Abu Nidal : A Gun for Hire : The Secret Life of the World's Most Notorious Arab Terrorist

I don’t want to spoil this one, so I’m not going to say much. The theorum and premise of this is absolutely fascinating, and once you read it through, you realize that it’s most likely correct. I enjoyed every moment of this.

Patrick Seale's "Abu Nidal: A Gun For Hire" is addictive and non-stop reading. A book tracing the inner working and operations of Abu Nidal's terrorist organization. Abu Nidal started a resistance group which splintered from the mainstream palestinian opinion in the 70's. Abu Nidal's would transform his group from an extreme palestinian group into a work-for-hire organization that would carry out terrorist attacks against the enemies of his sponsor of the day. Most importantly Abu Nidal broke early on with the PLO and did everything he could to destroy the moderate palestinian voices.The book recreates Abu Nidal's operations, its mode of operation and some missions it carried out by interviewing collaborators, defectors and opponents. The book starts by tracing the steps of a new recruit in the group, and then exploring the claim from a senior PLO officer: that either Abu Nidal's Organization was infiltrated by the Mossad or Abu Nidal himself was working for the Mossad. The exploration of this claim takes the rest of the book as Patrick Seale reconstructs the various terrorist strikes carried out by Abu Nidal. In this book, Lebanon appears only as a backdrop to the mainline story.In any case, Abu Nidal's strikes consistently undermined the efforts of the PLO and the palestinian cause which he claimed to be assisting. Attacks would set back any attempts from the PLO to become a political force to represent the interests of the Palestinians in the exile and on the occupied territories.It was Abu Nidal's group who carried out the attempt to assassinate the Israeli ambassador in London in 1982. This give Israel the excuse to start its long-planned invasion of Lebanon in 1982 by claiming that the the cease fire had been broken by the PLO.In addition to the detective work, the interviews and the puzzle that the book tries to assemble there are various bits of insight on the events of the 80's and early 90's on the Middle East which will help understand the mood in the region.

Prompt delivery and all as promised. Would definitely purchase more from this organization.

Very interesting book, which is extremely peculiar that Israel never attacked this arabic palestinian even though Israel always retaliates. Very interesting read!

Learning about the middle east. This is helpful from the Palestine point of view.

A chilling account of the convoluted inner workings of an outlaw’s mind.

Very detailed but at times disjointed, it does explain the conditions that helped create one of the worst terroists of recent times.

Abu Nidal purportedly committed suicide in Baghdad a few months ago by shooting himself in the head a few times. As English author Patrick Seale probably would agree, Nidal's mysterious death was appropos of a murky life given to terrorism for profit from whatever financial source was available.Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire has many of the characteristics American readers find so grating about British journalism. Among these are the author's penchant for injecting himself into the story and then indulging in a baseless conspiracy theory which requires the writer to make every fact fit his premise (in this case, a far-fetched theory that Nidal worked for the Mossad). All that said, this book probably is more relevant in the aftermath of September 11th than it was when published a decade ago. The author gives textured explanations for the root causes of terrorism, and provides the mechanics of how these horrific crimes actually are implemented.Seale also gives us a look into the sad history of Abu Nidal and other Palestinians who suffered at the hands of Israeli settlers. He follows Nidal as he evolves from a young expatriate into the recipient of patronage from the likes of Saddam Hussein, and finally into a quasi-businessman who becomes a freelance killer for profit. As an interesting aside, Nidal had been expelled from Iraq at the time this book was written. The terrorist Seale portrays is essentially a cowardly, bigoted man who loves money and whiskey more than radical politics and the Palestinian cause. In fact, as his career gains momentum Nidal murders far more Palestinians than he does Israelis and other Westerners. To underscore his actual motives, in one grimly amusing vignette Nidal has an in-law slain to settle a business dispute.Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire was published shortly before serial killers, terrorists and other criminals became media darlings and topics of the talk show circuit. It is interesting to read a relatively recent book that required the author to gather actual facts rather than rely on the self-serving declarations of his subject matter. Even with all its flaws, Seale's book is a valuable tool to understanding terrorism.

Tells the truth about Abu Nidal and his group that they were just murderers for hire.

The author is one of the most knowledgable writers on the Middle East as he has lived with the people for many years.This book gives a thorough insight into the devious workings of Abu Nidal and his obvious collaboration with Mossad. One understands on reading just how the Mossad uses Abu Nidal to carry out its agenda to destroy Arafat and the PLO. The PLO were wrongly blamed for many acts of terrorism actually perpetrated by Abu Nidal and its sidekick, which of course was their aim. A worthy read

as ordered, as stated

A must read !! The most notorious but never heard off !! Why ?