Jacquard, Roland
Jacquard, Roland
PERSONAL: Male.
ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Duke University Press, P.O. Box 27708-0660, Durham, NC 27708-0660.
CAREER: Writer. President, International Observatory on Terrorism. Consultant to United Nations Security Council.
WRITINGS:
Les dossiers secrets du terrorisme: Tueurs sans frontières, A. Michel (Paris, France), 1985.
Le marché noir de la bombe A, Vertiges du Nord (Paris, France), 1986.
La guerre du mensonge: Histoire secrète de la désinformation, Plon (Paris, France), 1986.
Les cartes secrètes de las guerre du Golfe, Editions G. de Villiers (Paris, France), 1991.
La fin de l'empire rouge, Editions R. Laffont (Paris, France), 1992.
L'affaire Péchiney: La contre-enqute, J. Picollec (Paris, France), 1993.
Carlos, le dossier secret, J. Picollec (Paris, France), 1997.
Fatwa contre l'Occident, A. Michel (Paris, France), 1998.
Au nom d'Oussama Ben Laden: Dossier secret sur le terroriste le plus recherché du monde, J. Picollec (Paris, France), 2001, translation by George Holoch published as In the Name of Osama bin Laden: Global Terrorism and the bin Laden Brotherhood, Duke University Press (Durham, NC), 2002.
Les archhives secrètes d'Al-Qaida: Révélations sur les héritiers de Ben Laden, Picollec (Paris, France), 2002.
(With Atmane Tazaghart) Ben Laden, la destruction programmée de l'Occident: Révélations sur le nouvel arsenal d'al-Quaida, J. Picollec (Paris, France), 2004.
SIDELIGHTS: "Roland Jacquard's knowledge of terrorist activities, gained through researching and writing a dozen books on terrorism, is only exceeded by his incredible timing," stated Sam J. Tangredi in the Naval War College Review. Tangredi's remark was prompted by the publication of Jacquard's book Au nom d'Oussama Ben Laden: Dossier secret sur le terroriste le plus recherché du monde, which appeared in bookstores the very same week of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, for which Bin Laden later claimed responsibility. Translated into English by George Holoch and published as In the Name of Osama bin Laden: Global Terrorism and the bin Laden Brotherhood, the book provides a biography of bin Laden, transcripts of many interviews with and about him, copies of documents related to al-Qa'ida, and an examination of bin Laden's role as a recruiter of fundamentalist fighters. It explores the fundamentalist's early days as the son of a wealthy Saudi family and as an entrepreneur in his own right. Bin Laden's travels throughout the 1990s are documented, including his trips to Sudan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and his complex financial web is examined. Jacquard even personally interviewed Osama bin Laden by telephone, a conversation which made plain bin Laden's contempt for Jews and Christians, along with his strong desire to possess nuclear and biological weapons.
The author concludes that even if bin Laden is dead, he remains a dangerous figure because he has become "the talisman for a diffuse, self-sufficient terrorist network," in the words of Vanessa Baird in New Internationalist. According to Tangredi, Jacquard's book provides little in the way of new revelations about bin Laden, but it is nevertheless a source of "fascinating details" about al-Qa'ida and its leadership. Reviewing In the Name of Osama bin Laden for National Interest, Martin Kramer found that "Jacquard is no academic. But let the truth be told: the terrorism experts, whom the professors hold in such low esteem, who mangle Arabic documents and assign equal weight to rumor and fact, actually have a better track record than any combination of academic Arabists. If anyone can be said to have imagined an event on the scale of September 11, it was the terrorism experts—Jacquard included." A Publishers Weekly reviewer also assessed the book positively, saying that it "stands out for its exhaustive research and prescience" and that it is particularly valuable for its picture of a world-wide network of al-Qa'ida.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
Library Journal, April 15, 2002, John F. Riddick, review of In the Name of Osama bin Laden: Global Terrorism and the bin Laden Brotherhood, p. 110.
Middle East, November, 2001, review of In the Name of Osama bin Laden, p. 50.
National Interest, summer, 2002, Martin Kramer, review of In the Name of Osama bin Laden, p. 132.
Naval War College Review, winter, 2003, Sam J. Tangredi, review of In the Name of Osama bin Laden, p. 147.
New Internationalist, July, 2002, Vanessa Baird, review of In the Name of Osama bin Laden, p. 31.
Publishers Weekly, February 18, 2002, review of In the Name of Osama bin Laden, p. 86.
Washington Post, April 28, 2002, Michael Scott Doran, review of In the Name of Osama bin Laden, p. T4.