-terrorism for governments and the private sector with a focus on counter-terrorist finance. Aimen Dean now consults on security and counter-terrorism for governments and the private sector with a focus on counter-terrorist finance. Paul Cruickshank is CNN’s Terrorism Analyst and Editor-in-Chief of CTC Sentinel, the flagship publication of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Tim Lister is a British producer and reporter who has covered international news for the BBC and CNN for more than thirty years. They wrote the international bestseller Agent Storm with Morten Storm. Nine Lives: My time as the West's top spy inside al-Qaeda by Aimen Dean. As one of al-Qaeda's most respected bomb-makers, Aimen Dean rubbed shoulders with the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden himself. As a double agent at the heart of al-Qaeda's chemical weapons programme, he foiled attacks on civilians and saved countless lives, brushing with death so often that his handlers began to call him their spy with nine lives. This is the story of how a young Muslim, determined to defend his faith, found himself fighting on the wrong side - and his fateful decision to work undercover for his sworn enemy. From the killing fields of Bosnia to the training camps of Afghanistan, from running money and equipment in Britain to dodging barrel bombs in Syria, we discover what life is like inside the global jihad, and what it will take to stop it once and for all. Additional Information. Subject Current Affairs Pages 480 Imprint Oneworld. About the Author. Aimen Dean now consults on security and counter-terrorism for governments and the private sector with a focus on counter-terrorist finance. Paul Cruickshank is CNN's Terrorism Analyst and Editor-in-Chief of CTC Sentinel , the flagship publication of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Tim Lister is a British producer and reporter who has covered international news for the BBC and CNN for more than thirty years. They wrote the international bestseller Agent Storm with Morten Storm. Reviews. ‘A compelling and invaluable account of life inside al-Qaeda through the eyes of a first-rate spy. This unique narrative throws open the shutters of the secret world of terror.' - Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower. ‘Aimen Dean has been on most of the major jihadist battlefields of the past three decades and met many of the most significant figures… Not only a gripping page-turner, but also an extraordinary contemporary history of the global terror threat.' - Raffaello Pantucci, author of “We Love Death As You Love Life”: Britain’s Suburban Terrorists. ‘This captivating real-life spy-thriller is a must-read to understand the enduring threat of global terror. It provides a fascinating account of one of the most lethal terrorist groups, from the unique perspective of a courageous double agent - an excellent read all round.' - Ali Soufan, former FBI Special Agent and author of Anatomy of Terror and The Black Banners. ‘One of the most extraordinary, captivating and insightful accounts of involvement in the violent global jihad. For many years, Aimen Dean risked his life time and time again, penetrated the leadership of al-Qaeda and saved many lives. Britain owes him a debt of gratitude. A seminal book.' - Richard Walton, Head of Counter Terrorism Command (SO15), New Scotland Yard, 2011–2016. ‘An incisive history of the war on terrorism and a riveting true-life thriller… An important book that sheds new light on al-Qaeda's violent trajectory and its continued, stubborn resilience.' - Professor Bruce Hoffman, Georgetown University, and author of Inside Terrorism. ‘A must-read for anyone interested in the inside story of the last two decades of the so-called War on Terror. This book defies easy classification. Is it an insightful book on intelligence tradecraft? Certainly so. Is it an important primer on the evolution of radical jihadism? Without question. Is it a key resource for our understanding of counter-terrorism policy and practice in the twenty-first century? Absolutely.' - Dr Vince Houghton, Historian and Curator, International Spy Museum, Washington, DC. ‘ Nine Lives provides a stunning inside account of the making of a senior al-Qaeda operative, who trained with the organization's master bomb- maker and WMD-specialist, who turned into an MI6 spy, foiling terrorist plots and uncovering al-Qaeda networks. The story of Aimen Dean is as close as you you'll ever get to the real thing. The book provides unique intelligence insights into the inner workings of al-Qaeda before and after 9/11. It also reveals how MI6 used him as one of its most valuable intelligence weapons in the global war on terrorism.' - Dr Magnus Ranstorp, Research Director, Centre for Asymmetric Threat Studies, Swedish Defence University, and Quality Manager, EU Radicalisation Awareness Network, Centre of Excellence. ‘This is the most fascinating book about al-Qaeda I've read in a long time. It is a realistic and down-to earth account of al-Qaeda's chemical weapons programme, told by one of its insiders. It's a must-read for everyone who wants to understand al-Qaeda and the evolution of international terrorism.' - Anne Stenersen, author of Al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Al-Qaida’s Quest for Weapons of Mass Destruction.