No comments about Understanding the Bush Doctrine: Psychology and Strategy in an Age of Terrorism.

No comments about Securing Pakistan's Tribal Belt (Council Special Report No. 36).

5 comments about False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear.

1. There is a modest amount of good information here, detailing how people tend to be poor analyzers of risks to themselves. But much of it is common sense, and most of the rest you could dig up yourself with a few Google searches.
   
   Siegel's real purpose in publishing this book becomes clear a couple chapters in. He launches into a steady barrage of criticism of the Bush administration, Republican politicians, and big business.
   
   Now, there is plenty of legitimate criticism that can be leveled at the aforementioned. But for proper perspective, it needs to be balanced by acknowledging that fearmongering is a bipartisan pursuit. But Siegel completely ignores the various bogeymen of the left, which are even more egregious examples of irrational fearmongering.
   
   Every couple years the environmental movement launches a new scare campaign de jour. Alar, dioxin, power lines, irradiated food, ozone depletion, secondhand smoke--all of them either completely debunked or shown to be manageable risks. But not a whisper from Siegel about any of them. The AIDS epidemic in America was oversold with junk science, at one point Donna Shalala warning that there may be "no Americans left". But Siegel cites AIDS as an example of a risk that is UNDER-reported. And of course, he has to get in his digs at the NRA, taking a purely partisan position on the issue of gun ownership and dabbling in some fearmongering of his own.
   
   After dozens of pages bashing Bush, and pausing to gush praise upon Al Gore, the book settles into routine discussions of bird flu, SARS, etc., though he takes one more shot at Bush later in the book (rehashing the WMD debate). By the end of this book, your attitude toward the book will depend upon your political persuasion. If you are a Democratic sympathizer, you'll probably give the book a thumbs up, being vaguely aware that it was written by a fellow traveler (thereby casting a glow upon the entire work). If you are in the GOP camp, you probably tossed the book away in disgust long before the end. If you're not political, you'll be bored out of your skull.
   
   For a genuine hard-hitting look at the culture of junk science and fearmongering, the works of Michael Fumento are highly recommended.



2. The nation's media sells fear in almost every aspect of our lives from the next thunderstorm to the war on terror. Dr. Siegel's book is prime reading for the defense of the onslaught of predicated fear. Our nation's military industrial complex was fueled by decades on the fear associated to the "cold war" and how the Soviet Union was going to conquer America. Now, to replace that global fear we are bombarded with fear about terrorism. This superlative book is the antidote for America's new culture of the promotion of fear.



3. This book is political punditry done poorly. The doctor should stick to medicine, and try to do a better job there.
   
   Instead, he ventured into politics and criticized the Bush administration for fighting terrorism. The left, and in particular the elite media, might think that terrorism is not a real danger because a particular person's probability of being harmed is very small. Granted we have not executed well, but most Americans believe we must take it seriously because these beasts are driven by ideology to destroy our society.
   
   The doctor also decried the U. S. pharmaceutical industry for charging high prices for their products. He completely ignored that fact that the U.S. pharmaceutical companies are the ones with a steady stream of new drugs because they have the financial incentive to investing in research and development. The Europeans and Canadians are getting a free ride by their governmental price control. If we did what these governments do and force our drug companies to sell at low prices, no one will invest in developing new drugs.
   
   When the doctor stuck to the theme of the elite media exaggerating fear, he did have a valid point. But the real motive of the book was left-handed political sniping. You know it when Bill Press is impressed.



4. A book that explores true risk to a variety of potential public hazards, from terrorist attacks to pandemic influenze.
   Why only three stars? Dr. Siegel confuses actions our society should take based on absolute risk (public health measures) and how individuals should act based on accepted risk. The risks that we gladly assume (such as driving a car) are far different than than the risks we are forced to endure (such as a terrorist attack or radiation exposure from a nuclear power plant), even though the latter risks may be much smaller than the former. The failure to discuss voluntary vs. involuntary assumption of personal risk is a major failing of the book.
   I doubt the existence of a dastardly politico-media complex that is out to ruin and/or control our lives that Dr. Siegel seems to suggest. If such a conspiracy were as blatant as he supposes, there should be more evidence. I have no problem with people who choose to believe such. There are numerous examples where the government and media have forgotten their charges in the caer of our society. But I have my doubts about a conspiracy that Dr. Siegel none too subtley hints at.



