The Looming Tower

When I read that there was a TV adaptation of Lawrence Wright's book I had great hopes. The result is not disappointing, the show is quite good, Jeff Daniels is perfect in his role and the story of John O'Neill is perfect for a movie. But the writers decided to focus only on the final part of the book, which details the internal wars between CIA and FBI which allowed the 9/11 plans to proceed unchallenged. The first part of the book, which describes the history of bin Laden and al Qaeda, starting from the ideology of Qutb, would have been much more interesting to understand what is going on in the world today. But I understand that story would be perhaps more suitable for a documentary than for a TV show, but it's a story that Wright wrote beautifully at that will deserve to be put on screen someday.

I started watching this show because Jeff Daniels always delivers. He continues to do so here.

The miniseries presents a thought provoking picture of how the CIA and the FBI had conflicting ideas about how best to oppose Al Qaeda in the late 1990s and 2000. It suggests that these agencies' inability to work together created opportunities for Jihadism to fester and grow. This part of the series is powerful and well realized.

Less interesting are its forays into the private lives of its main characters. I'm 4 episodes in and still don't get the point of these subplots. I see how these interludes show the softer and messier sides of these characters lives, but they don't seem to have anything at all to do with the larger story of Al Qaeda's rise. As a result, these parts feel like filler in what would otherwise be a very tight, well focused political drama.

That said, this show does a fine job of assessing where our country's intelligence agencies, media, and citizenry succeeded and where we failed when it came to Al Qaeda. It's a sobering and fascinating story. As I watch, I keep thinking, "How did our world manage to get so very screwed up!"

Who could ever fathom that the main reason the terrorists of al-Qaeda lead by the independently wealthy Osama bin Laden would have cost so many lives to be lost in the air attacks that occurred on September 11th, 2001, could have been neutralized only if the American CIA and FBI intelligence agencies would have shared vital information between their respective and unfortunate independent intelligence operations.

This is a well acted ten (10) part mini-series that is based on actual events and many of the key American and foreign personnel who were actively involved in the gathering of intelligence on terrorists such as al-Qaeda.

Mrs. Shullivan and I were glad to see that much of the horrific events that occurred on September 11th, 2001, were not the focus of this mini-series, but rather how the events leading up to this tragic day in the history of mankind evolved over the preceding years and by the key players responsible for fighting the terrorists organizations such as al-Qaeda.

This is most definitely a must see. A 9 out of 10 rating

Fantastic show, great script and acting. Looses a point for the unnecessary sex scenes every episode with Jeff Daniels having sex with different woman. Shows the failures within the Government and complete lack of transparency between the FBI and the CIA and the Government's unwillingness to take the time to understand the implications and complexities of the Middle East which as we know the West is still in 2022 facing the repercussions of with terrorist attacks such as domestic and recently ISIS. Pacing is good but could have been better without so much for focus on Jeff Daniels sexual affairs.

A great insight into the self serving American bureaucracy and their buck passing.

I am stunned that the security of American citizens was in control of so many egomaniacs. Absolutely no flow of communication between anyone.

It is remarkable, considering the amount of intelligence that was harnessed, that this occurred and that the death toll wasn't greater.