No comments about The Circle of Reason.

No comments about Counterterrorism Strategies for Corporations: The Ackerman Principles.

5 comments about Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror - A Public Defender's Inside Account.

1. It's good to know that there are honorable people who will stand up to an out of control administration.



2. I was particularly interested in finding all the details about a fingerprint which seemed to link an Oregon lawyer who did not speak Spanish to the March 11 train bombings in Madrid. The government presents a major challenge to the nature of American society, and the slow pace which it often chooses to deal with matters on which others think "look again" means actually considering facts but the FBI thinks it has a major significance as casting doubt upon previously arrived at conclusions is more than stunning.
   
   Jurisdictional questions might be of interest to lawyers, but by the end of the book it seems obvious that the real interest has been in any form of delay. YouTube news videos rock when real people get to explain how someone doing a legitimate job in a foreign country ended up in Gitmo. The author makes a few errors, but he has a grasp of the significance of the work that is being done by lawyers who actually believe in preserving a particular kind of society. I like the effort better than all the people who wonder why I am still running around loose after all these years of causing trouble for people who don't like being looked at.



3. Kafka Comes To America: Fighting For Justice In The War On Terror is lawyer and author Steven T. Wax's story as to how he succeeded in freeing two unfortunate individuals, an American lawyer Brandon Mayfield and Adel Hamad, a Sudanese hospital administrator working in Pakistan. Both were falsely accused in the war on terror and both were caught up in the U.S. government's post-9/11 counter-terrorism measures. These measures, as declared by the Attorney General of the USA, was that citizens would now be stripped of their rights of due process, there would be no grand juries, no entitlement to a defence attorney, and the rule of law was to be chucked aside based solely on the word of the President of the USA.
   
   
   Mayfield and Hamad were sent to Guantánamo where they were interrogated and prevented from receiving proper legal counsel and representation. In the case of Mayfield, he was suspected of being involved with the Madrid train bombing. Apparently, the Spanish version of the investigation pointed to the lifting of a fingerprint labelled "latent print #17" from a bag of unexploded detonators that was discovered in a van. The Spaniards requested assistance through Interpol wherein the FBI intervened and they were one hundred percent certain that the fingerprint was that of Mayfield. However, as the story unfolds, we are informed that the Spaniards were not convinced of this positive identification and they had informed the FBI of their uneasiness in accepting these findings. In addition, Mayfield was the subject of racial profiling as his warrant mentioned that he was a Muslim and that one of his client's, whom he represented, was a "bad guy," who was also a Muslim. Both of which had nothing to do with anything other than denouncing someone due to his religion and denying representation to an alleged criminal who is rightfully entitled to a defence attorney.
   
   
   Hamad was arrested by Pakistani security police and taken from his apartment in Peshawar Pakistan at 1:30 in the morning in July of 2002. Hamad had left his native Sudan in 1986 for Pakistan where he was employed by an international Kuwaiti charity that operated camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan for refugees of the Afghan war with the Soviets. Eventually, Hamad left this job and took on employment with a Saudi-funded charity in Pakistan, the World Assembly for Muslim Youth (WAMY). Over the years he would return to Sudan for brief stays with his wife and children. His arrest and subsequent transfer to the Americans was all in collaboration with the US government that believed that Hamad was involved with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, although there was never any concrete evidence to prove these allegations.
   
   
   Wax is the Federal Public Defender for the District of Oregon and executive abuse of powers has always interested him particularly, as he states, when the police can stop us on the street, enter our homes, intercept our telephone calls or e-mails, or monitor our Internet use. Although there are "bad guys" around whom we need to incarcerate, we still must be vigilant in the protection of our freedom and civil rights. Wax has spent over the last six years fighting against the abuse and the US government's assault on civil liberties and the corrosive effect of fear.
   
   
   When Wax volunteered to participate in the Guantánamo cases, he had no idea if the clients assigned to his office would be terrorists or innocents. However, he did know that the rule of law was under siege and that the battle to defend the rule of law was of utmost importance.
   
   
   Initially Wax was not all that familiar with habeas corpus litigation and he was required to brush up on this extremely important aspect of the American legal system. For those don't know what Habeas Corpus means, it is simply "bring the body forward" and is a fundamental part of Anglo and American law. As Wax mentions and as stated by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, it is the most powerful tool in Anglo-American law for guarding against executive abuse, "allowing our independent judiciary to act as a critical check on the Executive, ensuring that it does not detail individuals except in accordance with the law."
   