5. the first chapter that explains the amygdala over riding the frontal lobes is priceless , but the rest of the book is pablum!

No comments about Playing Politics with Terrorism: A User's Guide (Columbia/Hurst).

5 comments about 9-11 on Trial.

1. I have been a 9-11 doubter since around November 2001 and have absorbed nearly everything I could find on the subject. It goes without saying that 9-11 was an inside job and if you do enough truth searching you will see just about every kind of theory out there. One does have to be able to weed out a lot of junk. That being said this is a good book to add to your 9-11 library.
   
   I came across this book while reading a message board. When I ordered it I did not know that Thorn had a beef with nearly every other 9-11 doubter out there. Something about this is very fishy to me. I believe that Thorn has a solid enough message to not have to denegrate others to get his point across. He should just let his work stand on its on merit and stop HATIN' or the true patriot movement is no better than the dems and reps.



2. The trial style of this book can seem dry, at first. Every chapter represents different type of testimony/evidence. It has a thorough bibliography. After reading every chapter of this book one overwhelmingly understands that the mass murder of 3000 people at the World Trade Center was an inside job that was covered up by our own government.
   There was never any governmental crime scene investigation. Indeed the evidence seemed to disappear about as fast as the buildings came down.
   The recent newfound evidence of thermate by BYU Professor Jones and the realization by scholars all over the country that the odds against the veracity of the official version of events is about a trillion to one makes me strongly feel that this book serves a very important function as an introductory primer as to the extent that the corrupt influences in this country (actually a worldwide power) will go to attain their evil goals.
   This book demonstrates why and how the major media dish put propaganda on behalf of these influences and that it behooves all Americans to develop their own independent sources of news information so one can increase their wisdom and knowledge.



3. 911 was an inside job!
   The author tells the truth, 911 was an inside job and our government is evil. I hope more people read this book so they can resist this terrorist government. God bless Victor!



4. 
   This is yet another of the many excellent books from Pregressive Press, with lots of details and lots of common sense.
   
   My only regret is that despite the many excellent blogs and websites surrounding the 9-11 lies and deceptions, there is still no single sense-making facility that could "rack and stack" specific individuals like Dick Cheney, Rudy Guliani, and Larry Silverstein such that the public could demand, and get, indictments and grand jurys and everything else.



5. Victor Thorn's book "9-11 on Trial" flattens the pancake theory of the World Trade Center tragedies that has become the current equivalent of the magic bullet theory regarding the assassination of President Kennedy, vulnerable but being promoted by powerful political forces because some kind of answer was needed.
   
   Thorn uses the approach of a tough prosecutor in a courtroom in crafting this work that offers a different speeding bullet every chapter. The prosecution theories are developed in a question and answer format based on information culled from 48 listed sources.
   
   The pancake theory has been presented by believers in the conventional government theory that was further buttressed by the Official 9/11 Commission Report, which critics denounced for its failure to interview critics of the government's view and accompanying failure to look beyond superficial alleged supportive evidence.
   
   A theory was needed to embrace a rapid-fire collapse of skyscrapers resulting from crashing airplanes and resultant fires in the impacted buildings. The pancake theory loomed as a chain reaction choice explaining how the buildings collapsed.
   
   Thorn flattens the pancake theory by pointing out some convincing facts about the construction and composition of the World Trade Center buildings. For one thing, there did not appear to be significant fire damage to bring the buildings down. It is pointed out that a Madrid skyscraper had endured after days of burning without collapsing. So did buildings in Los Angeles and Philadelphia following hours of fire damage.
   
   Firemen on the scene at the WTC were quoted as stating that the fires were not of particularly significant strength while one telltale photo was taken of a woman waving out the window from one of the buildings amid fire activity.
   
   Another significant argument refuting the pancake theory resides in the potent composition of buildings constructed to endure in the wake of the sternest tests from nature and other elements. The strongly reinforced concrete and sturdy layers of steel made the buildings invulnerable to destruction in the manner described.
   
