Review: My Jihad
November 23, 2007
My Jihad: One American’s Journey Through the World of Usama Bin Laden–as a Covert Operative for the American Government
Aukai Collins makes for a very interesting character in recent world events. An American citizen, he signs up for jihad in Chechnya, trains in Afghanistan, and eventually gets caught up with the FBI in some (from his point of view) ridiculous efforts to infiltrate the world of Islamic terrorism.
There we met three Arabs who would also be going to Chechnya. Two were from Saudi Arabia and one was from Yemen. Abu Jaffar, the Yemeni, was a little guy, probably not more than five foot seven and not even 150 pounds. He was someone I was to become familiar with in Chechnya; he would eventually become a principal officer under Ibn-ul Khattab, the legendary Arab field commander. The other two guys were from the holy city of Mecca. Of the four of us who made the trip into Chechnya that day, I am the only one left alive.
Collins’ tales of guerilla combat in Chechnya are chilling. Descriptions of ambushes and executions and the ferocity of the Chechen people are vivid. Later in the book, he details the efforts of the FBI and CIA to send him into Chechnya to spy on the Islamists. This is where things get confusing, because Collins never really gets anywhere doing this. Nowhere in the book does he actually do any undercover work, despite the subtitle of the book. Instead, his efforts are hampered by the government’s bureaucratic fumbling.
The Agency, in its infinite wisdom, had decided that in order for me to proceed to the next phase of the operation - entering Chechnya- as a diplomatic nicety they would first have to declare me to their Russian counterparts at the FSB. If you’ve read this book from page 1, it should be apparent to you that the FSB was thoroughly compromised, with everyone from rogue agents to operatives working for the highest bidder. I’d planned to use the fact that they were compromised in order to get into Chechnya in the first place; if the Agency declared me as an asset I would surely be killed before reaching Khattab.
My Jihad: One American’s Journey Through the World of Usama Bin Laden–as a Covert Operative for the American Government
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