   
   Unfortunately, daily news reports very rarely portray the injustices that have been committed at Guantánamo. This is not to say that there are some really appalling individuals that are imprisoned, however, on the other hand there are the innocent that are entitled to their day in court. What Wax does with this book is meticulously delve into the details of the abuses, presenting thoughtful insights into the shortcomings that must be addressed. He presents a great deal of information in a clear and concise manner, although at times he is prone to occasional bouts of too much legalese. Probably the best part of Wax's story is his objectivity in showing why and how abuse of executive power poses a danger to all of us. As he asserts, "do we need to give up freedom to maintain our security?"
   
   Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor Bookpleasures



4. Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror - A Public Defender's Inside Account
   
   A chilling reminder of what happens when we play loose with the Constitution and people's rights. Yes, even in America!



5. Everyone is entitled to a fair and just trial, even suspected terrorists, right? "Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror" takes a look at the state of civil liberties in this tumultuous time of the war on terror. Arguing that some of the measures that have been put in place in the call for justice in this post-9/11 world are in fact against what America's most treasured document the Bill of Rights in the name of false security, Wax paints a picture of several cases of justice that readers will find surprising to read. "Kafka Comes to America" is a grand and important must read for anyone questioning the protection of our civil liberties.

5 comments about Consent to Kill: A Thriller.

1. The story is predictable to a point. The novel very entertaining. If you know the character Mitch Rapp, you already know he will prevail. Unlike some other Rapp novels, his character is much more believable & human in this one. The international tale is nicely woven & written. There's a good little twist used to finish the story



2. Wow! This is our first novel by Vince Flynn that we have read - and it certainly won't be our last!
   
   What a find. Vince Flynn is a fantastic writer in this genre. Just with this book alone, we like him better than Tom Clancy. Flynn juggles action/adventure and political intrigue with aplomb. Not an easy feat.
   
   Mitch Rapp is a CIA operative that actually works outside the web of counter terrorism task forces, the ultimate assassin for the USA that takes care of dirty business that not even the president knows all about.
   
   This book shows that Vince Flynn can handle solid and numerous characters that are not the typical, but interesting and deep. The husband and wife team of assassins, the showing of their internal strife while on a mission, was a breath of fresh air in the literary world. Not often you see solid character writing like this for the bad guys. (You even start to feel for the bad guys.)
   
   We have just purchased 5 more books from this author, and will be reviewing them as soon as we can get to them. So many great writers and books out there!
   
   If you haven't discovered Vince Flynn yet, and you like espionage-type adventure novels that Hollywood would salivate to make, then you need to try this author out.



3. From John Howard Prin, author of Secret Keeping: Overcoming Hidden Habits and Addictions
   This is my first Vince Flynn book and it went well beyond my expectations. I found myself enjoying rebel-guy Mitch Rapp in the first couple hundred pages and the array of sleuthy characters and diverse international locations. It felt like a travelogue at times and a manual for professional assassins to follow, but with enough twists and surprises to pique my interest: like the French husband and wife assassin team and how their loving interaction sprinkled the narrative with real-life humanity.
   
   As I neared the end, I braced myself for what I thought would be a predictable bloody ending. Thankfully, it never came. Instead I felt real pathos for the tragedy to Mitch's wife and how the pregnancy of the French woman literally and figuratively birthed a change in Mitch, layering his internal dilemma with genuine humanity.
   
   CONSENT TO KILL packed enough pleasurable surprises to qualify as a fine genre novel.



4. America's hero CIA assassin Mitch Rapp along with CIA Director Irene Kennedy are unbeatable! They totally bypass the wimps in The Administration who are more concerned with pretenses than the reality of the war on terrorism. Namely the naive appeasers are Kennedy's new boss, Mark Ross, Director of National Intelligence as well as the Secretary of State and the Attorney General. The President doesn't wimp out. Basically the plot is about a Saudi Prince who puts out a $20 million contract to eliminate Rapp. Other Saudi royalty are also involved. The attempted murder is brokered by a former Stasi agent who comes up with a team of two fascinating killers who are recommended by a former KGB handler. The male/female team has a former member of the French Foreign Legion and his brilliant girlfriend. They nearly succeed in getting Rapp. Rapp recovers from serious wounds and dramatically gets rid of the bad guys. Tremendous,quick, gripping read even at 675 pages. I have enjoyed all books in this series. But think this one is the best.



5. My first Flynn novel, definitely not my last. Kept me turning pages (clicking on my Kindle) while family around me welcomed in my new grandaughter.

5 comments about The Ghost: A Novel.

