John Cooley

John Cooley is an author and journalist who spent many years living in the Middle East. In Noam Chomsky’s discussion of the history and aftermath of U.S.-supported Islamist fighters, Cooley serves as a principal reported source: his Unholy Wars documents the earlier recruitment and training networks and recounts an episode linking a CIA agent to Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, later implicated in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Identity and role

Chomsky identifies Cooley as both an author and a correspondent who had long resided in the Middle East. He recommends Unholy Wars as the best source on the history under discussion, giving Cooley a distinct evidentiary role in an argument that challenges attempts to present the United States as an innocent observer of the 1980s Afghan conflict.

That role is specific rather than merely honorific: Chomsky invokes Cooley’s account when tracing how U.S. and other governments recruited, trained, and armed Islamist fighters for the war against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. The book’s reporting supplies historical context for what Chomsky describes as the later movement of some fighters and networks into other conflicts.

Reporting in Unholy Wars

Chomsky cites Cooley’s account of a 1990 episode in which CIA agents allegedly helped Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman enter the United States. According to the passage, Abdel Rahman was already wanted by Egypt for terrorist acts. Chomsky uses this example to question the claim that U.S. intelligence could not have anticipated the crimes of radical Islamist forces that had been organized, armed, or trained with assistance from the United States and other countries.

The account then connects Abdel Rahman to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, in which he was implicated. Chomsky says the attack followed procedures taught in CIA manuals that had apparently been supplied to Afghan fighters during the war against the Soviet Union. He also notes that the alleged plan extended beyond the World Trade Center to the United Nations building, the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, and other targets. Abdel Rahman was tried for conspiracy and sentenced to a lengthy prison term. Cooley’s reporting thus enters the argument at a point where an earlier program of support is set against a later threat and a specific criminal case.

Evidence and argument

Chomsky treats Cooley’s book as an important source while also making a broader criticism of how the history is remembered. He says that efforts were underway to recast the United States as an innocent bystander and objects to journalists using CIA officials as authoritative proof for conclusions already chosen. In this framing, Cooley’s value lies partly in offering a historical account against that retrospective whitewashing.

The broader argument does not rest on Cooley alone. Chomsky also refers to public reporting and commentary on media coverage, official policy, and the consequences of the September 11 attacks. His use of Cooley is narrower: the journalist provides a documented account of the earlier networks and a reported instance of intelligence assistance that Chomsky places within a longer history of violence and political blowback. The text does not give a fuller biography of Cooley or independently establish every allegation in the account; it presents him as a source whose work supports Chomsky’s historical analysis.