The Looming Tower: aux origines du 11 septembre

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.

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!"

Totally engrossing series. Like an extended Zero Dark Thirty prequel. Absolutely excellent.

The whole series was fine, as other reviews suggest. As an Arab, it is irritating to see all the Arabic language spoken in this series was from an egyption Dialect, regardless of their origin/nationality.

I had to watch the whole series twice, mainly to identify the "good" and "bad" players. It certainly doesn't speak well of the CIA. Amazing performances, by all players, but Jeff Daniels and Tahar Rahim were outstanding. Curious about Ali Soufan, I watched several interviews with him, and Tariq nailed his accent/speech totally. We all know how it ended, but this series adds to the human element, the frustration and ultimate sadness.