1. The book was a quick and easy read. I needed a break from the serial killer genre and the 450+ page filler novels that seem all too prevalent today, and this book was a pleasant change. If you can stay away from making too many political inferences, you can enjoy the story for its own merit. Good pace, and the descriptive settings put you right there with the characters that Harris develops. A nice "surprise" ending ties everything together. Overall, I found it to be a crisp read, and a good way to spend a rainy afternoon.



2. Good vacation reading but not quite as rivetting as I'd expected. I was more than half way into it before the plot really began to be interesting. A good bundle of plot twists towards the end but I don't find that Robert Harris is able to hold the reader's interest as much as Lee Child, for example. I think Mr Harris should stick to the historical novel genre, where period detail helps make up for flat spots in the plot.



3. A ghostwriter, and narrator of this novel, is called on to write the memoirs of recent retired British Prime Minister, Adam Lang. However, he soon finds that the previous ghostwriter, who was in the process of writing Lang's memoirs, died in mysterious circumstances. To make matters even more complicated, while the ghostwriter is visiting the Langs in Martha's Vineyard, New England, to discuss the book, he (Lang) is accused of war crimes, by the International Court of Justice.
   
   I found this novel an enjoyable read. It is pretty obvious from the start, who Adam Lang, and his wife, Ruth are based on. This made the storyline that much more interesting, and there are few moments that nearly had me laughing out loud.
   
   There is, also, good plot to go along with the humourous bits, as the ghostwriter digs deeper into both Lang's background, and the previous ghostwriter's strange death. I found this book both thought provoking and a page turner.



4. Robert Harris' novels have always been well-written, well-researched and very exciting. But this one isn't. The story is implausible, the charcters wooden, and every scene is cliched. I have read all his other books and they have been superb, I can only hope that this one is a glitch, and that subsequent books will be back to his usual standard.



5. Having loved earlier books by Harris, I was really looking forward to this one. Alas, I should have heeded some of the reviews on this site!
   
   The plot is vague and improbable, Harris' politics and hatred of Tony Blair seem to trump everything else, and the ending was downright silly. (Think an alphabet agency everybody loves to hate.)
   
   I can only hope that he goes into a recovery program for his Blair Derangement Syndrome before he writes again.

5 comments about Assassin: A Novel.

1. I really enjoyed this follow up to Hawke. The adventure was great, and it wasn't trying too hard to be "bond-like" Highly recommended



2. This was the third Alexander Hawke book I've read (previously Spy and Pirate: A Thriller (Hawke)) and this was my favorite so far.
   
   I see the critics talk about how Hawke's larger than life persona has reached comic book status. I say pour on some more Mr. Bell!
   
   Bell brings a very plausible plot (terror, nukes, pox, etc.) togtether in an interesting international adventure story.
   
   I can hardly wait for the new book!
   
   Wish I could get a copy of "Hawke" the original book.



3. Ted Bell can really write. This series is exciting and somewhat scary. He's created a great heroic figure in Alex Hawke. The storyline is, hopefully, not out of tomorrow's headlines. We'd better start paying much more attention to the Islamic radical jihad against our Western way of life. Good book, but very scary in its implications and possibilities.



4. Mr. Bell certainly likes to see himself write. He could have cut out a hundred pages and still have too many. It was very difficult getting through the overuse of adjectives. I will not be reading any other Bell tomes.



5. As the second in the "Hawke" series, this novel fleshes out the lead character's history and back stories, as well as giving us more insight into the engaging cast of supporting characters. It's what really pulled me into the concept of these characters in an ongoing series, and hopefully, a feature film or two.
   
   Bell takes the reader to exotic locations worldwide and paints a detailed picture masterfully. He has an ability to maintain a proper build of suspense while switching back and forth between sub-plots that reminds me of my favorite Stephen King novel, The Stand.
   
   This is one of the best series in the international spy thriller genre ever written, and I can hardly wait to receive my copy of the upcoming release of the series' latest title - Tsar.

5 comments about Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal Their Global Plans to a Jew!.

1. I purchased this book after seeing a recommendation on [...], and was quite pleased.
   
   Klein presents his work in a witty, yet serious and incisive manner. It is a quick read, though at times I had a hard time following which terrorist was who and which group he was working for. However, I was captivated by the catchy titles ("Madonna, Britney Spears Stoned to Death? Life if the Terrorists Win" and "Terrorists go Ga-Ga over Hillary Clinton" were my personal favorites), and engaged by witticisms in the text.
   
   Behind the acerbic wit and clever turns of phrase, Klein brings out an important point concerning the Arab-Western conflict: These are not militants, but terrorists, and if given the opportunity, they will gladly subjugate and/or destroy us. He presents his findings with a refreshing directness that disregards political correctness.
   
