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Brad Thor

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Brad Thor
File:BradThorPhoto2.jpg
OccupationNovelist
NationalityAmerican
PeriodModern
Genrespy novel, thriller
Notable worksScot Harvath Series
Website
http://www.bradthor.com/

Brad Thor (born 1969)[1] is a number-one[attribution needed] New York Times bestselling thriller novelist and author of The Lions of Lucerne, Path of the Assassin, State of the Union, Blowback, Takedown, The First Commandment, The Last Patriot, The Apostle, Foreign Influence (June 2010), and The Athena Project (December 2010). His novels have been published in 24 countries.

Thor's novel The Last Patriot was banned in Saudi Arabia and was nominated for Best Thriller of the Year by the International Thriller Writers Association.[2]

He also contributed a short story entitled "The Athens Solution" to the James Patterson-edited anthology, Thriller.

Thor has served as a member of the United States Department of Homeland Security's Analytic Red Cell Unit[attribution needed], is a Fellow of the Alexandrian Defense Group[3], and is a frequent television and cable news commentator.

Biography

Thor is a graduate of the Sacred Heart Schools, the Francis W. Parker School (Chicago), and the University of Southern California (cum laude), where he studied creative writing under author T.C. Boyle.[4]

Prior to becoming a novelist, he was the award-winning creator, producer, writer, and host of the national public television series, Traveling Lite.[5]

Thor is a member of the The Heritage Foundation and has spoken at their national headquarters on the need for robust missile defense.[6]

In 2008, Thor shadowed a Black Ops team in Afghanistan to conduct research for his thriller, The Apostle.[7][8]

Media

Thor is a regular contributor to the Glenn Beck program and has appeared on other FOX News Channel shows, as well as on CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS to discuss terrorism and parallels between his novels and real threats facing the world today.

On June 17, 2009, Thor hosted a one-hour "Insider Special" for Beck's radio show. He also blogs for Andrew Breitbart's site BigJournalism.com.[9]

Controversy

Because of the content of Thor's thriller The Last Patriot, Beck predicted he might be assassinated by Muslim extremists.[10] Thor has reportedly received personal threats and has been referred to by WorldNetDaily as "the new Salman Rushdie.[11]

Robert D. Crane, a Muslim convert and one-time aide to Richard Nixon, called the novel, "Islamophobia," "a subliminal mimetic," and an "emotional demonization of Islam and Muslims."[12] Writer Robert Spencer countered Crane's claims in a published rebuttal.[13]

Claims About Taliban Pornography Ring

In January of 2010, Thor reported about an alleged murder and related pornography ring being run in Pakistan and Afghanistan by the Taliban's Haqqani network.[14] Through his sources, he secured a video purportedly showing the forced sexual assault of young Pashtun women by members of the Haqqani family. Thor claimed the alleged pornography ring was centered around Sirajuddin Haqqani's doctor, Hassan Duraz, who was sent throughout the AfPak theater to offer medical care to villages willing to contribute young Muslim men to fight for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Duraz was accompanied on these trips by Siraj Haqqani's uncle Ibrahim and Haqqani's cousin Ishak.

When word of the Haqqani pornography ring leaked, Siraj Haqqani allegedly had his doctor killed, as well as the girls who had been raped and sexually assaulted in the videos. He purportedly also attempted to destroy all of the remaining evidence, but several of the tapes were said to have been salvaged and smuggled out by mid-level Taliban commanders disenchanted with the Haqqani family.

The Haqqani network is known as the "backbone" of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and have been responsible for many of the deadliest and most audacious attacks in the region including the Camp Chapman attack, the 2008 Kabul Serena Hotel attack, and the Kidnapping of David Rohde.

Thor's thriller The Apostle is based in part upon the Haqqani family and their terror network.

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A26X2APQRX9SD5?ie=UTF8&ref_=sv_ys_4
  2. ^ http://www.thrillerwriters.org/thrillerfest/current-and-past-thriller-awards.html
  3. ^ http://www.alexandriandefense.org/fellows.htm
  4. ^ https://college.usc.edu/news/stories/684/the-thrill-of-writing-in-the-trenches/
  5. ^ http://www.johnnyjet.com/folder/reporters/BradThorQA.html
  6. ^ http://www.heritage.org/press/events/ev062409b.cfm
  7. ^ http://www.michiganavemag.com/MA_SM09_022_SEC.html
  8. ^ https://college.usc.edu/news/stories/684/the-thrill-of-writing-in-the-trenches/
  9. ^ http://bigjournalism.com/author/bthor/
  10. ^ http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/6889/
  11. ^ http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=69344
  12. ^ The American Muslim
  13. ^ http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/021661.php
  14. ^ http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/200342.php
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