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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was the double agent that taught Osama bin Laden's troops a course on surveillance?

2. Where were the Khobar Towers located in Saudi Arabia?

3. Who was the reporter for the News in Islamabad that asked Osama bin Laden about his family at a press conference in 1998?

4. When did Osama bin Laden leave Sudan?

5. Who was the national coordinator for counterterrorism in the White House in February, 1995?

Short Essay Questions

1. What problems did the Saudis have with Osama bin Laden in May of 1998?

2. What did Osama bin Laden cite as his reasons for his declaration of war against the U.S. when he was interviewed by CNN in 1997?

3. Why was John O'Neill suspected of a leak after bin Laden's ABC News interview in 1998?

4. Who did bin Laden enlist to assassinate Ahmed Shah Massoud? Why did he have him assassinated?

5. When and why did the Khobar Towers bombing occur?

6. How is the discord between the FBI and the CIA described in Chapter 14?

7. Why did Mullah Omar move Osama bin Laden to Kandahar in 1997?

8. How does Islamic law dictate child custody in the case of divorce?

9. How had Afghanistan changed when Osama bin Laden returned there in 1996?

10. How does the author describe the majority of the new recruits for al-Qaeda in the 1990s in Chapter 18?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the Soviet-Afghan War. When did this war take place? How many casualties came about from the war? Where was the war fought? How was it fought?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the history of Saudi Arabia from the 1950s to the present. What impacts did the discovery of oil have on the Saudi Arabian economy, culture, and society? How did this transition feed radical thought, like that of Osama bin Laden and others?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the theme of American overconfidence in The Looming Tower. How does the author establish this theme? How does he back up this theme with examples? What are the repercussions of American overconfidence?

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