   Schmoozing with Terrorists provides a much-needed report on the intentions and values of the Jihadists, who are more of a threat than the public at large give them credit for.



2. After reading the world's media and despairing at their slanted (if not biased/anitsemitic) view points for years it is refreshing to read a more honest reporting of what terrorists think. My only critisisms of the book are that it is too directed at an American audience - there are other people out there and that the editing/proof-reading is a little sloppy. I felt like getting out a red pen a few times. But still well worth a read. It is short and easy to read.



3. Try reading just a couple of pages from Aaron Klein's "Schmoozing With Terrorists," and you'll forget everything you've ever read in your morning paper or heard on the news about "peace negotiations" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. In some cases, the author risked his life to meet with and interview Palestinian terrorist leaders one-on-one. In those discussions, his terrorist subjects revealed the true intent behind the Palestinian Authority's meaningless, endless "peace negotiations" with Israel, and why those negotiations never (will) bear fruit. If you've ever wondered why nothing significant ever results from peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Aaron Klein's eye-opening work is a compelling read. (Note that Michael D. Sepesy's lone negative "review" of this title features an outright lie, in which he claims Klein "speaks with only three people for his book--not a significant sample." Nonsense.) This work - along with Caroline B. Glick's "Shacked Warrior" - is required reading for anyone who wants to go beyond the headlines to understand what's really at stake for Israel and the West.



4. I agree with the other reviewers that this book is an eye opening account of terrorists. However, if the Western media is soft on terrorists, this book goes the other way. A few things to keep in mind when reading it:
   
   1. The book deals almost exclusively with Palestinian terrorists. I don't remember any direct interviews with non-Palestinian groups.
   
   2. Israel can do no wrong. Never a comment on Jewish settlers in occupied territories (though perhaps it's just a "liberal media" claim that they are illegal) or Israeli political parties which push for annexation of the occupied territories in order to restore the full Biblical state of Israel. Palestinians apparently have no true complaint against Israel, Any problems must be caused by their own leaders and terrorists.
   
   3. He takes terrorist rants at face value since this lets him tie together a united world terrorist network with a goal of a global caliphate. He doesn't consider that this may be so much bravado rather than real ties. The reality of inter-Muslim conflicts in the Middle East (years long Iran/Iraq war, Syria/Lebanon, etc) are not considered, all terrorist are apparently united in the goal of a world Muslim Caliphate.
   
   4. The solution to the terrorist problem (given as lessons learned) is never give anything up, constantly attack the terrorists, and by implication never negotiate (because all Palestinian leaders are terrorists, at least all current ones).
   
   So treat the book as a description of terrorists, but don't look to it for information about the politics of the Middle East or a solution to the conflict.



5. I'm simply embarrassed for whoever wrote this book, and I'm embarrassed to have read it. The rampant grammatical and spelling errors alone would have ruined a thoughtful political dialogue, let alone this caliber of dreck.

3 comments about The Hidden History of 9-11.

1. This is an edited work, and I know the work of many of the authors. It is an essential reference, and has additional value for being an update.
   
   Just as we now know that the Warren Commission was a cover-up, and that JFK was murdered by Cuban exiles who used their CIA training and equipment (intended for Castro) to murder JFK and set up Oswald (see Someone Would Have Talked: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Conspiracy to Mislead History, we now also know that the 9-11 Commission was at best a grotesque combination of neophytes and compromised corrupt individuals, and at worst, a very deliberate red herring.
   
   APPENDIX: 16 Questions on the JFK Assassination by Bertrand Russell in this book is an extraordinary offering. His questions were asked prior to the Warren Commission, and represent the ease with which intelligent citizens can question their government and get at the truth.
   
   I strongly recommend this book, as well as the others listed below, in general order of preference. Use my reviews as executive summaries.
   
   9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Fourth Edition
   Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
   Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids
   Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil
   Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush
   Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq
   The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)
   The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (Blowback Trilogy)
   The Bush Tragedy
   
   I also recommend all the 9-11 DVDs, easily found by searching Amazon DVD for 9-11, but there are few that are not available on Amazon and are truly extraordinary.
   
   Finally, for the good news, see my briefings to Hackers on Planet Earth this past week, both at the Earth Intelligence Network site, and also the older briefings to Gnomedex and Amazon Developers Conference, via EIN at the EarthWiki. We the People are almost at a point where we can crush the government with truth--non-violent inescapable truth.



