5 comments about Militant Tricks: Battlefield Ruses of the Islamic Insurgent.

1. The book gives a good acccount of the various Islamic militant factions and their interactions. The opinions seemed a bit "armchair general" and opinionated at times, but they made several good points. I'd recommend the book although it had the following drawbacks for me:
   -The insertion of outside material to back up the author's words made for a sometimes disjointed read
   -The sprinkling of "God (Christian) & country", stereotyping, etc. seemed unnecessary
   -20% of the material was a repetition/reiteration of a particular point (not sure if this was to beef up the number of pages or to compensate for a shakey arguement)



2. This is the best book I have read so far on where and who the real enemy is and who is behind and against the U.S. supporting democracy and the liberation of the people of Iraq.
   Breaks down in detail who is Sunni and who is Shiite.
   How they work and how they are fighting U.S. Forces together.
   How the real enemy is Iran with many proxies to gain control of Iraq.
   How the U.S. must change to deal with fighting in Irregular Warfare now and for decades to come.
   How the enemy is capitalizing on U.S. democratically controlled Congress to gain victory.
   
   Heading over to OIF II in a few months, active duty CDR O5 who will be working in support of the bravest of the brave (EOD Forces defeating IED's). This book was instrumental in developing a understanding of what is really going on.
   
   I would recommend this book for all Officers and enlisted personnel heading to fight this fight from E1 up.
   
   CDR Bill Noel (Navy EOD Officer)



3. This book was kindly donated to my unit by the publishers when I was a Company Commander before I deployed. Everyone over here should read it. Regardless of how much money our government spends on high-tech equipment and contracts, until we gain a better understanding of our opponents sociological and theological motivations we will continue to waste a lot of our military resources. LTC Poole's emphasis on taking a humanistic approach and integrating our forces with the locals is sound, provided that the local forces are properly vetted and aren't infiltrated by insurgents.



4. Once again H. John Poole has pulled aside the Middle East veil of mystery to show us how the Muslim militants go about their business. Known as the "War on Terror" aka "4th Generation warfare", radical Muslim militants have worked out the ways to challenge the West collectively, on - and off the battlefield. Thus far, their efforts have cost the U.S.of A., not only lives, but billions of dollars, sowing anxiety and terror. How have they accomplished this with slender resources? Against the most technologically advanced armed forces in the world? Poole tells us how.
   The book is divided into three parts:
   The initial part updates the reader on the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan to the summer of 2005. How the Muslim militants have survived and continue to succeed against coalition armed forces without tactical victory, hi-tech resources or heavy arms; all the while they suffer heavy casualties and continue to burn through the resources - and resolve of the West - are addressed.
   The next part examines, through the lense of ancient oriental texts on the principles of warfare, the stratagems employed by the militants. These are the most illuminating chapters: now the daily events in Iraq and Afghanistan make sense if one understands the militants' operational philosophy. Poole's explanations of tactical actions clarifies how these militants are playing "the Game" against coalition forces. What makes no sense militarily in Western understanding of warfare are perfectly acceptable to furthering these militants' ends.
   The final section's chapters provide approaches to dealing with "4th Generation Warfare" situations, which Western military forces are more and more wont to encounter. Many of Poole's recommendations reflect the U.S. Marines' experience with the Combined Action Program (CAP)used in Vietnam during the 1960s. Essentially, special Marine units operated with Vietnamese local forces at the village level to root out and undermine the Viet Cong insurgency. He contrasts this approach to the reliance on hi-tech and heavy fire power, the preferred operational mode of U.S. forces. Further, Poole (pp 278-294) describes the changes in tactical philosophy that must come about if U.S. ground forces are to prevail against their current enemy. This, to my mind, is the best part of the book.
   Poole's views on training and tactics in the last chapter, come closer to dealing with military cultural reform than in his previous wotks. While he addresses these subjects in other books, these last pages in MILITANT TRICKS come the furthest to combining these previous discussions into a coherent whole which reflects the grunt's eye-level ground view.
   Hopefully, the powers-that-be are reading his works - effecting the necessary changes.



5. Would you go hiking without a map? Would you work on your car without a manual? Then why would you even think about going to the Middle East without this book? Poole once again sets the standard in the industry for explaining the tactics, history, and mindset of the Islamic Extremist. From military commander to field grunt to civilian contractor, if you're headed to a desert combat zone do yourself a favor and BUY this book! I also suggest you read this book with a highlighter in hand...but you may just end up highlighting everything. This book undoubtedly has saved lives and will save more in the future!

5 comments about Hezbollah: A Short History (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics).

