Author Dissects People, Politics Prior to 9/11 Attacks

JIM LEHRER:

Now, two post-9/11 stories, beginning with a new book conversation about the people and events behind the attacks, and to Jeffrey Brown.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian writer who visited the United States, before penning a manifesto that would galvanize several generations of Muslims to turn toward a more militant Islam.

AYMAN AL-ZAWAHRI, Muslim Leader:

We are Muslims. We are Muslims!

JEFFREY BROWN:

Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian doctor who railed against his own government in a Cairo jail…

AYMAN AL-ZAWAHRI:

We tried our best to establish this Islamic state and Islamic society.

JEFFREY BROWN:

… and later became the number two in Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden. Raised amid privilege and wealth in Saudi Arabia, he liked to quote poetry and verses from the Koran, like this one: "Wherever you are, death will find you, even in the looming tower."

Their stories and much more are told in a new book called "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaida and the Road to 9/11."

Its author is Lawrence Wright, a staff writer with "The New Yorker" magazine.

Lawrence Wright, welcome.

LAWRENCE WRIGHT, Author, "The Looming Tower": Thanks for having me, Jeff.

JEFFREY BROWN:

One way of looking at 9/11 is the big picture…

LAWRENCE WRIGHT:

Right.

JEFFREY BROWN:

… clash of civilizations. You write about big shifts, but you have decided to focus and tell the story through individuals. Why?

LAWRENCE WRIGHT:

Well, there are two reasons.

One is, it's an easier story to tell, when you're following the biographies of individuals, because they're interesting in themselves. And characters like that are — are great for a writer, because they can carry the information.

But the second is that there were individual decisions that made al-Qaida. It wouldn't be what it is if it weren't for a few men, Ayman al-Zawahri and bin Laden being two of them. Al-Qaida, in its present form, is the creation of individuals. It's not just a historical phenomenon.