Yossef Bodansky

Yossef Bodansky, born in Israel, is the former Director of the Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of "the U. S. Congress, as well as the World Terrorism Analyst with the Freeman Center for Strategic Studies (Houston, Texas) [since 1994]. He is a contributing editor of Defense and Foreign Affairs; Strategic Policy, the author of three books (Target America, terror, and crisis in Korea), several book chapters, and numerous articles in several periodicals including Global Affairs, JANE's Defence Weekly, Defense and Foreign Affairs; Strategic Policy, Business Week. In the 1980s, he acted as a senior consultant for the Department of Defense and the Department of State." 

"He was a visiting scholar in the Security Studies Program of John Hopkins University and served as consultant to the U.S Departments of Defense and State prior to assuming his current post. Bodansky is a recognized authority on terrorism worldwide, as well as an expert on guerilla and unconventional warfare and all aspects of the military affairs of Russia/The Soviet Union and the Third World. Yossef Bodansky is a Special Consultant on International Terrorism for the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies." 

On Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein

 * In his 1999 book Osama Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America, Bodansky "documents how Saddam Hussein supported al-Qaida for more than a decade."


 * "The important thing of the recent development that should be a cause of tremendous worry is that Saddam Hussein empowered his son, Qusay to deal with the day-to-day relationship with bin Laden and coordinate the Iraqi special operations with bin Laden's terrorist activities. Last week, Qusay Hussein has been elevated into the declared successor and had taken a tremendous amount of new powers, particularly in issues of national security, intelligence operations and the like. And that will of course elevate also the standing of bin Laden and the cooperation that they have been working on. And we should be very worried about that development." --Federal News Service, August 6, 1999.

On "spectacular terrorism"
In 2001, Bodansky "coined a remarkably prescient term: 'spectacular terrorism' ... [and] predicted Islamic extremist groups associated with Osama bin Laden would soon unleash a wave of terrorist attacks against the U.S.," of which the "attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon [provided] chilling proof of Bodansky's predictions....

"Bodansky makes a strong case that sovereign governments, in particular Iraq and Pakistan, are aiding the terrorists with safe haven, travel documents ... (and) the technology to deliver weapons of mass destruction." 

On Terrorist Attacks on US
On November 29, 2004, the Jerusalem Post reported that Bodansky said that "'the primary option' for the next al-Qaida attack on US soil would be one that would use weapons of mass destruction.


 * "'I do not have a crystal ball, but this is what all the available evidence tells us, we will have a bang," Bodansky said.

"He said that al-Qaida has not carried out a second major attack on the US until now for internal psychological and ideological reasons, but after the reelection of President George W. Bush, it has gotten 'the green light' to do so from leading Islamic religious luminaries, as well as from 'the elites of the Arab world.'"

Books

 * Target America: Terrorism in the U.S., Shapelsky Publishers Inc. (1993).
 * Crisis in Korea, Shapelsky Publishers Inc. (1994).
 * Terror: The Inside Story of The Terrorist Conspiracy in America Shapelsky Publishers Inc. (1994).
 * Offensive in the Balkans: The Potential for a Wider War as a Result of Foreign Intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina International Media Corp./ISSA (1995).
 * Osama Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America Random House (1999, 2001) ISBN 0761535810.
 * Islamic Anti-Semitism as a Political Instrument, ACPR Publications and Tammuz Publishers (1999, 2000).
 * The High Cost of Peace: How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America Vulnerable to Terrorism Random House (2002).
 * The Secret History of the Iraq War Regan Books (2004).

Articles & Commentary
For more links to articles by Yossef Bodansky, see below.
 * "Jerusalem in Context," Freeman Center for Strategic Studies Broadcast, June 7, 1995; print copy June 12, 1995 (found archived on internet).
 * "The Rise Of The Trans-Asian Axis: Is It The Basis Of New Confrontation?" kimsoft.com, 1997.
 * "Expediting the Return of Salah Al-Din," JINSA Online, June 1, 1998.
 * "Missing Nukes with Al-Qaeda?" News Max, September 18, 2002.
 * "Qusay Hussein coordinated Iraq special operations with bin Laden's terrorist activities," National Press Club, July 24, 2003.
 * "Osama Bin Laden focues on the Balkans," Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, September 19, 2003. Note: "focues" is not an error.
 * "Expert: Massive WMD attack 'inevitable'. Yossef Bodansky says U.S. losing war on terrorism," WorldNetDaily, November 29, 2004.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * National Security Caucus Foundation
 * September 11, 2001
 * war on terrorism