1. This book is entertaining, all too short and rather sloppily edited -- for example whether Israel destroyed 15000 homes (p.111) or 1500 homes (p.144) in the 2006 bombardment, as well as several typographical errors you wouldn't expect in few pages with large print. Moreover it is less about Hezbollah than about Shi'i politics in Lebanon since the 1970s. There are no interviews with Hezbollah officials and only a few quotations from public sources. This is understandable, however: I wanted a book, in 2007, that said _something_ about Hezbollah in the context of the 2006 war, and this provides it. Lebanese politics are intricate and this book doesn't seem to oversimplify matters. Plus there's a chapter that first appeared in a drama journal on the dramaturgy of Ashura. As others have implied here, the book probably assumes sympathy for the Shi'a in Lebanon, as against Israel in particular: that's fine with me, but it's obviously not fine with everyone.
   
   I would ask Mr Norton for more detailed information about Hezbollah's connections with Iran and for some characterization of the social or class position of Hezbollah among Lebanese Shi'a, as against AMAL's, say.



2. In this short, but revealing book, Norton has provided an excellent overview of the history and politics surrounding Hezbollah. The book contains chapters on the founding of the group, its internal dynamics, as well as how it operates in the regional context. Unlike some analysis of the group, Norton freely discusses both sides of the group: the side that operates and behaves like an organized and effective political party, and the side that can be characterized as a terrorist organization. Norton does this with relative ease and a clear and direct writing style. He demonstrates that the group has evolved at a rapid pace and that no one can say with absolute certainty how the group will continue to evolve.
   
   Unlike Harik's work on Hezbollah, Norton does a fine job of retaining some neutrality here and does not let a great deal of personal opinion seep into what should be a scholarly work. He has an impressive amount of experience working inside Lebanon and is thus very close to the subject he writes about, but this does not appear to have caused him to tilt one way or the other. His chapter on the July 2006 war with Israel is proof of that. His treatment of a highly controversial subject is remarkably balanced. He identifies what both sides were doing and thinking at the time and how it led to the outbreak of real hostilities.
   
   The book is relatively short, but it was not meant to be a sweeping and comprehensive history. He deals with all of the important aspects of the group and the finished product should be read by all those seeking a greater understanding of Hezbollah. Anything Norton produces in the future will be essential reading for the field.



3. Richard Norton has chronicled the origins and development of the Lebanese resistance party Hezbollah, which rose to prominence as one of the major political players during Israel's occupation of Lebanon during the 1980's. This account benefits from Norton's background in anthropology which enables him to analyze the cultural and ethnic complexity of Lebanon in his discussion. However, his historical background on the political history of Lebanon is somewhat meandering and also slim.
   
   At the same time, this book clears up some misconceptions about Hezbollah. The first of which is that Hezbollah should be regarded as a terrorist group with similar aims of other Islamic fundamentalists organizations like the Taliban and Islamic Jihad. Hezbollah is primarily a defensive organization, and it developed largely in response to Israel's aggression in Southern Lebanon. Norton also points out that the Western belief that Hezbollah was responsible for the death of over 30 U.S. Marines is false, and that that particular atrocity is probably the work of Shi militant agents working for Iran. However, Norton also clears up the misconception that Hezbollah is a "freedom-fighting" organization, and that it's tactics are legal, and that its aims are accomodationist and pluralistic. Hezbollah remains an Islamic theocratic party committed to the destruction of Israel, and it has often chosen poor military tactics with regard to Israel's borders.
   
   This is a worthwhile, though incomplete account of a rising political force in the Middle East.



4. This book is terribly concerned with the idea most people seem to have with Hezbollah, that it is a terrorist organization. The fact that Hezbollah commits murders, kidnappings and launches random rocket attacks at civilians may have led to this unfortunate perception. The author attempts to correct this by pointing out that Hezbollah (with Iranian money) builds hospitals, educational facilities and gives aid to those Shi'a in Lebanon who are in poverty. What the author does not discuss of course is if Hezbollah did not make a habit of kidnapping and killing people who get in its way, many NGOs and the Lebanese government might be able to operate in the areas they control. Better yet, the absence of Hezbollah might go far to relieving the fear, uncertainty and poverty in South Lebanon.
   
   And as far as Hezbollah's "good works" are concerned, the Nazis operated soup kitchens during the Great Depression. That did not make them in less the thug.



5. no one is innocent and no one is as evil as the other side's propaganda machine says.
   
   As one who happened to be in South Lebanon at the time the fighting started in 2006, I can say that Norton's description most closely mirrors my experience.
   
