The Al Qaeda Reader. MUST READ. If nothing else, read the forward and the introduction. The analysis by Raymond Ibraham and Victor Davis Hansen is a crash course in Islamic Law, the foundation of the war of ideas in which we find ourselves. What you'll find are the words of Bin Laden and Zawahiri - what they say to US and what they say to Muslims - which is different - and why. I was afraid it would be wasting my time reading pages of "Why I hate America" screedo by bin laden. Instead, it ultimately provides a much better understanding of the threat we face.
If al qaeda were crushed tomorrow, it would still provide a road map to understanding the islamic militant threat.
READ THIS BOOK and KNOW YOUR ENEMY.
http://www.amazon.com/Al-Qaeda-Reade.../dp/038551655X
Counter Insurgency: Theory and Practice by David Galula. IT's THE BOOK that GEN(RET) Keane told Rumsfeld to read when he explained the concept of the surge in Iraq to the SECDEF. A quick read, it takes complicated counter-insurgency concepts and makes them easy to understand.
Make sure you read LTC(RET) John Nagl's introduction as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Counterinsurge...1360262&sr=1-2
Defeating Jihad by Serge Trifkovic. The title says it all.
http://www.amazon.com/Defeating-Jiha...1360439&sr=1-1
They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It by Brigitte Gabriel
http://www.amazon.com/They-Must-Be-S...1360509&sr=1-2
Stealth Jihad by Robert Spencer.
http://www.amazon.com/Stealth-Jihad-...1360509&sr=1-1
This is a good start...will add more later...