Steve Coll: All Publications, Events and Press

Live from the Campaign Trail

Communications — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/09/2008 - 12:15pm

As the campaign season begins to heat up this summer, please join us for a lively discussion about the role of speechwriting and oratory on the campaign trail with three former speechwriters: New America Senior Research Fellow Michael A. Cohen, New America Fellow James Pinkerton (Campaign Officer for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush), and Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner Executive Vice President Jeremy Rosner (Speechwriter for President Bill Clinton).

The panelists will be discussing a range of issues, from the history of campaign oratory to a closer look at the speeches and rhetoric of Barack Obama and John McCain as they battle it out on the campaign trail to be the next President of the United States.

The point of departure for our discussion will be Michael A. Cohen's new book, Live From the Campaign Trail: The Greatest Presidential Speeches of the Twentieth Century and How they Shaped Modern America.

Steve Coll in the Telegraph (Calcutta, India) | Book Review

Communications — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:57:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Steve Coll follows up his Pulitzer winning bestseller, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, with this extensively researched family history of the bin Ladens. It will be an understatement to describe it as just another rags-to-riches tale. It is a breathtaking saga of the fluctuating fortunes of a Yemen-based family that emerged from obscurity to become one of the richest and the most influential groups of people, not only in south Asia, but also in the world...LINK

Steve Coll in the Sydney Morning Herald | Book Review

Communications — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:26:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...Steve Coll's outstanding new book not only shatters various myths about Osama bin Laden - notably the extent of his personal fortune - it inculpates the most Westernised branches of his family in Arabia's vulgar modernisation that the terrorist is so murderously exercised by...LINK

POSTPONED: Egypt on the Brink of a Revolution

Communications — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/29/2008 - 12:15pm

This event has been postponed until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Egypt has long played a pivotal role in the Arab world's cultural and political development. Five decades after the coup d'état that overthrew Nasser, John Bradley sorts through Egypt's tense political conditions with particular emphasis on a coming succession crisis in the face of a rising Islamist movement, corruption, and violence.

Steve Coll in the National | 'To bin Laden’s Captors Go the Spoils"

Communications — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:25:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Steve Coll, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has just published a book titled The Bin Ladens, wrote: “Pakistan’s new democratic government should now be motivated to prove its case. Delivering Bin Laden – which Musharraf’s government so conspicuously failed to do – would be a coup of global proportions for Pakistan’s new civilian leaders, and it would bring considerable political and other rewards to Islamabad.”

He pointed out that most senior al Qa’eda targets arrested or killed in Pakistan have been in urban areas, not the border tribal belt.

“It would demonstrate, in the most dramatic way possible, that a democratic government can be as effective a partner in counter-terrorism as the army, if not more so, and by doing this, it would change debate in Washington and Europe about the costs and benefits of investing in democracy in Pakistan,” he wrote. LINK

Risks & Rewards of a Multilateral Counterterrorism Strategy

Communications — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/09/2008 - 12:15pm

In "Building Global Alliances in the Fight Against Terrorism," a new report commissioned by the Better World Campaign, Alistair Millar and Eric Rosand contend that while targeting and capturing terrorists remain at the forefront of the nation's counterterrorism strategy, the United States will need to adopt a much more internationalist approach -- relying on multilateral cooperation for information sharing, enhancing counterterrorism capacities of states big and small, engagement of non-traditional allies, and international legitimacy. But in a changing international landscape, what trade-offs will the next administration face?

This event is co-sponsored by the Better World Campaign, the advocacy arm of the United Nations Foundation.

Andrés Martinez to Direct New America Foundation’s Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program

Communications — Wed, 07 May 2008 06:05:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. – The New America Foundation today announced that Andrés Martinez, former editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times, will become director of the Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program, which seeks to identify and support the next generation of American public policy scholars and writers.

New America provides financial, professional and institutional support for up to 35 fellows each year. Its fellows program seeks out individuals whose research and ideas promise to bring forward exceptionally promising new thinking about the most pressing issues facing the United States.

Mr. Martinez was the editorial page editor of the Los Angeles… more

Understanding the Bin Ladens

Communications — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/02/2008 - 12:15pm

On May 2, The New America Foundation hosted a book event for President and CEO Steve Coll’s new book The Bin Ladens. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video is available at right.