   Another point intelligently raised is that the telltale damage at ground level is consistent with explosive detonation rather than fire. Respected Protestant clergyman Reverend Robert Schuller commented in an interview after visiting Ground Zero that he observed tremendous amounts of dust on the ground. This is consistent with decimation by explosion rather than piles of charred rubble, which would have resulted had fire been the cause of the buildings' collapse.
   
   Numerous comments from on the scene witnesses ranging from first responders to occupants of the destroyed buildings who escaped to safety, as well as nearby bystanders, described explosions. Loud sounds were repeatedly heard prior to the collapse of the buildings.
   
   Fox News could hardly be considered a critic of the Bush Administration's 9/11 position. A Fox 5 News commentator on the scene nonetheless delivered the following spontaneous comment while videotaping a large white cloud of smoke billowing near the base of the South Tower.
   
   The commentator exclaimed:
   
   "There is an explosion at the base of the building ... white smoke from the bottom ... something has happened at the base of the building ... then, another explosion. Another building in the World Trade Center Complex."
   
   Teresa Veliz, manager of a software development company located at the World Trade Center, revealed, " ... There were explosions going off everywhere. I was convinced that there were bombs planted all over the place and someone was sitting at a control panel pushing detonator buttons ..."
   
   These are only two of many sources quoted within the pages of a revealing book that should serve as a wakeup call to America for the need of an independent investigation into the causes of the 9/11 tragedies.

4 comments about On The Trail Of A Lion: Ahmed Shah Massoud Oil Politics and Terror.

1. The author does an admirable job describing Afghanistan's tortured past, present and future as a pawn of cynical imperialists, most notably the USA. He correctly oppoints out how the Americans supported the Taliban when it was convenient to do so, especially if it meant fattening corporate campaign chests. He also correctly implies that this relationship may still be ongoing, despite the manipulated war on terror which is being used to mask hegemonic capitalism's grand designs for Afghanistan. But the focus of his book is Ahmed Shah Massoud, the legendary Lion of Panjshir, who desperately sought to warn the west of the Taliban's dangers. His murder two days before the diversionary "suicide" attacks on 9-11-2001 prompt speculations about the timing and the source of the hit orders.
   All in all, a delightful introduction to a leader whose death may lie squarely in America's hands. Wait until the Bush impeachment trial to find out.



2. This book was the narcisitic excercise of an American-hating hack. This book contains hardly any real information about Massoud. His name is merely used to sell conspiracy drivel and pat himself on the back. I've seen more supporting evidence in tabloid publications. It is a shame that Amazon does not have the sense of fairness to publish negative reviews of the book. This is my second attempt. Maybe if they cared more about honest opinions rather than sales, their customers would be happier with the products that they "believed" they were purchasing. I seriously doubt this review gets published, either.



3. I bought this book to read about Massoud. As hinted by the title, it seemed like a wise choice. What I found instead were the musings of Rowan, a narrow-minded Canadian-national humanitarian aid-worker, usually making outlandish, anti-American claims. It would be one thing if he was articulate in his thoughts (I contrast this work with Rory Stewart's work about his trek across Afghanistan), but examining the early chapters of this book makes it clear that we are not dealing with a thoughtful, educated individual. Being swindled by locals while exchanging currency, walking up to random people in central asia because they "look like Afghans", and getting turned away at borders gives us some insight into this feeble mind. In fact, Rowan at one point speculates that the Uzbek taxi driver practice of splitting fares with colleagues for long trips is an effort to save gas. It's this type of conjecture that rears its ugly head all too often in this narrative.
   
   Rowan's attack on the United States became obvious to me when he began painting unflattering depictions of US aid-workers, in contrast to his own Canadian colleagues. Individuals are individuals, entitled to their subjective views, but leave it to Rowan to use a chance conversation on an airplane to generalize about an entire country. What bothers me are the factual inaccuracies in the narrative--Rowan should have done his homework to understand that without assistance from America, Massoud could not have risen to the prominence that he achieved.
   
   About 70 percent of Rowan's narrative was set during the 1990s and prior to that, which begs the question why wasn't this book published earlier? Coupled with his choice of title, I have no doubt that Rowan wanted to play on Massoud's death to try and make a few bucks. Sadly, this is hardly the definitive, well-researched account of Afghanistan's national hero we are looking for. Unsourced assertions about the CIA and US leadership quickly stripped any credibility the book had at the start.
   
