I was going to write a longer review about NINE LIVES by Aimen Dean but think it would be better for readers to discover the richness of this amazing book as they read it. It was written in 2018 and is even more pertinent now.
Aimen Dean was born in Bahrain and grew up in Saudi Arabia. The youngest of six brothers, his father died when he was four years old and his mother died when he was 13. After his mother’s death, he turned to religion to find meaning for his life. He was an excellent student.
By the time he was 20, he was involved in extremist terrorist organizations. In the process, he worked for Al-Qaeda on explosives and poisons.
After a few years, he began to realize that these extremist groups were turning against against other Muslims whose religious beliefs and actions differed from their own. Osama bin Ladan, for example, had a little concern about the number of civilians killed in his operations nor the number of his followers who died carrying them out. It wasn’t what he had learned about Islam.
Based on his actions, concerns, and information as well as his contacts, he was recruited by Britain’s MI6 where he was able to collect and pass on valuable information about the plans and activities of several terrorist organizations.
His career ended when he was outed by American journalist Ron Suskind with information he likely received from Scooter Libby, a member of Vice President Dick Cheney’s staff. While his name wasn’t used, members members of Al-Qaeda were able to figure out who he was.
In IN NINE LIVES, Dean explores the reasons people, primarily young men, get involved in these operations and why they are so angry with the West. Much of it involves what they’re taught about what it means to be a true Muslim, furthering their religion, martyrdom, and being rewarded in heaven.
The very important final chapter provides suggestions about how to change these beliefs and actions within the Muslim community. ( )

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/nine-lives-my-time-as-mi6s-top-spy-inside-al-qae...

Very interesting book, supposedly by a former jihadist who became a British agent within al-Qaeda; I’m sorry to start on a note of scepticism, but this is clearly a very tightly managed narrative, and in fact rather than pretend that he wrote the entire thing himself, his ghost-writers emerge from behind the veil in the afterword.

Even bearing in mind how closely the story has been crafted, it’s a very interesting tale; the author, who grew up between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, went to Bosnia as a teenage foreign fighters supporting (more or less) the Sarajevo government in the early 1990s, and graduated to the Philippines and then Pakistan and Afghanistan, before becoming sickened by the sheer nastiness of jihadism and turning himself in to the British – who promptly sent him back to serve as an asset within the system, where he continued until his cover was blown by a leak from Dick Cheney’s office.

Clearly the purpose of the narrative is twofold: to persuade potential jihadist recruits that there’s really not much in it for them, the rewards both spiritual and earthly being rather poor; and to persuade the wider global intelligence community that the British have still got what it takes. I’m largely in agreement with both propositions; given when and where I grew up, I am not a big fan of terrorism, and my sense is that British intelligence has been less badly hollowed out by the “reforms” of this century than the FCDO. At the same time, I am alert to being manipulated by the book’s authors.

The most interesting thing that I took from the book is just how limited the inner circle of international jihadist leadership is. The author keeps running up against the same people, sometimes many years apart; the core number of human resources is small, and has a tendency to become smaller through enemy action and deliberate self-sacrifice. This is the big difference with my own homeland, where political violence had wider and deeper roots on both sides of the community, and self-sacrifice was largely limited to prison protests. (Some people like to forget that the biggest terrorism campaign in Europe since the Second World War was waged by Christians against other Christians.)

Anyway, even with the caveats above, I found this well worth reading. ( )

This strap line for this book is "My time as MI6's top spy inside as-Qaeda" and this really grabbed my attention. I was intrigued as to how this would work, how do you get a spy inside an organisation such as al-Qaeda and get good intel back without risking their cover? As it turns out Dean joined al-Qaeda as a young man and over time he disagreed with what they were doing when it involved killing other Muslims or innocent by-standers. Eventually he gets into trouble with the authorities and opts to take this opportunity to stop what al-Qaeda is planning. This book is really, really good, written by someone who is clearly a very intelligent person. Dean looks at what motivated him and others to join up with al-Qaeda and how their networks operate. He also explains how hard spying was on an emotional, physical, and mental level. He ends up the book by explaining how he thinks governements can stop young people being seduced by al-Qaeda and how moderate Muslims must bring these men back to the fold. ( )

Not an "easy read", but well worth reading. Interesting story told in a compelling manor. Highly recommended. ( )

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 workings of al-qaeda, including a lot of detail. The book is a bit self-aggrandizing, and I have a hard time believing that it's 100% true and unvarnished, but it is still a worthwhile read. ( )