Coll delivered a talk about the experience of Saudi Arabia, dealing with the pressures and prizes of modernity and globalization, through the prism of the Bin Laden family. He conveyed the diversity of experience that permeated the different members of the family.

Coll spoke of three prominent family members: Muhammad (the family patriarch), Salem (the oldest son) and Osama. He spoke of reinterpreting Osama as a member of this powerful family and as a Saudi dissident, hoping to compliment the existing body of knowledge on the notorious Bin Laden.

Ultimately, Osama Bin Laden was an expression of his membership in a talented, well-connected Saudi family. He shared many of the outstanding talents of his father and older brother including: the ability to lead a diverse team toward a common goal, an embrace of modern technology, marketing and branding savvy, and comfort of preforming in front of an audience. Coll’s book shows the diversity and remarkable skills of the Bin Laden family while also trying to help explain the environment that ultimately produced its most notorious member.

-Jonathan Wallace, Assistant to the President

Steve Coll and Peter Bergen on CNN's Late Edition | Interview on Osama bin Laden

Communications — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:24:00 -0400

New America in the News:

CNN's Late Edition | Interview on Osama bin Laden

WOLF BLITZER (Host): Six-and-a-half years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is still in hiding and a grave danger to the United States. What drives him? And what can we predict about what he might do next? For some answers we turn to two men for special insight. Steve Coll's new book is entitled, "The Bin Ladens." He's joining us from Berlin. And with her in Washington, our CNN terrorism analyst, Peter Bergen, his book is entitled "The Osama Bin Laden I Know." Thanks to both of you very much for coming. A quick question on the news today, Hamid Karzai, Steve Coll, apparently an assassination attempt in Kabul today by Taliban, perhaps al Qaeda elements. He survived. Others weren't so lucky. What's the latest in terms of the hunt for bin Laden? Is the U.S. and the West any closer to finding him?

STEVE COLL (President, CEO of New America Foundation): Well, I'm not aware of any specific intelligence that has lit up the trail in the last six months or so, but the circumstances in which he's hiding have changed. And he's probably in Pakistan and there his popularity has declined considerably, and also you've got a new government in power, so the motivations on the Pakistani side are changing very quickly.

BLITZER: What do you think, Peter?

PETER BERGEN (New America's Schwartz Senior Fellow): Yes, I think the hunt for bin Laden is going very poorly. As Steve said, bin Laden's support is evaporating in the North-West Frontier Province, where he's almost certainly hiding. A recent poll showed he had dropped from 70 percent favorable in August of 2007 to 4 percent.

BLITZER: So wouldn't that make it easier for Pakistani or other -- or the U.S., Afghan troops, somebody to find him?

PETER BERGEN: Yes. And I think the short answer is yes. Also a very sharp decline in support for suicide bombings amongst Pakistanis. Unfortunately, on the other hand, you have got a Pakistani government which is doing a deal with some of the militants in the North-West Frontier Province at the same time. So as always, sort of a mixed message here with the Pakistanis.

BLITZER: You had written, and I'll read the quote to you here from a piece, Steve, in The Los Angeles Times back on April 13th. You wrote: "Bin Laden may well understand what many Americans do not, that he's more likely to be killed or captured during the next year or so than at any time since late 2001 when he escaped U.S. war planes bombing him in eastern Afghanistan at Tora Bora." Explain what you meant.

STEVE COLL: Well, the first and most important factor is the one that Peter cited, which is that the popularity that he enjoys in the area where he's almost certainly hiding has collapsed, and the way these hunts have always ended in the past in Pakistan -- or almost always, is that somebody has dropped a dime on the fugitive, and it just seems entirely logical that this is more likely now than it was when his favorability ratings were in the 70s.

I also think that the new government in Pakistan, although they have just cut a deal with the Ayatollah Massoud, that raises questions about their strategy. And nonetheless they come to office with a different set of motivations than President Musharraf had.

The U.S., perhaps unintentionally, got itself into a perverse situation with Musharraf in which the structure of its aid almost incented the high command of the Pakistani army not to find bin Laden, because then their rent that they were charging the United States would be cut off or reduced.

