Chapter 5 "Al-Qaeda Aims at the American Homeland" Summary and Analysis

Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) was the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks. KSM is the uncle of Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. KSM is a Pakistani from the Baluchistan region. Not surprisingly, he came from a religious family and was indoctrinated into jihad by the Muslim Brotherhood in his teenage years. Nevertheless, KSM earned a degree in mechanical engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. After graduation, he plunged into the jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. KSM then held a job with Qatar's ministry of Electricity and Water from 1992 to 1996 despite extensive international travel in furtherance of terrorist activity. By 1996, U.S. authorities were looking for KSM, and he fled to Pakistan. KSM was in contact with...