2. · AMAZON PRODUCE NUMBER:
   · ISBN-10: 158322825X / ISBN-13: 978-1583228258
   THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF 9-11 / July 29, 2008
   Edited by Paul Zarembka
   "
   FIVE STAR RATING BY REVIEWER JIM BARLOW
   
   Paul Zarembka is a professor of economics at the State University of New York at Buffalo. In his new book on the seminal events of September 11, 2001 and the ensuing "War On Terror." he has shown courage, skill and leadership in pulling together the careful research of many writers.
   
   This affordable book with its updates provides an understanding of why we should question the "official conspiracy" theory of what happened on September 11, 2001 and the resulting endless "war on terror" that has turned America into a police state.
   
   Especially pertinent is Diana Ralph's words on page 274 on the contrived Bush doctrine of Islamophobia. We need an enemy to replace the commies of the Cold War. When you understand that, you begin to understand the slant of the daily commercial news.
   
   On page 145, we read, "The Observer's chief reporter, Jason Burke concludes that: `al-Qaeda' is a messy and rough designation, often applied carelessly in the absence of a more useful term."
   
   This book should be on the reference shelf of every political scientist, journalist and anyone concerned about the disastrous path America is taking.
   
   INSIDE THE BOOK:
   
   · How much insider trading occurred in the days leading up to 9-11?
   · How compromised is the evidence against the hijackers?
   · Why were there no military interceptors?
   · To what extent does the testimony of more than five hundred firefighters differ from the official reports of what happened at the World Trade Center buildings that day?
   · How inseparably connected are Western covert operations to al-Qaeda?
   · How is Islamophobia used to sustain American imperialism?
   · What was the 9-11 Commission?
   
   With contributions from Nafeez Mossaddeq Ahmed, Four Arrows, David Ray Griffin, Jay Kolar, David MacGregor, Diana Ralph, Kevin Ryan, and Bryan Sacks, this path breaking work examines 9-11 and its background, showing how much remains unknown and where further investigation and debate is needed.
   
   -----
   CONTENTS
   PREFACE - Paul Zarembka
   SIXTEEN REASONS TO QUESTION THE OFFICIAL STORY ABOUT 9-11 - David Ray Griffin
   
   PART I: HIJACKERS - WHO WERE THEY?
   
   WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE ALLEGED 9-11 HIJACKERS - Jay Kovar
   
   PART II: THE MORNING OF 9-11
   
   INITIATION OF 9-11 OPERATIONS WITH EVIDENCE OF INSIDER TRADING BEFOREHAND - Paul Zarembka
   
   THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER: WHY THE OFFICIAL REPORT CANNOT BE TRUE - David Ray Griffin
   
   THE MILITARY DRILLS ON 9-11: "BIZARRE COINCIDENCE" OR SOMETHING ELSE? - Four Arrows (aka Don Trent Jacobs)
   
   PART III: THE CONTEXT OF 9-11 AND MEANING
   FOR THE FUTURE
   
   TERRORISM AND STATECRAFT: AL-QAEDA AND WESTERN COVERT OPERATIONS AFTER THE COLD WAR - Nafeez Mossaddeq Ahmed
   
   SEPTEMBER 11 AS "MACHIAVELLIAN STATE TERROR" - David MacGregor
   
   MAKING HISTORY: THE COMPROMISED 9-11 COMMISSION -
   Bryan Sacks
   
   ISLAMOPHOBIA AND THE "WAR ON TERROR": THE CONTINUING PRETEXT FOR U.S. IMPERIAL CONQUEST - Diana Ralph
   
   PART IV: UPDATES
   
   UPDATE: WHAT WE NOW KNOW ABOUT THE ALLEGED 9-11 HIJACKERS - Jay Kolar
   
   UPDATE: INITIATION OF THE 9-11 OPERATION, WITH EVIDENCE OF INSIDER TRADING BEFOREHAND - Paul Zarembka
   
   UPDATE: THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER: WHY THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT CANNOT BE TRUE - David Ray Griffin
   
   UPDATE: THE MILITARY DRILLS ON 9-11: "BIZARRE COINCIDENCE" OR SOMETHING ELSE? - Four Arrows (aka Don Trent Jacobs)
   
   UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 11 AS "MACHIAVELLIAN STATE TERROR" - David MacGregor
   
   A GOVERNMENT SCIENTIST SEES PHYSICS THAT DON'T EXIST -
   Kevin Ryan
   
   APPENDIX: 16 QUESTIONS ON THE JFK ASSASSINATION - Bertrand Russell
   ------
   
   373 pages, with extensive notes, author index and subject index.
   