And here you've got a democratic government that argued in Washington vehemently that they'd be a better counterinsurgency and better counterterrorism partner than Musharraf. Finding bin Laden would certainly be a way to demonstrate that and I think some of them are aware that they would be rewarded rather than punished if they succeeded.

BLITZER: Well, that's an optimistic assessment, Peter, that perhaps we could wake up one morning in the not-too-distant future and hear the words "bin Laden captured or killed." Is that something that would shock you?

PETER BERGEN: Well, one day it's inevitable because he's a human being and a human being makes mistakes. And I think, again, Steve is completely correct. The political winds have shifted in a way which is quite damaging to al Qaeda and the Taliban itself in Pakistan. So one can only hope.

BLITZER: Here is a quote from bin Laden in a statement he released last March 20th, Steve. And I'll read it to you. "The nearest jihad battlefield to support our people in Palestine is the battlefield of Iraq. The people of the blessed land should sense the great favor God has bestowed upon them and do what they should do to support their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq."

How important to bin Laden is what's going on in Iraq right now?

STEVE COLL: Well, I think it's one of three or four countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he sees his followers in action, and -- but the statement itself is the broader significance of his importance now. He may have a small operational role when operatives from Europe reach the border and plan attacks in Europe.

But mostly what he's doing is narrating the war that he believes he's leading. And when narrates that war, he tries to send a message to his followers to motivate them, to remind them of what the most important targets are.

Sometimes these followers act even when they have no contact with him. So I think that's the significance of his role now is his ability to communicate and also the continuity of leadership that he provides symbolically and actually to al Qaeda. This is an organization that has had the same two leaders in place for 20 years now, never been tested by a succession crisis.

BLITZER: He's talking about Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian number two. Do you agree with that assessment, Peter?

PETER BERGEN: Yes. I mean, it's quite unusual for a terrorist organization that is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. They've been quite successful, and both the leaders are still in charge of the organization. BLITZER: Here is a quote from your new book "The Bin Ladens," Steve, and I'll read it to you. We'll put it up on the screen, page 569: "He mocked his Western adversaries for misunderstanding him as a pre-modern fanatic, a bearded loner in a far away cave. He saw himself instead as a master of global technology and change." Explain your point.

STEVE COLL: Well, I think in the West we've had a tendency to locate Osama in our minds as a backward looking, long-bearded, medieval sort of character, when in fact his success has been a product of his grasp and use of modernization, particularly the technologies of global integration.

His first great innovation as a terrorist leader was to use a satellite phone to carry out simultaneous attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa while never leaving Afghanistan. And he has also used the media, satellite television, and, of course, aviation to innovate.

And so I think it's just important to understand that's who he is. That presumably would help figure out -- aid the effort to contain and defeat him.

BLITZER: Steve Coll's new book is entitled "The Bin Ladens." Steve, thanks for coming in. Peter Bergen has got a good book entitled, "The Bin Laden I know." Thanks to you, as usual, as well.

Steve Coll on Book TV | After Words Interview on "The bin Ladens"

Communications — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:28:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Book TV | After Words Interview on "The bin Ladens"

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll is the author of "Ghost Wars" which looks at Osama bin Laden's time in Afghanistan since the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in the early 1980s. His latest book, "The Bin Ladens," is a history of the bin Laden family and its rise to prominence in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Coll discusses his new book with Michael Scheuer, former head of the bin Laden unit at the CIA.

Steve Coll, formerly a jounalist and managing editor with the Washington Post, is currently the president of the New America Foundation and a staff writer for The New Yorker.

Understanding the Bin Ladens (Los Angeles)

Communications — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
04/16/2008 - 7:00pm

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the national bestseller Ghost Wars, Steve Coll presents the story of the Bin Laden family's rise to power and privilege. In The Bin Ladens, Coll shows how the family navigated though and around economic and cultural hurdles, and he presents an authentic story of Saudi Arabia, America and those caught in the crossfire. Revealing new information, Coll shows how American influence changed a family's fortune and how one family member's rebellion changed the world.