   You will benefit greatly by picking up this easy to follow gem. If you want one book to help you understand what's happening now in the Shi'a movement in Lebanon, this will do it for you.

5 comments about Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts--Abroad and Within.

1. Great book...just finished it. I really appreciate what the Rangers do and how they train to be an elite fighting force. This book is very candid about Nate and his team not only being fighting men but being human. Nate clearly writes well and puts all things into perspective.
   Thanks to a great patriot we know more about the Ranger's sacrifice - not only in war but the home front too.
   My only critque was capturing the battle field and the lay of the land during their ordeal on top of the mountain.



2. We all know, because we are constantly being told, how great are the military men and women who are fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The greatness thing had become a banality to me until I read this book, which explains the depth of the individual struggle of one very brave man, a struggle on the field of combat and off and between. I know that Nate Self is smart. I've met him and talked with him. But I had no idea of the introspection he bares in this wonderful book. His lucid analyses of where he stood and stands left me in admiration. He is better in touch with his feelings than one would imagine, and I only wonder if this comfort with feelings wasn't the cause of his PTSD or the result of climbing out of PTSD. That truly surprised me. After reading Two Wars, I have a much finer -- and far more concrete -- fix on what makes men like Self great. And he is. Thanks for getting this book done, and so beautifully. Malcolm MacPherson.



3. A great book that I could relate to on a personal level. If there is anything good that comes from experiences like Nate's, it would be books like this that truly humble you and put a lot of things into perspective.



4. I just finished this book that was hard to put down. It provides amazingly transparent insights into West Point, Rangers and the military in general. Thanks for helping me understand some of what my son (special forces) has not been able to verbalize. Stu Weber's afterward was excellent also.



5. I had the privilege of going to high school with Nate. I knew the man he grew up to be, the man that slowly seems to get lost throughout the course of this book. This made going through the book difficult, the vivid imagery immersing me and making me deny that the story was about this strong, loving and faithful person that I grew up with.
   
   The first portion of the book provides a vivid account of Nate's progression through the military ranks and the Roberts Ridge Rescue mission. Later in the book, Nate describes dealing with PTSD. The descriptions of his emotional turmoil leap from the pages. It is this information, personal information, that should make us reflect on how war changes all of us, not just those directly involved.
   
   I would suggest this book to anyone who wants to read a true account of our current occupation. This book is a well written, personal account of one man's struggles on and off the battlefield. In reality, it is not just about one man, but about all of the soldiers that return from war unable to deal with the aftermath.
   
   ***Nate, if you read this, I hope the picture I gave you at your book signing helps you to remember, if only briefly, that somewhere inside you is still the kid in the explorer outfit and pith helmet. God Bless!

5 comments about Precarious Life: The Power of Mourning and Violence.

1. I had much anticipation of Butler's _Precarious Lives_ considering her position as one of the foremost cultural and literary theorists. However, I was highly disappointed that the arguments she makes in the text are no greater than those of most academics, including those of grad students. I'd wait for the paperback edition and buy it used as it is somewhat useful for citations. Other than that, the argument is really over-stated these days and seems like much less than what one could or "should" expect from Butler.



2. I thought Precarious Life was great. Her previous work always sounded like a dreary parody of "postmodern criticism" to me, and I couldn't be bothered trying to slog through any of it. She's obviously going for a wider audience with this new one. It's working.



3. Judith Butler is a multi-talented scholar who can write for both specialized and general audiences (which is why many, I believe, envy her). This book is quite accessible and rightly so; it is concerned with the contemporary predicaments we are currently in at this point in history. An extremely important book, Butler's "Precarious Life" has much to offer.



4. Judith Butler is out of her depth in her discussions of Israel,
   and (the new) anti-semitism.Readers searching for understanding of post-9/11 politics will encounter lopsided arguments here.



5. I read this book yesterday and just ate it up. It's not the usual esoteric examination by Butler. (Not that anything is wrong with that and I've read her other work, as well).
   
   That said, the book is written for a lay audience and I think that this book needed to be published, since the responses of feminists to or after Sept 11th have been far and few. (Aftershock is a great book to read about Sept 11th from a feminist point of view).
   
   I can't pinpoint what my favourite section of the book was, however, I enjoyed it all. It was refreshing to see a political theorist write about something "real" that is taking place today that many are discussing or living through.
   
   This is a wonderful addition to her writing repertoire. I do hope to see her write more for a lay audience, since hopefully they will get their curiosity piqued and read more Butler.

5 comments about Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander.

