No comments about Trauma Culture: The Politics of Terror and Loss in Media and Literature.

2 comments about How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan.

1. I cannot second-guess the author's findings based on his extraordinary direct research, but I do question some of what he was told (Madeline Albright, for example, misled this author), and I also have some issues with how the book's findings over-state, under-state, and ignore other credible sources I have reviewed here at Amazon.
   
   Up front, seven excellent insights from this book:
   
   1. The U.S. in the 1990's had no idea that Information Operations (IO) was going to be important, and that the dissemination of deadly knowledge (e.g. from the Afghanistan wars, on how to create Improvised Explosive Devices, etcetera) was going to become a global threat. Tracking "dangerous knowledge" has now become one of my top "indicator & warning" elements. See my review of Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography
   
   2. Small wars cannot be ignored, power vacuums cannot be allowed or they will be filled negatively. Non-state actors can hijack a state and we need to notice when they do. It is at this point I begin to feel the author is over-stating Bin Laden's reach, especially when compared to criminal states around the world. See my review of Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy.
   
   3. Successive administrations, from Bush Senior to Clinton to Bush Jr, had no clue about the importance of the "cultural roots" that Bin Laden was spreading with his financing of madrasses across Afghanistan (it is at this point I grow concerned that the author is ignoring the Saudi government's financing of both Bin Laden and the madrasses all over the world and especially in Indonesia). I have scheduled a book on CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE: Beliefs, Faiths, Ideologies, and the Five Minds for 2009. This is clearly an area where the US Intelligence Community and the foreign policy/national communities know nothing.
   
   4. If journalists are not on the scene in every clime and place, then it is easier for the US Government to ignore problems that will inevitably ignore borders and come home to America. See A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility--Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. The author ignores the fact that with the exception of The Atlantic Monthly, the New Yorker, and the Boston Globe, virtually every newspaper and journal is a paid huckster for their corporate owners.
   
   5. IMPORTANT: Administration must not only HAVE a grand strategy, but within that strategy must craft BOTH a domestic message for the US public and an inter-agency foreign policy campaign plan for achieving OUTCOMES, not just "messages." This was the book's strongest point.
   
   6. American indifference reinforces instability enablers and formentors. I know for a fact that Madeline Albright repressed INR reporting on terrorism becoming a real problem. She chose to accept Iran's attack on Khobar Towers and the Al Qaeda attacks on two embassies and the USS Cole as "acceptable losses." That alone disqualifies her from advising Hillary Clinton on anything.
   
   7. UN and UN negotiated for the Soviet pull-out but not for a stable follow-on regime. Deja vu in Iraq. Over-all the author does an excellent job of depicting a generally blase, sometimes naive, and often inattentive US foreign policy establishment across all three administrations. See my review of Running The World: the Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power for a sense of the clowns our Presidents tend to appoint for lack of a stronger TRANSPARTISAN bench.
   
   Without regard to how the author may have been led by those telling their story as they would have it come out, there are a number of "dots" that I found worthy of note:
   
   + Bin Laden is reported to have forecast Iraq's attack on Kuwait and eventually on Saudi Arabia.
   
   + Over-emphasis on Bin Laden's anti-Americanism and I have noted, "a hit job of Clarke and Scheuer." It was the US keeping bases in Saudi Arabia that set Bin Laden off, together with the Saudi refusal to allow him to attack Hussein directly.
   
   + US reliance on Pakistan and failing to deal direct with the Afghan regimes and principal tribes was a fatal error
   
   + Author avoids any mention of the fact that it was the Saudi regime that funded Bin Laden and global spread of virulent Wahabbism from 1988 onwards.
   
   + Although Cheney appears in the Index several times, the book and the author, rather astonishingly, fail to to report:
   
   - Cheney was given the mandate for terrorism from day one under Bush Junior, and it was Cheney who first, failed to take terrorism seriously, and then allowed it happen in order to justify an invasion of Iraq. See, among MANY other books, 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, Fourth Edition among many other works.
   
   - Both the Clinton and Bush Junior Administrations were actively negotiating with the Taliban over oil and natural gas pipelines. See Crossing the Rubicon, The Long Emergency, and many other works along these lines.
   
   + Senator Jesse Helms not only destroyed the US Information Agency, the only US agency with a clue on foreign cultures and belief systems, but he also castrated the Agency for International Development (AID) at precisely the time it was most needed.
   