   
   SEVEN STORIES PRESS
   WWW.SEVENSTORIES.COM
   ISBN-978-1-58332-825-8
   
   
   This book is a good beginning for the curious and concerned. Page xiii has a few of the recommended sites for additional information. To this list should be added http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/fiveisraelis.html, Barrie Zwicker's book, "Towers of Deception - The Media Cover-Up of 9/11" and Greg Felton's book, "The Host and The Parasite."
   
   
   Highly Recommended By The Salmon Valley Observer
   Jim Barlow, Editor
   salmonvalley@att.net



3. THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF 9-11, edited by Paul Zarembka, professor of economics at SUNY Buffalo, is a revised and updated second edition of an important early contribution to the growing scholarly analysis of 9/11. The first, hardback edition is so expensive that few have been able to read the book until now, so its entire content will be new to virtually everyone. It presents detailed analyses by academics of the official account of what happened on that day, highlighting innumerable serious problems that demonstrate that the official story is clearly false. The book contains three contributions from David Ray Griffin, and one each from Kevin Ryan and Nafeez Ahmed, all well-known to seekers of 9/11 truth. In addition it presents worthy contributions from Zarembka himself, Jay Kolar, Don Jacobs, David MacGregor, Bryan Sacks and Diana Ralph.
   
   "Part I: Hijackers - Who Were They?" consists of one article, "What We Now Know About the Alleged 9-11 Hijackers" by Jay Kolar, a film scholar who brings his expertise to bear on the photo and video evidence presented by the US government to substantiate its account. He finds numerous serious problems with the video evidence for the hijackers purportedly taken at airport boarding gates by security cameras, concluding that "no evidence exists that any of the `hijackers' ever boarded planes that crashed on 9-11" (p.9). He concludes that the "confessional" video of "Osama bin Laden" taking responsibility for the attacks is a forgery (p.10). He then provides a detailed analysis of the FBI's identification of the hijackers, pointing out that at least ten of the 19 men on the official list of hijackers were alive four years after 9/11, and that contradictions in the official account of their activities prior to the attacks show that "doubles" were used to build up false "legends" for them.
   
   "Part II - The Morning of 9-11" consists of three articles. The first, by Zarembka, "Initiation of the 9-11 Operation", looks at the evidence for actual takeoff and hijacking of each flight, concluding that all flights did indeed depart from the claimed airports and were indeed diverted from their planned flight paths. He then usefully explores three different methods by which planes could have been flown into the WTC towers and (allegedly) the Pentagon, by suicide pilots, by remote control ("homing"), and by substitution of drones for the claimed airliners. Finally, Zarembka analyzes the evidence for insider trading in the stocks of United and American airlines during the week before the attacks (the "put options"), concluding that the 9/11 Commission's dismissal of this possibility is unconvincing.
   
   In "The Destruction of the World Trade Center," David Ray Griffin, emeritus professor of philosophy of religion and theology at Claremont, provides a detailed summary of the wide array of physical and eye-witness evidence for controlled demolition of the the Twin Towers and Building 7. After establishing that no steel-framed skyscrapers had ever collapsed due to fire before 9/11, he surveys the multiple evidence for controlled demolition of the WTC buildings, including: the sudden onset of collapse; the straight-down fall of the buildings (these giant towers did not topple over, but fell vertically into their "footprints"); the almost free-fall speed of the collapses, a physical impossibility unless the steel support columns had lost integrity throughout their length (hard to explain by fires restricted to a few upper floors); the total collapse, involving all of the interior and exterior columns, despite the fact that the planes which struck the two towers would have damaged just a few columns (and of course, WTC 7 was not struck by any plane); the sliced steel from the columns, into sections short enough to be trucked away; pulverization of concrete and other materials, with massive dust production and huge dust clouds energetically ejecting outward (a physical process requiring vastly more energy than was available from gravity alone); horizontal ejections of huge steel beams outward for hundreds of feet; demolition rings (i.e., continuous series of explosions running rapidly around a building) and associated explosive sounds witnessed by many first responders; and large pools of molten metal in the subbasements of each building for weeks afterward. Griffin provides testimony from the oral histories collected by the Fire Department of New York from first responders to substantiate each type of indicator of controlled demolition. The chapter concludes with a succinct survey of the collapse of Building 7 (never even mentioned by the 9/11 Commission), in an obvious classic controlled demolition. This article provides the best overview available of the physical evidence for demolition of the three WTC buildings.
   