"Riveting" - The New York Times

"Stunningly researched and grippingly told" - Los Angeles Times

"Marvelous" - The Washington Post

To RSVP for this event, please go to the Los Angeles Public Library website.

Steve Coll in The Week | Book Review

Communications — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:57:00 -0400

New America in the News:

The Week | "The bin Ladens" Reviewed

Osama bin Laden founded al Qaida two months after his oldest brother, Salem, was killed while flying an ultralight in Texas. Salem bin Laden had lived in a world of luxury. As head of the Saudi Arabia–based construction empire their late father had built, Salem enjoyed collecting guitars, cars, and women. To win a bet, he once proposed marriage to four Western girlfriends at once, losing the wager because only three accepted. Despite their lifestyle differences, Mohamed bin Laden’s first- and 17th-born sons remained surprisingly close, says author Steve Coll. Two years before Salem’s 1988 death, the playboy and the prayer leader paired up in London to negotiate an arms deal for Osama’s Afghan fighters. Had Salem lived to wield his influence over his younger brother, Coll says, Osama’s religious radicalism might not have bent itself toward mass terrorism. . .

Understanding the Bin Ladens (San Francisco)

Communications — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:30:00 -0400

A New America Event
04/15/2008 - 5:30pm

"Riveting" - The New York Times

"Stunningly researched and grippingly told" - Los Angeles Times

"Marvelous" - The Washington Post

Please note that there is an $18 charge for non-members of the Commonwealth Club and a $12 charge for members.

To RSVP for this event, please go to the Commonwealth Club website.

Military Conflict

Ron Tang — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:15:00 -0400

General Richard A. Cody graduated from West Point in 1972, flew helicopters, ascended to command the storied 101st Airborne Division, and then, toward the end of his career, settled into management; now, at fifty-seven, he wears four stars as the Army Vice-Chief of Staff. This summer, he will retire from military service.

In 2004, in a little-noted speech, Cody described the Army’s efforts to adapt to its new commitments. (It was attempting to fight terrorism, quell the Taliban, invade and pacify Iraq, and, at the same time, prepare for future strategic challenges, whether in China or Korea or Africa.) The endeavor… more

Target: Bin Laden

Ron Tang — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 06:36:00 -0400

Osama bin Laden lives among friends, follows news on satellite television or the Internet and reads books about American foreign policy; this much can be safely inferred from his periodic audio and video statements. His latest topical punditry surfaced just a few weeks ago on jihadi websites when he addressed violence in Gaza and the pope's travels.

Because of his passable grasp of current events, Bin Laden may well understand what many Americans do not: that he is more likely to be killed or captured during the next year or so than at any time since late 2001, when he escaped… more

Steve Coll on Public Radio International | Bob Edwards Weekend Interview

Communications — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:01:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Public Radio International | Bob Edwards Weekend Interview with Steve Coll

Steve Coll won the Pulitzer Prize for "Ghost Wars," his book about the origins of Al Qaeda. Now he's written a book about the origins of al Qaeda’s leader. Coll talks to Bob about new book called "The bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century."

Steve Coll is President and CEO of the New America Foundation.

The Bin Ladens

Ron Tang — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:21:00 -0400

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the national bestseller Ghost Wars, Steve Coll presents the story of the Bin Laden family’s rise to power and privilege, revealing new information to show how American influences changed the family and how one member’s rebellion changed America.

The rise and rise of the Bin Laden family is one of the great stories of the twentieth century; its repercussions have already deeply marked the twenty-first. Until now, however, it is a story that has never been fully told, as the Bin Ladens have successfully fended off attempts to understand the family circles from which… more

'The Bin Ladens'

Ron Tang — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 07:29:00 -0400

"We All Worship the Same God"

October 1984 to February 1985 Lynn Peghiny played piano most mornings at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Hotel in Orlando, Florida. She was twenty-four, dark-haired, slim, and spirited. She had grown up in Melbourne, on the Atlantic coast, and studied music at the University of Central Florida. She was drawn to the piano and made a living at it, if barely. The breakfast shift in the Hyatt's cavernous atrium was normally subdued sleepy tourists fortifying themselves for a day at Disney World, businessmen murmuring about real estate. One morning in October 1984, however, a middle-aged… more

Steve Coll on NewsHour | New Book Examines the Bin Laden Family

Communications — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:53:00 -0400

New America in the News:

NewsHour | New Book Examines the Bin Laden Family

MARGARET WARNER, NewsHour: Osama bin Laden is known worldwide as founder of al-Qaida and mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. But much less is known of his sprawling Saudi family and their multiple ties to the United States.