   + Karzai flagged the Taliban as a group worthy of supporting.
   
   + US Intelligence had astronomical sums for "getting" Bin Laden but almost nothing for fostering stabilization and reconstruction in Afghanistan, including support to nationalists like Moussaud.
   
   + In 1999 Pakistan and Iran cut a deal--THAT IS THE SECOND STORY WE MISSED. [We know have a great deal of reporting in the open on Iranian funding of Pakistani nuclear program, and in my view, likelihood that the quid pro quo was an Islamic nuclear warhead for the Russian Sunburn missiles (carrier killers, 3.0 mach straight, 2.2 mach zig-zag).
   
   + The author is naive or poorly informed or duplicitous in his stating that Bin Laden was outraged at the illegitimate Arab rules, stating it in such as way as to question Bin Laden's sanity. Michael Scheur and I are agreed on this point: Bin Laden has had good cause to condemn US presence in the Middle East. See my review of Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025 as well as Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror.
   
   + He reminds us that Ambassador Bill Richardson accomplished nothing in his mission to Afghanistan.
   
   + He reminds us that Khalizad, the darling of Bush Juniors regime, was part of the problem within the Clinton Administration.
   
   + He tells a very good story over-all of how conflicted the Department of State was in on the one hand, considering the Taliban not bad over all (what does not come out is the oil and gas deals in the background) and their record on human rights, which included mass murders and atrocities against women and children.
   
   + The THIRD BIG STORY WE MISSED was the Arabization of the Taliban, to include their changing to the Arabic calendar, the Arabization of libraries (which is to say the burning of most books), and the destruction of Hindu and other religious antiquities, something Pakistan tried to stop. This is new to me, I have not seen reference to it before, and I consider Bin Laden's influence over the Taliban to be seriously over-stated, but I accept this as useful perspective and certainly a good example of how the US simply does not "do" cultural intelligence.
   
   The book ends with a focused chronology (focused instead of incomplete--the author did not set out to do a global review on this missed story, one is still needed) and a generally good index.
   
   I put this book down thinking once again how desperately we need a private sector or public ABLE DANGER able to connect all the dots across all the books. I have tried for years to get Jeff Bezos to realize he can monetize micro-text for micro-cash and also sense-making across literatures, but he is in denial on World Brain possibilities, at least for now.
   
   This is a solid four-star book, certainly worthy of buying and reading if you are responsible for South Asia, Central Asia, terrorism, or understanding why US foreign and national security policy continue to be managed by cronies with little deep knowledge of the real world and no holistic strategic model for addressing threats, policies, and state and non-state partners in a coherent sustainable manner.
   
   My final three links:
   Preparing America's Foreign Policy for the 21st Century
   Security Studies for the 21st Century
   The Search for Security: A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century



2. John F. Kennedy famously observed that "Success has a thousand fathers, but failure is an orphan." Roy Gutman demonstrates that JFK had it backwards.
   
   Many of us are old enough to remember the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. We're old enough too to remember the Reagan years when plucky bands of raggamuffin fighters, supplied with weapons by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, drove the world's most feared fighting force, the Red Army, out of their homeland and back across the "Friendship Bridge" from whence they'd come. Back then, new words enriched our vocabulary. We spoke of "Mujaheddin" as men of courage and considered their "Jihad" as righteous and good. And even if you don't remember this, even if your only exposure to these events is that you saw "Charlie Wilson's War" down at the local Multi-plex Movie House, it's hard to consider the history of Afghanistan in the 80s and conclude that our involvment there made us anything other than comrades in arms with the Mujaheddin, and friends of the Afghan people.
   
   So explain to me how 9/11 happened?
   
   This is the job that Roy Gutman undertakes in "How We Missed the Story."
   
   From page to page you are reminded of vaguely familiar events and long-forgotten names from the war years and you think, retrospectively, how so little effort on our part was needed to break the chain of events that led to 9/11. So why didn't we do it?
   
   Was it an intelligence failure? Sure. The CIA dropped the ball. Was it a political failure? Absolutely. The Clinton Administration was so mesmerized by the notion of the "Peace Dividend" that they quit paying attention to what was going on in distant lands with hard-to-pronouce names. But there is another group of people who should have done better but let us down as well: Journalists. The result of these myriad failures and oversights was that Osama bin Laden hijacked the Afghan government, unnoticed and without challenge.
   