   In "The Military Drills on 9-11", Don Jacobs (a.k.a. "Four Arrows"), professor at Fielding Graduate University, surveys the evidence concerning an array of military exercises that were in operation on 9/11, which could have provided cover for the attacks by confusing air defense personnel, so that the normal response to intercept the planes in the flight emergencies could not occur (perhaps rendering a "stand down" order unnecessary). He identifies the following drills in operation that day: Vigilant Guardian, Vigilant Warrior, Northern Vigilance, Northern Guardian, Tripod II, Amalgam Virgo, Timely Alert II, and an exercise at the National Reconnaissance Office simulating the crash of a plane into the NRO headquarters building. He shows that there has been a "big hush" about the exercises, with little official information about them made available (almost no mention of any of them is made by the 9/11 Commission, of course), and that the potential impact of the drills on normal air defense procedures was likely to have been highly significant and deleterious. Jacobs then argues that Dick Cheney was ultimately in charge of the military drills in operation on 9/11.
   
   "Part III: The Context of 9-11 and Meaning for the Future" contains four articles surveying the deep background and broader implications of the attacks. In "Terrorism and Statecraft: Al-Qaeda and Western Covert Operations after the Cold War" Nafeez Ahmed, executive director of the Institute for Policy Research and Development (London), lays out a detailed critique of mainstream analyses of the origin and nature of Al Qaeda. Ahmed argues that Al Qaeda is not a centralized organization, but rather a "database of pseudo-Islamist covert operations" created by the CIA to manage the "covert destabilization ... in new theatres of operation strategically close to Russian and Chinese influence, namely Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Central Asia" (p. 146). "Al-Qaeda is therefore a euphemism for Western covert operations specializing in destabilization" (p. 155). After detailing the secret history of this strategic "destabilization" in Central Asia and the Balkans, as well as in North Africa, Ahmed then examines the official account of the "Al Qaeda hijackers" on 9/11, critiquing the evidence presented by the US government for the identities of the hijackers and their purported fundamentalist Islamism, and highlighting their prior ties to US covert operations and military training.
   
   In "September 11 as `Machiavellian State Terror'", David MacGregor, professor of sociology at King's University College, presents a theory of "Machiavellian state terrorism" (MST) as the basis of a leftist analysis of the events of 9/11. He defines MST as "terror/assassination performed for reasons different from the publicized ones; often initiated by persons or groups other than those suspected of the act; and ... secretly perpetrated by or on behalf of the violated state itself" (p. 184). On this basis he is able to provide a sorely-needed critique of the lame response to the 9/11 attacks by the established "Left" in the US, represented by Noam Chomsky and progressive organs like Z Magazine (and their many fellow-travelers), who accept the official story and view the attacks as "blowback" for US imperial policy. After presenting a detailed historical overview of recent acts of state terrorism in Europe (mostly sponsored by the covert arms of the US government) and Canada, MacGregor concludes that "The left embraces a distorted notion of political violence that sees it as an understandable response of the weak to provocations of the powerful. Yet ... acts of terror are vulnerable to manipulation, and far more likely to be a weapon of state rulers and their agents, than [of] the oppressed masses. As a legitimized protection racket, the state may be tempted to inflict harm secretly on its own citizens ... to achieve ... highly desired goals" (p. 209).
   
   In "Making History: the Compromised 9-11 Commission", Bryan Sacks, adjunct professor of philosophy at Drexel University, demonstrates in detail that the 9/11 Commission was both structurally and procedurally "compromised" from its inception, as required to guarantee a thorough whitewash of the US government's role in the 9/11 attacks. He surveys the evidence of severe "conflicts of interest" of principal members of the Commission, including its director Philip Zelikow, its vice-chair Lee Hamilton, commissioner Jamie Gorelick, and staffer Dietrich Snell. He then provides a useful overview of the suppression and obfuscation of evidence in the 9/11 Commission Report. He concludes that the Commission has produced a thoroughly false "history" of the events in order to establish and maintain ideological hegemony over all thought about them.
   
   In "Islamophobia and the "War on Terror: the Continuing Pretext for U.S. Imperial Conquest", Diana Ralph, associate professor of social work at Carleton University, provides a succinct and useful survey of the evidence for the long preparation by US planners of a battle against "terrorism" to provide a pretext to seize world oil supplies and, with them, "world control". Since these supplies lie largely in Muslim nations, "terrorism" has been equated with "Islamism". Key figures in this ideological move away from "Communism" as the enemy to "terrorism" have been Dick Cheney in the US and Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
   
   Two years have elapsed since the publication of the first edition, providing the opportunity for the authors of several of the articles to update them with new facts and analyses. "Part IV: Updates" (pp. 291-347) consists of new material and further reflections on their subjects by Zarembka, Kolar, Griffin, Jacobs and MacGregor. In addition, Kevin Ryan has provided a fine and gracefully written critique, "A Government Scientist Sees Physics that Doesn't Exist." It is a response to an extraordinarily weak series of articles purporting to explain the collapse of WTC 7 due to fire and damage by falling debris from the Twin Towers, by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employee, Manuel Garcia, which had appeared at the CounterPunch website, home to many irrational diatribes by "leftist" Alexander Cockburn against the very notion of criticism of the official story of 9/11.
   
   THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF 9-11 is an excellent book, which provides an in-depth examination of key aspects of the events and their context. At its new low price, and with its updates, the book is now a key resource for all seekers of the truth about 9/11.

5 comments about Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush.

1. This book is a well researched and documented examination of the excesses of the Bush/Cheney presidency and how this came to be. In the book, Dean looks at the issues of secrecy within the White House, lying and dirty tricks. And, if there is anyone, anywhere who knows more about this subject I would love to see who they are.
   
   Dean does a wonderful job of comparing and contrasting the current regime with the Nixon presidency and writes in a clear, concise and easy to read manner. I look forward to reading his other 2 books, as to learn more about what has gone wrong with the current Republican Party.
   
   This is a must read for any American who wants to see this country remain free!



2. Worse Than Watergate by John Dean is worth reading just because of the title and who he is. John Dean, counsel to the Nixon White House, says that the Bush/Cheney White House is "worse than Watergate" -- that is like Jesse Ventura calling someone an obnoxious loudmouth! The book was published in 2004, ahead of the presidential election, so by the time I found it on the bargain table, it was somewhat dated. However, Bush/Cheney are STILL in power, and while the country has largely turned against them because of the war in Iraq and the slumping economy, Dean's real case against them describes the more subtle ways that the Bush II administration has weakened our democracy.
   
   The main beef that Dean has with Bush and Cheney is their secrecy. True, this is definitely a politically motivated treatise written by neither a scholar nor journalist, but it is also true that Dean has researched his topic well and that he has some first-hand experience in the matter of damage caused by a secretive executive branch. Worse Than Watergate is not going to sway Bush supporters -- if they haven't lost their confidence in his leadership by now, they are never going to budge. But, Dean has an interesting perspective, and if you are capable of separating the facts from the commentary, this short book is definitely worth the read.



3. This book is a bit dated as it was originally written before the 2004 elections but it has been updated a bit past that point so it still has relevancy today. Any impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney and their minions should use this book for talking points. Mr. Dean points out all the horrific and illegal things this White House has done that are far and above what President Nixon ever did. It also makes the "impeachment" of Bill Clinton look even sillier than the total farce it was. These two (and others in the administration) should be in jail.



4. While the book is old (written prior to the 2004 election) and politics tends to change very rapidly, there is still quite a lot of relevant information. Dean dissects the Bush regime and compares it to Nixon's. He points out what Nixon did wrong and how Bush is following the same path. He does so in an intellectual manner and doesn't resort to Bush bashing or name calling like some books I have read. All of Deans points are well thought out and backed with evidence from sources from across the political spectrum. Overall, even though this is an old book, it is still a very good and worthwhile read.



5. I've read most of John Dean's books and enjoy them. This was a good book, very interesting and informative about the evil tenure of Bush/Cheney. I'm sure it's dead on with what went on behind the scenes and how we got into the sorry mess of a country that we are today largely due to these 2 idiots.

3 comments about An Introduction to Jainism.

1. This book is very unique in the world of books on Jainism. My experience has been that most books presume you already have a great deal of understanding of Jainism before you start reading them or that you are very religious. While this book is most likely informative for those readers , I do not fall under those categories. This book taught me what Jainism is about without telling me what rituals I must follow and without preaching to me about my shortcomings as a Jain. it is very simply written and really teaches the reader about all aspects of the religion, including interesting stories about its development. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about Jainism.



2. Having been reluctant to learn about Jainism my entire life, this book showed me that a book does not have to be boring just because it's about religion. I really like the author's writing style and his simple approach to explaining what I always thought were complicated tenets. I highly recommend this book.



3. This is an excellent and practical introduction to Jainism especially for young Jains born in the countries other than India. Dr. Shah has emphasized the practice part of Jainism rather than theories. He has covered all the major practices practiced by lay Jains today in India in their daily life. He has kept the discussion at the level that is logically acceptable by a lay person or the one who has no roots in Jainism.