1. Did you know the Bin Laden CAPTURE OR KILL REWARD went from zero to $25million, to $50million, and has quietly now been changed back to ZERO again? The reason is Bush HAS TO HAVE Bin Laden to play the BIG BAD WOLF at our FRONT DOOR Role, so he (Bush) can continue to stay in power.
   
   The ROOT CAUSE of 9/11 are the Saudi sponsored WAHABI ISLAM Madrassas that continue to churn out SUICIDE BOMBERS!! It is SAUDI ARABIA that is our ENEMY!! Wayyyy back in 1979, the Saudi King was forced to do this, so the Mullahs's got the money they demanded, and proceeded to set up Madrassas all over the Arab World.
   
   Don't believe me? You will.



2. This is a self-serving memoir of the worst sort.
   
   The author comes off as a self-promoting, sophomoric simpleton. According to him, he is always brave and right, everyone else is an idiotic coward. His political comments display a stunning lack of perception for a CIA case officer. Can he possibly believe that everyone who disagrees with his simpleminded policies is spineless? He is apparently entirely incapable of seeing nuance, or understanding why a non-violent approach might sometimes be preferable. He doesn't understand that there may be political implications beyond his immediate desire to kill the enemy, or that limited resources may be needed elsewhere on the battlefield. He is outraged when he asks for massive airstrikes, or troop deployments and the Pentagon refuses. He dismisses top officials as spineless bureaucrats, without ever considering that the resources might be needed elsewhere on the battlefield. A real soldier trusts his commander and does his best with what he is given. Berntsen instead complains that he was not given more.
   
   Jawbreaker would be laughable, if it weren't so embarassing. Most of the conversations involve his superiors praising him, along the lines of: "We're giving you this job because we know you're tough and we can count on you." "Thank you sir, I won't let you down." Give me a break.
   
   Save your money. If you want a decent book on Afghanistan, read "The Places In Between." But read this if you want one self-important man's effort to blame everyone else for his own failures.



3. From the first pages of his redacted recollections, Gary Bernsten takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Agency's early frustrations with the menace of Al Qaeda - as well as his own for the Washington bureaucracy - giving us our first glimpse of the Panshir Valley prior to the USS Cole tragedy and the 9/11 turning point. Bernsten picks up the momentum of Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander less than a month later as he was preparing to spearhead the hunt for Bin Laden as it had been laid out by the CIA's Counter Terrorism Center [CTC] and the Armed Forces Central Command [CENTCOM], with the initial airstrikes against the Taliban and Al Qaeda targets and the insertion of both military and civilian teams into Afghanistan.
   
   Sometimes his riveting account of this handful of dedicated experts and professionals [some 110 CIA officers and 350 Special Forces soldiers, supported by air power and advanced technology] could be difficult to follow because of the rapid pace of events and the multiple facets of their operations. Whenever I watch Robert Redford's Lions For Lambs (Widescreen Edition), it conjures up the actions of those forces in my mind. But on the whole, his blend of textured characters and harrowing circumstances was fascinating reading, even with the bands of redacted text every few pages. His return to the Panshir from Tajikistan, his efforts with the native commanders, with their intelligence operations and the allied forces, with hostage issues, language problems and cultural conflicts; Gary shared each step of the way with us in vivid detail. His descriptions of Tora Bora gave us edge-of-your-seat panoramas of the execution of our warfare options with a modern enemy, in sharp contrast to how we have failed in Iraq. Being so close to his mission's near-complete success, his obvious frustrations with his recall and the uncertainty of our policies in the area are easy to understand. History may see those events in his favor and be more sympathetic to his feelings.
   
   Bernsten's conclusions offer a longer perspective of our actions during those few critical months that are shared by others and documented elsewhere. Our Afghan war has been described as a flawed masterpiece and may end up as one of the more notable military achievements in the last half century. May it serve as a positive example for future successes, as open societies face the challenges of lethal enemies, and as a call for creative leadership with compassion and understanding for other people and their traditions.
   
   Bob Magnant is the author of The Last Transition... - a fact-based novel about Iran, Iraq and the Middle East...



4. An interesting introduction to the people involved on the ground in the early stages of the war in Afganistan. This book picks up where "First In" by Gary Schroen ends. Gary Berntsen was Gary Schroen's replacement as the CIA man on the ground coordinating their efforts.
   
   The focus is on the CIA teams and their Northern Alliance allies.
   
   Berntsen, like Schroen, thinks very highly of himself. He respects the capabilities of the military members working with his teams and often compliments them on their skills. Later in the book, there are references to Billy Waugh, a long-time Special Forces soldier. For Waugh's perspective on this point in time, read "Hunting the Jackal".
   