   Gutman explains the message of his book in this way:
   
   "...The message is that in the world we live in, insularity will get us in trouble. Journalists who think inside the box drawn by government -- and who don't go where they aren't wanted -- are bound to miss the story and lose their franchise; government which ignores its primary function of assuring the country's security will open the way to calamity; and government which operates blindly, without reference to facts on the ground -- as journalists should be providing -- will only make bad problems a good deal worse..."
   
   So, why should you read this book? Let me offer two reasons:
   
   The first comes from something my professors taught me in engineering school. We learn best not from our successes but from our faiures. It's only because the bridge fell down, or the train went off the rails, or truck crashed or the wing broke off that we leared to build stronger, better, faster, taller and lighter things. Afghanistan represents a failure, but one we can learn from if we take the time and make the effort to learn what went wrong.
   
   The second reason comes from something the late New York Times Science Reporter, James Gleick, wrote in his wonderful book, "Chaos." In there he coined the phrase "The Butterfly Effect" to describe the notion of how a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon River basin could set off a cascade of meteorological events culminating in a tornado sweeping through Kansas.
   
   Long-range weather forecasting, said Gleick, can never happen because there are not enough reporting stations to know about every rising air current or gust of wind. And yet there are enough reports, from various sources - professional and amateur - so that we have sufficient information to accurately predict blizzards, tornadoes and hurricanes and to give adequate warning to those in the path of harm.
   
   Today we live in a world where a meeting of a few men on a snowy mountain-top in the Hindu Kush, or in a dusty village in the Horn of Africa, or a in crowded city in South Asia can cause a cascade of events that result in the death of thousands, continents away. We need sufficient reporting stations to predict and prepare for this kind of trouble as well.
   
   So from where do we need reports? Gutman suggests that the best place to look for trouble is in the places where goverments either restrict reporters activities or deny journalists access completely. We need to know more about what's happening in places like Somalia, or Burma, or the Congo, or, maybe, the failed-state Central Asian Republics of the former Soviet Union. Just like weather data, some information can come from satellites, some from government employees stationed at embassies around the world, but maybe the best source is from the legion of journalists combing the globe for a good story to tell.
   
   It is a cliche to say, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." But it is the phrase's self-evident truthfulness that makes it trite. You should read this book to remind yourself there's a price to be paid for letting down your guard in a troubled world.

5 comments about The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis.

1. Daniel's review is spot on. Jafarzadeh and the NCRI are not to be trusted by anyone. If you take a cursory look into the Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK), you will see that they are little more than Marxist cultists devoted to the idiotic notion that the two incompetents named Masoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi will someday take over leadership of Iran (some of their imbecile members have even immolated themselves in protest at the mere detention of their leaders). Furthermore, they are TERRORISTS as defined by the United States, Canada and the EU, putting them is the same category as Hezbollah and Hamas. It is interesting that this book is even permitted to be sold since it is written by someone affiliated with a terrorist organization.
   
   Jafarzadeh is an MEK mouthpiece whose ONLY interest is the promotion of his group to power in a regime change situation in Iran. Like Daniel said, he is an Ahmad Chalabi (Though I daresay that Ahmad Chalabi and his cronies would likely be more competent administrators than the cultists of the MEK). This is the most important thing to remember though: Jafarzadeh and the MEK have virtually zero support amongst Iranians ever since they fought alongside the Iraqis in the Iran-Iraq war and killed Iranian soldiers. People who are knowledgeable about Iran know that Iranians are a very nationalistic bunch, and they will never forgive the MEK's despicable treachery. I suspect that Americans would feel the same way if a group of their compatriots had fought with the North Koreans during the Korean War and were responsible for killing American soldiers.
   
   I am no fan of the current regime in Iran, or Ahmadinejad, but if arm chair generals advocating war with Iran are stupid enough to believe Jafarzadeh's and the MEK's exaggerations, they will see that it will result in disaster for the US, Iran and the world at large. This is a dangerous book.



2. This book is one of the best book about nuclear crisis in Iran.
   I told all my Iranian and American friends to read this book.
   Mr. jafarzadeh is one of the best terrorit expert and brought Iran's nuclear program to the world Attention in 2002.



3. The book clearly shows how the mullas in Iran try to dominate all the region specially Islamic countries like Iraq, Libnon and Palestion. It explains if this regime won't replaced with a democratic regime, the world will have a dark future.



4. The Iran Threat by Alireza Jafarzadeh offers an extensive political history of modern Iran with a special emphasis on why it poses a threat to the Western world. In particular, this book offers detailed information on Iran's uranium enrichment activities and a deluge of facts corroborating why Iran's activites are surely not for peaceful purposes. This book also details the structure of the government of Iran, a brief history of the Iranian Revolution and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's professed infatuation with the ideals of the Iranian Revolution. In terms of presenting a large amount of facts against Iran, there is much value to gain in reading this book.
   
   This book is written by the very terrorism expert who blew the whistle on Iran's underground uranium enrichment program back in 2002. The author is an Iranian exile, a Middle Eastern affairs analyst and a Fox News Foreign Affairs Analyst. He is also the president of Strategic Policy Consulting Inc. in Washington D.C. and is also the former media director for the Washington D.C. office of the parliament-in-exile, the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI). This guy is probably one of the foremost experts on what is happening in Iran.
   
   The author details many important points regarding the Islamic Republic including:
   * The Iranian Revolution of 1979 and how Ayatollah Khomeini converted Iran into a brutally fanatical theocracy.
   * Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's shadowy rise to power, his regular meetings with Ayatollah Khomeini as a student and his connection with the student organization that helped orchestrate the 1979 hostage crisis.
   * The oppressive, anti-Western reforms of the Ahmadinejad regime.
   * The stated radical and globally ambitious ideology of the Iranian mullahs.
   * Iran's role in the Iraqi insurgency.
   * The history and present capability of Iran's Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Nuclear Weapons Capability.
   * The extensive measures Iran has made to defend their underground enrichment facilities (e.g., spreading them out, placing them deep underground, strategically positioning anti-aircraft technology).
   
   Jafarzadeh also offers his opinion on what policy actions should be taken against Iran. Despite making a few decent observations. Jafarzadeh does identify that the current theocratic regime must go and that it is "beyond negotiation". He promotes "regime change", specifically meaning handing over the keys of Iran to the NCRI. According to their platform on their website, the NCRI stands for the separation of Church and State, capitalism, private investment, human and minority rights, free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and democratic elections. This sounds like a considerable improvement over the current Iranian regime. However, the NCRI's leadership is intertwined with that of the militant group MEK, which has several cultish/irrational aspects. Thus, Jafarzadeh's proposed solution seems unfortunately more pragmatic than principled.
   
   Another significant concern of mine is that, although this work is dense with citations, the author often attributes vital information to "his sources", which makes it difficult to accept this information as truth. However, we also must recognize the reality of the author's situation, as he is probably not able to safely reveal all of his sources at the time of his writing. These vague attributions are not too frequent, and when they are made, the allegations are consistent with the overall character of the Iranian regime. As a whole, I think the factual content of this book is pretty sound.
   
   In summary, I highly recommend this book for its factual content, especially to those with strong interests in foreign policy who are seeking a deeper understanding of the threat that Iran poses.



5. This is a spirited, urgent and sage call for sanity in approaching the emerging Iran problem from a Fox News Middle East analyst, and ex-patriot. While not always the most balanced of renditions, the author's background makes him well positioned to have a firm grasp on the meaning of the history of the region, a sordid history that he clearly believes has led to the present international crisis over Iran's emerging nuclear capability. And while he speaks from the platform offered up to him by the hard right end of the U.S. political spectrum, he is by no means just a "parrot" of the Fox News party line.
   
   His main points are all well-developed and worth serious reflection. They are that: (1) the larger threat, the unanticipated rise of an undemocratic Islamic revolution with Iran emerging as the regional hegemon, is in the main a U.S creation; (2) far from restoring stability to the region, invading Iraq, has actually tipped the balance of power in the direction of the radical and reactionary Mullahs; (3) sitting on its enormous oil reserves (and away from the limelight of the American media) Iran, unlike the U.S. and Israel, has been busy building enduring international economic alliances with the emerging powers of Asia; in particular real politics with with Russia, China, and India are likely to bear fruit; (4) U.S. short-sighted policies in the region, have come back to haunt us, long-term -- now boxing us and our erstwhile ally, Israel, as well as the moderate forces within Iran, into a narrow set of unpalatable and ultimately self-defeating options; and (5) that while pre-emptively taking out Iran's embryonic nuclear program seems to be the only robust (but not entirely sensible) option remaining for the U.S. or for Israel, it is far from cost free, but is one likely to end in an international debacle of the likes of the fiasco in Iraq; (6) however, allowing Iran to develop its nuclear weapons, is even a far worse option; and (7) that whatever happens, time and the forces of history seem to be on Iran's side.
   