   In the end, Rowan should stick to the subject he knows best -- humanitarian aid work -- and leave geopolitical, military, and intelligence commentary to others. It's clearly not his lane.



4. A quick read catering to those who admire Ahmed Shah Massoud as the "Che" of the Middle East and the dire situations he has faced in his homeland. Although the quantity of the content in regards to direct relations and general philosophy of Massoud is somewhat lacking, Rowan more than makes up for it in his very concise account of the various allied and enemy factions that make up this richly historic but completely fractured country. Quite frankly, there isn't much available of note on Massoud's life in print (there is a French documentary in DVD "Massoud L'Afgan", which I have not seen)so Rowan's personal account is noteworthy. He also gives some very interesting details in regards to the U.S.'s duplicity in the whole affair. Worth reading!

No comments about and the Law (Terrorism Library Series).

5 comments about Firefly Blue (Chapter 16).

1. Only a couple of decades ago, although it seems like more, I was born in the mountains of Southern California. At this time, my father was the only pastor in a town of about 300. Brock and Bodie Thoene were our next door neighbors, strong members in our church, and Bodie was writing her first book (in which the protaganist is named after me). We lived there for only a few years but my earliest memories are of an early teenager, Jake Thoene, teaching me very carefully how to ride his former movie stunt horse (which he rode with an amazing variety of tricks). Imagine my surpise, twenty something years later, when I see that Jake wrote a book on anti-terrorism with all the elements of a book that I normally look for: action, suspense, technology, devotion to God and a wonderful plot. Like it says on the cover of the book, Jake Thoene is "The Christian Tom Clancy". His suspense is unmatched by Tom Clancy, in my opinion. He manages to put a lot into the book, keeping the reader on the edge of the seat, and not confusing things. I suggest this book to anybody who enjoys being entertained with realistic spy novels.



2. This is an awesome story line from the new generation Thoene. The story has a fearsome ring of truth that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. With real life characters and an all too real plot the reader will be hard pressed to put this volume down.



3. I have read the first two books of this series, Shaiton's Fire and Firefly Blue, and have begun the third one. There were a few aspects of the author's writing that annoyed me in the first book, but I didn't notice them so much in Firefly Blue.
   
   I am really enjoying the series. With terrorism so prevalent in the world today, I find the technical aspects presented in these books very timely and intriguing. Faith is very dear to many of the characters, and they wrestle with real-world issues with which I can identify.
   
   Some books seem to target a specific gender, but both my husband and I love these books. I will definitely look for more titles by Jake Thoene, and I definitely recommend this series.



4. Yeah, I guess sometimes that would be the description of Steve Alstead, right? Keeps getting pulled away from that lovely wife of his and he sings the blues on occasion. So, while this didn't completely blow me away, it did keep my attention after getting it going, and I'm glad that I sang the blues with Jake Thoene.
   
   WE'VE GOT CYANIDE! Oh, and Miles has a cool thing going on, and it happens to be called "Firefly", right? That's where the title comes into play. We have a few Mexicans to deal with, and like Taco Bell said before, "SEND 'EM RUNNIN' FOR THE BORDER!" or was it Ray Charles that said, "Hit the road, Jack"? But hey, a decent addition to a series that started off very well. Senator Morrison and the rest of the team makes sure the action is pure, yet interesting entertainment. Add Kristi Kross, and ask Steve's wife how exciting it can get! Just kidding.
   
   What I appreciate the most about Jake Thoene is his love for country. Not only that, but he isn't ashamed of his God either. The God that built my America! That's something you don't always see these days. SO, while I prepare myself for "Fuel The Fire", I'll probably need a good pitcher of iced tea on hand. Good flames the whole way around so far.



5. No offense to Mr. Thoene, but there are a few pieces of dialogue in this book that make me cringe, esp. parts featuring Angel.
   This one minor nit aside, Firefly Blue was an excellent read, fast paced, interesting, exciting, etc etc etc.
   Thoene again puts poor Alstead through the save-the-world ringer. Oh well, such is the hero life. Ch. 16 rocks.

No comments about Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear States, and Terrorism.

No comments about The Terrorism Ahead: Confronting Transnational Violence in the Twenty-first Century.