   Overall a good book about very brave men who were willing to take significant risks for their country. It is amazing that so few men on the ground could accomplish so much.



5. I read through this book in about a day and found the insights into the book very interesting but the redactions made it often annoying and hard to read. Some of the redactions seemed very silly since the sources where open sources like ABC or CNN. Some of the redacted information could be easily deduced from context or other sources but it made reading the book difficult. If you're going to read this book you should read a long with other sources in that it provides great context and a different perspective and other sources might make the reading a little easier. I hope a second, less redacted, version is published soon.

5 comments about Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice.

1. It took me a while to read this book. Not because it wasn't well written, on the contrary, it is an extremely well written book. No, I could only stomach around 20 or so pages at a time, before I was so angry I had to put it down. This is a must read for people who want to know what the Bush Administration has been up to for the last few years. Unfortunately, some of the details cannot be included, as they are either unknown or classified. In any case, a book that flows, that is easy to read and has (IMHO) one of the most pressing themes of today.



2. This book is written with a lot of first person stories. Rather than a typical critique of government agencies it is almost like a "CLANCY NOVEL."
   For anyone interested in government and the law it is a must read!!! You can follow up on the book in Mr. Lichtblau's NY TIMES articles which become a
   continuation of the things that he wrote about in the book.



3. Eric Lichtblau, has penned a must read tomb for those seeking truth and reconciliation post Bush. Hopefully enough citizens will read it that the push for a post Bus Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be created to bring accountability to the criminals who have run this country into the ground.



4. Everyone knows that there were big changes because of the 9/11 attacks. There had to be legal changes, too, and different ways of investigating crimes. No one disputes that the legal and investigative changes had to come, but the Constitution did not change. Those who were interested in torturing prisoners, or reading our e-mails, or snooping around our closets, had to do legalistic contortions to get their way. There are still those who say that such actions were fully justified, but undoubtedly the abuse of our Bill of Rights is part of the reason the current president has record-level unpopularity ratings. Eric Lichtblau has worked for the _New York Times_, and got a Pulitzer in 2006 for his stories on the Bush administration's wiretapping efforts. The centerpiece of his book, _Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice_ (Pantheon), is an insider's view on how he got that story and especially how the _Times_ only eventually, after much hesitation, printed it. That isn't the only story here, though, as Lichtblau has written a wider account of how the re-interpretation of the laws has made victims of citizens and of administrators who did not willingly accept that the re-interpretations were legal.
   
   Lichtblau writes of the post-9/11 attitude, "This was a war planned in secret at the highest reaches of the Bush administration, with a go-it-alone muscularity that relied at its core on a broad, omnipotent reading of the president's wartime authority." There are a few heroes here who understood that the furious expansion of presidential powers was not just a given, like James Ziglar, the commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, who objected to ethnic-profile sweeps of Muslim neighborhoods. He called it "a violation of the Constitution, and I'm not going to be part of it," earning the distrust of the administration; he was eventually forced out. Chief among the victims of the surveillance described here is Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer in Oregon whose fingerprints, the FBI said, matched a terrorist bomber in Spain. You would think matching fingerprints was something basic in which the FBI would be expert. Spain tried to warn the FBI off, insisting that the fingerprint didn't match Mayfield's. For false arrest and harassment, Mayfield's family got a $2 million settlement. There were thousands of arrests which eventually showed no connection to terrorism. The expanded wiretap capacity was not constitutionally defensible, but even so, it might have had the practical effect of leading to the arrests of lots of terrorists. This just didn't happen.
   
   The central part of the book, how Lichtblau and fellow reporter James Risen got their Pulitzer-winning story on the NSA wiretapping, gives plenty of details about the hard work of reporting. There are more than a few comparisons to Watergate; there is a Deep Throat figure pointing the pair of reporters in the right direction, for instance, and the administration considered taking a Pentagon Papers-type injunction to keep the _New York Times_ from publishing the story. The sorts of people who accuse Lichtblau of helping the cause of terrorism or who leave him death threat e-mails will miss some of the lessons here. It is not the case that the paper rushed into print with the story; Lichtblau describes how the story was essentially complete by 2004, but the paper sat on it at the request of the administration. It was only a year later, with new evidence that the wiretapping was out of control, that publication happened. The go-ahead was advanced when the staff of the _Times_ negotiating about the decision with the White House discovered that the administration had been lying to the paper about how limited the wiretapping was and how it was universally supported by administration lawyers. (When the story was published, the president attacked the decision to do so, but did not dispute a thing in it. "Confirmation didn't come any better than this," Lichtblau notes.) And Lichtblau shows that there were two additional stories about clever ways the government was using to assess communications or money paths of terrorists, but unlike the NSA wiretaps, they had no conflict with the Constitution nor with the right to privacy; not one word of these ever appeared in print. Lichtblau's book is sometimes exciting, although its descriptions of what our government does in our name are often infuriating: our president and his aides executed an eavesdropping program that many of their own lawyers thought unconstitutional, and they lied about it to reporters and to the public, and then they accused the journalists of helping terrorism. There is no advocacy needed for a free press, but a reader closing these pages will have a new appreciation for our First Amendment.



5. This book illustrates how George W Bush and his administration have interpreted the US Constitution, its laws and justice. It also spells out some of the administration lawlessness, distrust and evil ways.
   
   If have read other books on how Stalin and later Hitler used their powers to eliminate those that stood-in-their-way and/or opposed them, you might see some parallels.

3 comments about Staying Safe: The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Family, and Your Business.

1. I travel abroad on business frequently, finally there is a book that gives me real advice on how to protect myself. Thanks Mr. Aviv. I recommend it to everyone. I only wish employers would give it out to their employees.



2. While I am not an international business person, I do enjoy saving my skin. I saw this book in a store one day and immediately added it to my list. It was certainly worth reading.
   
   Juval Aviv first addresses what he feels to be the most important battleground in staying safe -- your very own thinking. Settling for more dangerous behavior because it saves you time, money, or the "hassle" of paying attention to your surroundings is what Aviv would most passionately warn against.
   
   From there Aviv discusses almost all aspects of staying safe: survival and escape strategies for all kinds of events, travel safety in foreign countries and on airplanes, identity theft, and those pesky carjackings. Here are a couple favorite strategies -- when yelling for help, yell "Fire" instead of "Help!" People are more likely to come to your aid. And if you're in your car and a carjacker hops in the passenger seat, take your keys and throw them out of your door as far as you can. Now what's he going to do?
   
   In actuality, of course, most of us do not need to incorporate EVERY recommendation of Aviv into our own lifestyles. Most of us do not need to open our mail in an isolated area, nor will we likely remember many of Aviv's tips if we actually find ourselves in the middle of a terrorist incident. Many of Aviv's concepts, however, can be very helpful, if only in a more general sense. And, for the international executive, government official, or prominent public figure, Staying Safe is a fantastic resource. I would also suggest J.J. Luna's book, How to be Invisible for these individuals.
   
   If these ideas interest you, then you will enjoy this book.



3. Not quite as good as I had assumed. Common Sense stuff & I would not buy it again.

2 comments about Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger (Public Planet).

1. Appadurai draws on his former work on globalization in Modernity at Large, to propose a set of exciting and innovatively original reflections on the agendas set by post-September 11. The way terrorism is a sequel to former globalizing tendencies, and has been used in local contexts to deal in a discriminating way with 'difference', and 'minorities', is set against larger issues, such as the question of the role of the territorialized nation-state, and deterritorialized global terror. The interest of his approach resides in the fact that it considers a wide range of examples from South Asia to Europe, and the US, thus making the more evident how reductive - to say the least- are views of contemporaneity derived from Huntington's Clash of Civilizations. Appadurai is a genuinely original thinker, an exception in a world which sees a daily proliferation of repetitive and obvious approaches to such issues. An inspiring book I strongly recommend!



2. "Fear of Small Numbers" by Arjun Appadurai offers an exceptionally astute and often original analysis on the topic of violence and globalization. Drawing on his extensive knowledge gained over an impressive career as a scholar, consultant and activist, Mr. Appadurai brings an unique and internationalist perspective to bear on the subject. Written with a high degree of intelligence, clarity and conciseness, Mr. Appadurai's book convincingly explains how much of today's violence is tied to economic and social forces that are peculiar to our moment in history, thereby providing much-needed insight into how we might begin to address and resolve the problem of violence in our time.
   
   Mr. Appadurai contends that globalization has created mass uncertainty by demolishing the state's ability to control its own economic destiny; as a consequence, the production of cultural cohesion has gained greater importance than ever for the nation state's bid to retain relevancy. Unfortunately, the globalization game can easily destabilize national borders and upset the state's attempts at social cohesion by creating mass unemployment and encouraging inflows and outflows of destitute workers. Under these conditions, the downtrodden can sometimes become scapegoats for the nation's failures; in extreme cases, the poor and disenfranchised may become victims of violent purges that are driven by the majority population's heightened social and economic anxieties.
   
   However, Mr. Appadurai believes that terrorism constitutes the truly nightmarish side of globalization. Mimicking transnational corporations by organizing themselves in flexible, decentralized production networks, terrorist groups threaten the survival of the nation state. Terrorist rage is often directed at the U.S. as a consequence of its perceived cultural and economic hegemony as well as for its frequent exercise of military power around the world, especially in the Middle East. Mr. Appadurai points out that suicide bombers attempt to make political statements by personalizing themselves and their victims in deliberate and pointed contrast to the anonymous mass violence inflicted by U.S. air bombing campaigns. While Mr. Appadurai understands that some of these outsider perceptions of the U.S. may be difficult to accept, we probably need to acknowledge the author's point about how the unequal distribution of wealth and the sometimes indiscriminate and reckless deployment of U.S. power may be contributing to political destabilization and violent backlash if we wish to address some of the root causes of terrorism in a meaningful way.
   
   Mr. Appadurai goes on to discuss how the rise and fall of the BJP in India illustrates how political struggle can coalesce around ideas of cultural identification and exclusion. We learn how relatively small segments of the population can challenge legal and religious doctrines in a manner that can seem threatening to the majority population, elements of whom sometimes lash out violently against perceived threats in ideologically motivated attacks. On the other hand, the author finds hope in the many grass-roots activist networks around the world who are working for positive socioeconomic change. Mr. Appadurai believes that such organizations can create a much-needed "third space" for democratic deliberation and decision making, thereby helping the global economic system to work towards just ends.
   
   I give this timely and important book the highest possible rating and recommend it to everyone.

5 comments about 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Fourth Edition.

1. A book that grabs you. Apart from the 9/11 myth, which he calls the key to see the way our "leaders" deceive us, the author gives a global view of many other examples of massive deception in history. He explains how our criminal tax-spenders lie and kill us to wage wars and kill around the world.



2. Webster Tarpley is the "Simon Cowell" of political critics: he minces no words, gets to the point, and tells it like it is. I loved the acerbic truth and the historical examples he used to prove his points. His views certainly dovetail all others on the subject and only reinforce their validity.



3. Where do I begin, since I am not gifted with the power of flowery speech. This book, among many other related books, is trying to warn us about a terrible situation which has over taken us with unspeakble evil intentions. In fact it is so evil to suggest that manny are offended that we even dare to think this could happen: These naysayers are so deeply brainwashed they're beyond the touch of reality. This is exactly what the evil, scheming oligarchy is betting on that you won't believe any of this could be true. Some of you are crticial of this author's presentation of his information. So let me warn those below a certain level of IQ intelect that this is not an easy to read book. The author of this book already presumes you're up to date with certain facts of history and names and roles of various actors in this plot. Was WW1 & WWII true? Was Nagasaki and Hiroshima true? Was the Holocaust true? Was WMD of Iraq true? is the WMD of Syria true? All of the preceding representation of the evil, plotting elites consolidating their gold and power at the expense of our lives. And you still say no it can't be true? Your children's future is at stake here folks...keep sleeping at at the risk of your own demise.



4. I have personally contact the publisher and author (only the former replied) about a spurious quote taken from a NY Magazine article written on 9/11 conspiracy theories called "The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll". The fake book review is on the back cover of the third edition of Synthetic Terror. It reads "A Slam Dunk" -- New York Magazine. The deception is that the article's author wasn't endorsing the book but still Tarpley decided to mislead the public by taking the quote completely out of context to make it look like an endorsement of the book (and capitalized all three words), when in fact the article it was quoted from wasn't even a
   book review! So how could the alleged "A Slam Dunk" review in bold letters on the back cover be real? Its not. Look up the NY Magazine article and read the whole thing. The alleged "A Slam Dunk" sentence that Tarpley "cites" as an endorsement is on the second page of the online version which can be found at nymag.com/news/features/16464/ .
   
   Then go to the book store and compare the fake quote on the back of this book to what you read. Tarpley's disinformation just on the back cover alone should be enough to make you stay away from the book! Manufacturing a fake book review for your propaganda piece is beyond dishonest, and should make anyone with a critical mind question Tarpley's credibility (not to mention that the author is a former member of the criminal Lyndon LaRouche political cult). If you are unfortunate enough to purchase and read it, as I was, you'll find that Tarpley's book is filled with even more propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation on the inside, and makes this book a pathetic read, written by either an idiot or agent. I don't know which could be worse for the 9/11 truth movement.



5. Author Webster G. Tarpley puts together a compelling case for the truth behind 9/11. Drawing from his knowledge of "false flag" state-sponsored terrorism, Tarpley brings together in one book: a historical context for the event, precedents for the event, elitist motives for the event, numerous instances of the party line differing from the evidence, and most important of all-the psychological conditioning of minds for the acceptance of the party line. This book is beyond interesting, I would call it challenging and intriguing. Once the facts are known, it's quite obvious that the hijackers were patsies and that OBL had nothing to do with it. (For those of you who can't understand why the US govn't would do such a thing, it is becasue you are lacking in a knowledge of US history coupled with the understandable disconnect of realizing that war is simply the art of capitalism-see a time series chart in your college economics textbook where most all prosperous eras in US History run parallel with a war). Tarpley integrates George Orwell's "1984" and Plato's Cave, two crucial elements of understanding how governments get by with these false flag attackes. This book is deep and it is heavy. If you have a hard time accepting truth, you might want to start your 911 awareness with a different book, but it's mandatory that you read this one at some point.

5 comments about Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11.

1. I've just finished reading "Firefight," and it feels like September 2001 all over again. Creed and Newman present an exceptional amount and quality of research, and they've captured the anger, confusion and determination of the response to the terror attack on the Pentagon in a very powerful way. Conspiracy theories will come and go, but this book will stand as a testament to the heroic efforts and tragic losses of that day.



2. Just the title says it all. As book reviewer (http://911sig.blogspot.com/2008/06/firefight-inside-battle-to-save.html), Enver Masud, notes: "FBI photographer Jennifer Combs (formerly Jennifer Farmer) went far out of her way to pull hundreds of photographs from archives and narrate all of them. How did they get access to these photographs, when others have Freedom of Information Act requests pending for these photographs and Pentagon videos?"
   
   But this is even better than the passport allegedly found in the WTC rubble: "The body of the hijacker who had been flying the plane ended up in the D Ring about 107 feet from the point of impact." I keep seeing Wylie Coyote. It must be something Rumsfeld put in.



3. Pilots for 9/11 Truth examined the "Black Boxes"
   They determined that it was Impossible for flight 77 to have hit the Pentagon.
   There are over 50 video cameras that could have caught the airplane,
   we have seen none.
   There was no wreckage.
   There was no airplane
   Rank propaganda,same as the rest of the Governments 9/11 myth
   This should be in the fiction section



4. This book is a good read but probably too much detail for most readers. It is a good book telling how ordinary people made extraordinary decisions to save people's lives that day. It also shows how many firefighters and others worked as quickly as possible to save people, and put out the fire that was raging in the Pentagon while overcoming the confusion that reigned in the first hours after the plane hit the building.



5. When American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, local firefighters were the first responders to the inferno. A huge hole marked the point of impact of the jetliner, the building was doused in jet fuel , flames roaring out the hole with the people inside in various stages of awareness of what had just occurred. Within moments ordinary men and women stepped into the breech and began to do whatever needed to be done to try and rescue the building's occupants and to give aid to the injured. People from all walks of life join to do whatever need to be done at the scene.
   
   Fire crews from all over converged on the iconic building and began the work of trying to bring the fire under control. Military personal struggled to aid and rescue their comrades and to recover sensitive military files. Others commandeered materials and staff and set up triage and treatment for the wounded. Despite the possible loss of friends, coworkers and loved ones in the building or in the other terrorist attacks, these people kept working until they could no longer move. As the firefighters tackled the building, they also set in place a very unusual role reversal...the local firefighters were in command and the military took direction from them. Working together, the firefighters aided the military staff in recovery of sensitive files, discs and safes despite the sagging building. Pulled out by rumors of other jets attacks and pushed back by fire, the fire crews continued to battle, despite toxic fumes, falling buildings, personal loss and uncertainty , these crews return and continue the work. It would be easy to focus on the inevitable rivalry between military and civilian crews, between agencies on the scene. While the natural rivalries are mentioned, Patrick Creed and Rick Newman focus instead on the heroic contributions of the men and women on the scene. Step-by-step, minute-by-minute, day-by-day the fight to extinguish the fire and to rescue and recover are detailed in the days following the attack. Following several of the participants, an unforgettable portrait of courage and compassion emerges.
   
   I couldn't put this book down. When I finished I was overwhelmed with memories of that terrible day and the following weeks. I felt as if I had a small understanding of what a firefighter does (my son is a firefighter) and the willingness both firefighters and members of the military have to do whatever is necessary to preserve and protect. This is one of the five best books I have read in the last year. Firefight is an honest and compassionate portrait of ordinary people rising to the horrific challenge of 9/11.