Now, Steve Coll, author of the prize-winning "Ghost Wars," has pulled back the curtain on Osama and his billionaire clan. His new book is "The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century."

And, Steve, welcome back to the program. What was it about the bin Laden family that so intrigued you that you devoted not only all the time but writing an entire book about them?

STEVE COLL, New Yorker Magazine: Well, I've been studying Osama in one way or another for 15 years. And I always felt that I bounced off of the Saudi and family context from which he arose and always felt that there was more complexity and more subtlety there than at least I had been able to penetrate.

So I kept going back to it and finally saw the family as a vehicle to write more specifically about the broader narrative of modernization in Saudi Arabia, all the contradictions and complexity it created.

STEVE COLL: Well, he was genius, in many respects, and a charismatic man, but I think a model for Osama in two important ways.MARGARET WARNER: Well, there's so much in this book, both political and personal, but let's focus on the personal and in terms of Osama bin Laden's life and the influences on him. Let's start from the family. Let's start with his father, Mohammed, the self-made construction magnate. Now, you describe him as distant, yet a model for young Osama. How?

One, he was an extraordinarily inspirational leader of diverse followers. And Osama's own success as a terrorist militia leader has arisen in a lot of ways because of his ability to unify Islamists from diverse cultures, diverse language groups, diverse sects.

And he learned that from his father, I think, at these work camps in the desert, where African and Yemeni, and Palestinian and Lebanese, and Pakistani laborers all worked side-by-side in camps that resembled nothing so much as what we saw Osama lead in Afghanistan in the late '90s.

I think the other influence his father had on him was his role as a modernizer and someone who embraced the technologies of globalization and the possibilities of modernization at a time in Saudi Arabia where very few people were looking to the future that way.

And Osama, again, succeeded as a terrorist leader because of the way he adopted technology, the satellite telephone, the airplane, and his vision of a border-crossing movement. And I think he inherited that or was inspired to some extent by his father in that way. . .

Steve Coll is CEO and President of the New America Foundation.

Steve Coll on Frontline | Bush's War: Part 2

Communications — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:35:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Frontline | Bush's War: Part 2

From the horror of 9/11 to the invasion of Iraq; the truth about WMD to the rise of an insurgency; the scandal of Abu Ghraib to the strategy of the surge -- for seven years, Frontline has revealed the defining stories of the war on terror in meticulous detail, and the political dramas that played out at the highest levels of power and influence. Now, on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, the full saga unfolds in the two-part FRONTLINE special Bush's War. . .

Frontline's interview with New America Foundation President and CEO Steve Coll appears in the second part of Bush's War.

Steve Coll: All Publications, Events and Press

Live from the Campaign Trail

Steve Coll in the Telegraph (Calcutta, India) | Book Review

Steve Coll in the Sydney Morning Herald | Book Review

POSTPONED: Egypt on the Brink of a Revolution

**This event has been postponed until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience.**

Steve Coll in the National | 'To bin Laden’s Captors Go the Spoils"

Risks & Rewards of a Multilateral Counterterrorism Strategy

Andrés Martinez to Direct New America Foundation’s Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program

Understanding the Bin Ladens

Steve Coll and Peter Bergen on CNN's Late Edition | Interview on Osama bin Laden

Steve Coll on Book TV | After Words Interview on "The bin Ladens"

Understanding the Bin Ladens (Los Angeles)

Steve Coll in The Week | Book Review

Understanding the Bin Ladens (San Francisco)

Military Conflict

Target: Bin Laden

Steve Coll on Public Radio International | Bob Edwards Weekend Interview

The Bin Ladens

'The Bin Ladens'

Steve Coll on NewsHour | New Book Examines the Bin Laden Family

Steve Coll on Frontline | Bush's War: Part 2

This event has been postponed until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience.