No comments about An Empire of Indifference: American War and the Financial Logic of Risk Management (Social Text books).

5 comments about Inside the Wire: A Military Intelligence Soldier's Eyewitness Account of Life at Guantanamo.

1. This should be required reading for all US citizens. However you feel about Bush or the War On Terror, this book will challenge your preconceptions about Guantanamo Bay.



2. I bought this book from the Dollar Store (of all places) and read it all in one evening...I couldn't put it down. Given the public attention that has been paid to activities, both known and as yet unknown, at Gitmo, I was surprised to discover that this book is out of print already, having only been published in 2005. Let's face it, the activities at Gitmo are highly secretive for either good reasons (like national security) and/or bad (like a potential cover up of less than desirable interrogation practices as far as the Geneva convention goes). Given what should have been high public interest in the book, and the place where I found it, I decided to check out the reviews on Amazon and quickly noted, as other reviewers had, that people either loved or hated this book with very little grey area in between.
   
   One thing that impressed me is that nearly all the reviews here are some of the most well written I have ever read about any book sold on Amazon in the sense that most are clearly written by educated and thoughtful people. And I mean this about the one star *and* five star reviews. In fact, perhaps even more of the one star reviews; as more than one star reviewer pointed out, left leaning liberals are very likely to love Saar's book.
   
   I note that many of the one star reviewers were stationed at Gitmo, and some were upset not so much by what Saar had to say, but that he complained about it in a public forum. Some of these reviewers and many other one star reviewers expressed disbelief that there really could be a widespread "cover up" operation that would actually work in practice. I didn't get the impression reading the book that Saar was describing a concerted "cover up" operation. But I find it interesting that reviewers who served in the armed forces are upset that Saar expressed his views about Gitmo publicly instead of complaining up the command chain, whilst they simultaneously poo-poo a "cover up"; if it is drummed into you in the military that you should never, ever complain to the outside world about problems you see in military infrastructure, isn't that a culture that encourages "keeping things amongst ourselves, even if we don't like it?". I am sure that many soldiers who served at Abu Ghraib didn't like what they saw going on there, but didn't go public. And I would be surprised if any of them complained up their command structure if they felt that the top brass condoned or worse yet, even sanctioned, what occurred there. Who wants to ruin their career? It is better just to shut up and put up. Which amounts to a cover up, even if the people not talking wouldn't call it such.
   
   It is not surprising that the reviews of this book are so polarized given that Saar described his fellow service people at Gitmo as being extremely polarized in their feelings about the place and what goes on there.
   
   I have one comment to make about the CACI categorically denying that civilian interrogators were used; reading that portion of the book, I find it highly unlikely that Saar actually made that up since his description sounds believable. What I think happened is that CACI threatened one big honkin' lawsuit against Penguin unless it retracted that part of the book. As a government contractor CACI makes *a lot* of money, and Penguin could potentially lose a lot more money in such a lawsuit than they gained from publishing the book. Pretty much everything else in the book is focussed on the operations of government agencies and the military...no fear of lawsuits there given that the book was vetted by the Pentagon. The fact that Penguin retracted the description of the CACI interrogators does not make the book less believable in my eyes. I think it shows how difficult it is to tell the truth about what goes on at Gitmo without a lawsuit being slapped on you. Yet another way that "cover ups" are encouraged (in the sense that people have strong incentive to shut up and put up).
   
   Saar likely did make a fair amount of money off this book. But I'm not sure if he is as craven as some reviewers make him out to be; his monetary gain comes at a price, in that I am sure some service people and others besides view him as a traitor and some would be happy to beat the crap out of him should they come across him in a dark alley. I wonder what Saar's life is like these days...



3. This book was a great read. Accurate? You bet! I faced the same trials and tribulations stationed in the Middle East (unqualified people, find your own replacement or stay and rot, below prison standard living conditions, etc., etc.) Job well done!



4. This expose of the atrocities at Guantanamo Bay as relayed by an American eyewitnessis an almost impossible book to review along the guidelines of what can be said. The book is filled with filthy language and none can be used. Erik looks like a good All-American young man, but listen to his language. He was trained to speak and understand the Arabic language, but I doubt they use the slang we Americans take for granted, but Amazon won't accept. It's okay in a book but not the book review.
   
   Erik and Mark observed how inefficient the guards and female military are for extracting evidence. Having served a long jail sentence in the USA, Mark was emotionally deficient but enjoyed taking part in the sexual tactics purportedly for interrogation purposes. Eric had secured a college degree but his failing marriage sent him to join up for the military with dreams of glory. Mark was not so lucky. Being already a felon, he was denied that privilege to die with grace. Erik spent his R&R with a girfriend he picked up somewhere. Mark liked the unattached homeless women who abound everywhere.



5. This is an interesting book, easy to read, and probably worth the four hours it. I have no idea whether or not the substance of the book is true or not. But what rings false to me is the author's claim to be a Christian, but not living a Christian life-style. He says he is a Christian, refers to his family spending full days at church, says his parents attended Wednesday choir practice, and knows enough about Christian theology to tell one of the prisoners that Christians believe Jesus is the son of God and his death paid the penalty for their sins, and that God loves us. The author even refers to the "born again" experience of one of his fellow soldiers.
   
   However, he does not follow a Christian life-style. He says his first wife, the daughter of a Baptist minister, cheated on him with sexual liasons with his friends. That could happen, but it's not likely. The author drinks a lot of beer. Drinking beer isn't done by the typical Christian. The author had a relationship with another woman after he left his wife that was intimate enough for the other woman to become angry enough to burn his favorite blanket when the author decided to break up with her. That infers an intimate physical relationship, and that's not Christian behavior, either. The author lives with his girl friend before he marrie her. Again, not Christian behavior. The author refers to his parents going to choir practice on Wednesday night. Most churches have choir practice on Thursday because Wednesday is prayer meeting.
   
   Whether or not the author is a Christian is a moot point. If he's not, and the book is accurate there's no reason to bring up the point at all. Or, the author could be as he claims, and he's just practicing an unusual Christian life-style. Nevertheless, the hallowness of his supposed background makes me wonder if he didn't just throw that in to gain favor with a certain segment of the population and make his book more believable. And if he did make up his religious beliefs, what else did he make up?

2 comments about Ending Terrorism: A Strategy for Defeating Al-Qaeda.

1. There's not a better primer on how to think about terrorism. This book takes a vast amount of knowledge (and discards a lot of bunkum) and boils it all down. This isn't an idiot's guide; instead it provides an intellectual rigorous framework for thinking about how terrorism works, how governments have successfully ended terrorist campaigns, and what all of this means for people thinking about the threat from al-Qaeda.
   
   You'll be amazed how much is packed in here. There are no literary flourishes and no wasted words. This is practical, effective knowledge, and it's hard to imagine a policy maker or police official who deals with terrorist threats who wouldn't benefit tremendously from reading this book.
   
   It is certainly the best policy paper I've read all year, and I've read more than 100.



2. I have been a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) for a few years and this is the first Adelphi paper that I've read closely and with real interest. What caught my attention and drew me in were the author's broad historical approach and the emphasis on asking the jugular questions that many policymakers have ignored to date: how and why have terrorist movements ended in the past and what can we do to accelerate those natural tendencies? Interestingly, the author, Audrey Kurth Cronin, says that al-Qaeda has spent much more time reviewing this question than anyone else.
   
   This is a slender volume - more extended essay than book - that is packed with keen insights and hypotheses concerning the nature of terror movements, the lessons learned from previous counter-terror campaigns, and some practical recommendations for conducting the on-going campaign against the global Islamic extremist threat.
   
   Cronin clearly sees post 9/11 US foreign and defense policy as deeply flawed and misguided, although this tract is hardly a direct criticism of the Bush administration. Rather, Cronin argues that mainstream national security thinking embraces a number of myths when it comes to terror movements. Three in particular forced me to challenge my own thinking.
   
   For instance, Cronin asserts that it is incorrect to view terrorism as in inexpugnable element of modern civilization analogous to crime and poverty. He notes that the vast majority of terror movements end - and their median lifespan is quite short (somewhere between 5 and 9 years). The Irish Republican Army and FARC are the exceptions, not the rule. Second, terror movements tend to be fluid and evolutionary, so addressing the root causes that led to the development of the movement is unlikely to end the resistance. Cronin notes that terror campaigns and insurgencies share some attributes with conventional wars in this respect in that once the conflict generates its own momentum, the ending may have little to do with the initial cause. Finally, and most at odds with conventional counter-insurgency thinking, Cronin argues that government policies targeted at winning the hearts and minds of the population have very limited utility.
   
   The central thesis Cronin lays out is that sending troops and/or aid packages is not as impactful as understanding that terror movements are predisposed to fail. And rather than fighting groups directly with excessive firepower or expensive social relief programs, the logical focus of the counter-terror policy should be to accelerate and promote the natural causes of terror group implosion. It is the policy equivalent of aikido: using your attacker's energy against them.
   
   The author goes on to lay out some discrete steps the international community should take to push al-Qaeda in the direction of its own demise. His recommendations are reasonable but hardly earth-shattering in their novelty. For example, Cronin suggests that the West do a better job of "articulating al-Qaeda" to limit the grandiose image that we have helped great for them. He also argues that we should do a better job of fomenting the internal divisions and accelerating the popular backlash against the movement that have been generated by the Sunni/Shiite issue in Iraq and the death of innocent Muslims in bombings around the Middle East. Just as al-Qaeda has effectively whipped up anti-Western sentiment by highlighting the ugly by-products of US foreign policy decisions and military operations, so too should the West shine a spotlight on the effects and victims of al-Qaeda suicide attacks, beheadings, and the other inhuman acts that have become part of their standard playbook.
   
   In sum, Cronin has produced a crisp and thought-provoking analysis on what may be the paramount national security issue facing the West for the next generation.

5 comments about Dirty Bomb: Weapons of Mass Disruption.

1. I found that this book gathered facts from myriad sources and placed them in a concise, compact, easy to read format. It is my belief that, given today's volatile atmosphere, the population should be educated in this subject. It was apparent after reading this book that the government has not provided citizens with enough information about "dirty bombs" to protect them from the unfortunate consequences of a detonation. The author correctly points out that the goal of an individual placing a "dirty bomb" is to terrorize and this can be accomplished very easily. Although the publisher could have eliminated some pages filled with nuclear reactor locations data, this book is a succinct, instructive account of a global threat.



2. Sadly, we live in a time when we need to know all we can about protecting ourselves, and the possibility of a "dirty bomb" attack is very real. This book gives you all the facts and tips you need to know about how likely an attack is, how dirty bombs are manufactured, and what you can do to protect yourself in the event of an attack. The book's pretty dry, but then again it is meant to be a handbook, not a novel or expose. If for no other reason, you should read it to keep yourself informed.



3. This book is a waste of time for the informed reader. The author tries to scare the uneducated. The facts are qualitative and have no valid references. I had to put the book down and never finished the last 20%.



4. First, this book is full of random thoughts and contradicting statements made by an uneducated author who appears to have done most of his research from internet sites.
   
   Second, I have never been a scholar of English grammer, proper puncuation, and sentence structure, but this book looks more like a high school book report. One that warrants a poor grade.
   
   Third, as a scholar in the subject matter, the book contains many ideas and concepts that aren't fully investigated or researched. I am truly suprised that this book was even allowed to be published. All ideas and thoughts were committed to print with no investigation as to the sources. I would have definitely done more research if I were going to quote internet web sites.
   
   If you are someone interested in learning more about the subject, I would recommend other books on the subject. Hopefully one that has been researched better.
   
   I read this book just to see what type of information is being portrayed to the average citizen and ended up very dissappointed about the content. It has almost inspired me to write my own book.



5. This book is so indescribably awful that it is actually funny, in the same painful way that watching "the office" is funny. It was written by someone who blends no knowledge of his subject, with a non-existent grasp of english grammar:- A lethal cocktail indeed. He also did not bother to engage the services of an editor, which presumably kept costs down, but which lead to some pretty troubling typographical side-effects. There is, I grant, an "editor's note" - which for some bizarre reason appears well into the book - but it is so clearly written by the author (no two people could actually write this way) that I would apply a pretty high discount rate to it.
   
   The book is a random stream of disorganized and unrelated statements, is vastly repetitive, full of enormous contradictions (it either is, or is not easy to build one of these things - the book forcefully asserts it is both) and is padded out to a commercial length by vast chunks of utterly irrelevant material. It has the EXACT feel of a poor quality, sensationalist, high school term paper.
   
   The only redeeming thing about this book is that the author frequently cites experts who actually do understand the subject and can speak in coherent sentences. Their observations are reasonably useful, but as another reviewer notes, all of this could be googled in about 30 seconds.
   
   There is only one lesson to be gleaned from this book - the right timing of the right title can be very lucrative. Shame on the publishers for this disgrace. Perverse credit to Mr King for making a lot of money out of 20 minutes of internet research.

No comments about Opals and Outrage: A Novel.

No comments about Fear at the Edge: State Terror and Resistance in Latin America.

5 comments about Bangladesh: The Next Afghanistan?.

1. The author created fictional connections between few internal events with islamic fundamentalism which I beleive to cater the western audience to steer them away from the facts. Bangladesh had been a progressive country whose major population happens to be muslim. Given the recent 'not so well' relationship with India, the author of Indian origin paints a grim picture showing isolated political events to crate propaganda and anti bangladesh sentiment. In contrast, India sees more racial/fundamentalist voilence than Bangladesh and creates economical barrier for smaller neighboring countries like Bangladesh to develop by creating bad press and international influence.



2. Very nice job of explaining the influence of Islam in Bangladesh today. Is the author biased? Of course, as is the reviewer below. But a veneer of bias does not change the plethora of facts set forth by the author nor does it invalidate the logical conclusions he reaches. Read it for yourself.



3. The author equates possibly the most tolerant of all Muslim countries as being the next Afghanistan. This is a country of 150 million and it is not difficult to find individual crimes committed against a member of religeous minority, if that is the object to begin with. As with practically all countries there is a violent right wing element as well. The author prefers to overlook the rejection of such elements by mainstream Bengali culture and the actions taken by the government against violent radicals. Also he either intentionally ignores, or is ignorant of, the differences in culture, history, and national structure which go against his hypothesis. The author assumes his theory his correct and tries to find specific facts that support it, rather than taking an impartial stance to see whether the broad body of evidence supports his theory, which it does not.



4. In a Taliban society as the author claims Bangladesh is turning into they force strict regulation of women, including forbidding of most employment or schooling for women. In Taliban society the Taliban creates a banning of long lists of activities movies, television, videos, music, dancing, hanging pictures in homes, clapping during sports events. The Taliban also create religious police to enforce those laws. Also discriminatory attitude towards non-Muslims.
   
   Now if all those things mentioned above are not implanted then its not a Taliban state, So the ignorant author would you please enlighten us where do you see women being denied education and theres laws banning womens education and laws banning movies, TV, Music, and Dance. I wonder how Dr.Muhammad Yunus was able to issue micro loans to women if they were banned from leaving their home by them self let alone start a business.



5. As a student of political science, I can honestly say that this book is one of the most biased piece of written work ever been produced. The arments are not objective at all. After reading this book anyone can sense that the writter has an agenda. A high school student can analyse better than this author.

No comments about IntelCenter Terrorism Incident Reference (TIR): Somalia: 2000-2007.

5 comments about Your Father's Voice: Letters for Emmy About Life with Jeremy--and Without Him After 9/11.

1. Lyz Glick, a self-described "single-married person," chose to write a series of letters to her daughter, Emerson, about Jeremy Glick: husband, father, and fighter-a hero who died on September 11, 2001, as one of the passengers on Flight 93.
   
   
   Brutally honest, Lyz Glick and writer, Dan Zegart, create more than a book filled with letters to the Glick's daughter, Emerson, or "Emmy." Emmy, and readers around the world, will come to know a man who is both common and exceptional. Glimpses into the past, told by friends, family and his wife, show Glick's growth from precocious child to courageous man.
   
   
   Emmy was not quite three-months old when her father and other passengers of Flight 93 became icons of courage in modern American history.
   
   
   As Emmy learns about her father's past, from childhood to adulthood, readers also come to know Jeremy Glick, his wife, his extended family and friends.
   
   
   Poignant, funny, wry, and sad, Your Father's Voice, is an intimate portrait of a special man whose past prepared him for the events on 9/11, an infamous day carved forever into American history.
   
   
   Your Father's Voice is not a book to enjoy, but rather one to absorb.
   
   
   This is a story of how the common man can rise with honor and sacrifice self to fight against evil. Jeremy Glick, in these letters to his daughter, is such a man-a man who became one of God's warriors.
   
   
   Lyz Glick and Zegart, through Your Father's Voice, allows those of us who watched helplessly as events played out on 9/11 to believe in heroes and hold them close in our hearts.
   
   
   Laced with humor, sadness, anger, curiosity and more, this book of letters is also an account of the process Mrs. Glick was forced to partake in as a surviving widow, or "single-married person," as she calls herself.
   
   
   Though the details are sometimes gruesome, at the same time, they are important to not only Lyz Glick, but to readers as well. Because of her tenacity, the world can also take a step forward toward healing by putting to rest questions about that ugly day.
   
   
   Your Father's Voice is not a sugarcoated account of Jeremy Glick's life. We meet Glick as he was-an ordinary man made extraordinary through his choices in life, and in death.



2. This book was so beautifully and eloquently written. I read it over several days, it is almost impossible to put down. This book is a major tear jerker, though. It has been a long time since I have literally sobbed while reading a book. You actually feel sad when it is over, like you just want to read it again. It was heartbreaking to see what an amazing father he was to his baby daughter, and that he had just 12 weeks with her. I also loved, loved the writing style of Lyz Glick. The way that she described things, people, and events made you feel like you were right there. Well done!!!!



3. I was very anxious to read this book since I read an article on a Reader's Digest magazine about a year ago and so I requested my local library to buy it. I read it in a week, I am pretty sure I could've read it in two days if it wasn't because I have a lot of homework. All I can say is that I loved "Your Father's Voice". It is very well-written and moving.
   
   Lyz Glick carefully tells the story of her life with Jeremy and her life once Jeremy was gone. She walks us through every memory she kept. She shares with us the weakest moments of her life after her husband's death, but she also states the importance of her and Jeremy's daughter in her life.
   
   I have to applaud Liz Glick for managing to tackle such an enourmously emotional and personal subject with such grace. This book put thoughts in my head of what it would be like if I had to face the same reality she encountered, and I have to confess it brought me to tears often. What happened to her and to anyone whose loved ones were killed that horrible day is something you don't wish to anyone. Like I said I can't imagine enduring the things she went through.
   
   I was totally blown away by this book. I undoubtedly recommend it. It's the kind of book you should have on your coffee table. You will see it is very hard to put it down.
   
   vgxoxo@hotmail.com



4. This is a Wonderful Book.It has background of Lyz Glick and Her Late Husband Jeremy Meeting,falling in Love,Colledge,Marriage,the baby Emmy and the Hijacking leading to Jeremy's death.I highly recommend this book.



5. This is the best book that I have read in a really long time. I was moved by Lyz's honesty and heartfelt emotions about losing her husband on 9/11. Even though one could possibly not imagine what she felt on that day, it gives you a little insight to her story, her husband and her daughter. Her daughter will be so thankful that she made this memorial of her father. Lyz's daughter Emmy is so lucky to have such a strong role model in her life in both her father and mother. This book is a real example of true love, life and loss. Not only is her husband a hero but she is as well.

No comments about Just War and Terrorism: The End of the Just War Concept?.