   The author makes no bones about identifying the ultimate sources of the current crisis as the long term damaging effects of the CIA overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran, that of Mossadeq, and the fact that the international community "winked" at the development of Israel's own nuclear weapons, resulting in a dramatic increase in insecurity in the region and a failure to develop a nuclear weapons free zone that may have been able to stem the tide of nuclear weapons' development in the Middle East.
   
   He carefully points out that it was the overthrow of that Mossadeq government that led to our support of the hero of the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Allatollah Khominei, the same hero that we had to later denounce, and who later also denounced us as "the Great Satan," and who is now responsible for the current very unpopular regime that is on the verge of testing its first nuclear weapon.
   
   Although ambivalent about what will and will not work -- all options have serious "down sides" -- the author still, if only instinctively opts for a non-confrontational approach. As part of the conclusions, State Department Arms control Czar, Robert G. Joseph's seven reasons why Iran should not be allowed to develop the bomb are quoted, but Joseph too offers only anemic suggestions on what to do.
   
   There is a great deal here to chew on, much insider history on the ebbing-and-flowing on internal Iranian politics and the book is well documented enough to serve as not only food for thought for the casual reader, but also as good reference material for experts doing research on nuclear weapons issues in the region.
   
   Four stars

No comments about Terrorism in Context.

4 comments about In Defense of America.

1. This is NOT a book that defends America. It is merely a somewhat more moderated version of the typical anti-American rant. The author has "advice," for America, ie, what we can do to be better liked abroad. Gee, thanks! Why didn't you put that in the title and I could have saved my money and passed on this boring same-old, same-old European view of America. Why not a book giving Europeans advise on how they can be better liked by America? I resent this author titling her book in a manner that dishonestly makes it appeal to Americans, while it is really an APOLGY for America. Funny, I don't recall doing anything I need to apologize to Europe for. I sort of thought that after two world wars and protecting them in the cold war, a "Thank you," from Europe would be nice, but that would be too much to ask for, of course! I would not want to inconvenience their tea time or WHINE sipping, after all. If you can say ENVY, you already know all you need to about European attitudes. They were all, at different times, great super powers of their age! No more. Imagine how you would feel about a nation, ie, the United States, that now held that title. Many European nations are on the verge of slipping into third world status with crumbling economies and huge governments that tax their people into economic slavery. How would YOU like to spend half your working life paying your taxes? No wonder they resent America! What they should be doing is making changes themselves, instead of following the pointless hope that if they can just somehow knock down America by an inch, they will magically grow themselves by the same amount.
   
   Joseph M. Vottis



2. This book is tagged as "conservative," but it is actually written from a left-of center standpoint. There are criticisms to America on virtually every page of the book, with very little "defense." From the chapter titles alone, the U.S. is called "unloved," "loathed," "stupid," "arrogant," and in need of "helping itself."
   Ms. Maddox tells us that our reaction to 9/11 is way out of proportion and that the war on terror is ill-conceived. I guess we're supposed to just sit and cower in some corner?
   Anyway, I gave the book three stars because is actually is quite readable and interesting (even if I had to fight the urge to throw the book across the room on several occastions). It's always good be educated about the thoughts of those opposite from yourself.
   Just don't order it thinking that it will be a rare balm for a battered American spirit. Of course, if you are one of the new breed of self-flagellating Americans, this may rate among one of your favorite books!



3. Shame on the author; hey, be honest about what you mean by the title. Is this a psychological trick?
   dc



4. I learned only one thing by reading this--do not pick a random, interesting book out of Barnes and Noble and expect it to be worth your precious time and hard-earned money. This shelf clogger is redundant beyong belief, repeating every premise and point of evidence several times. Bronwen could have easily written the same thing more clearly and effectively in a three page article in The Economist--meaning that the book's lucid purpose is to trick suckers like me into parting with their $14. Well Bronwen, I hope you got to eat a really nice lunch, a personal thanks and apology would be much appreciated.
   
   After spending my summer in France, however, where I couldn't talk to a single person without them lecturing me on the failings of Iraq and American monolingualism, this book came as a serious breath of air, and I can't agree at all that it is inherently critical of America. If the book had been a three-page Economist article, it would have been a very good one. It's nice to know that we do still have allies abroad who understand the issues we're confronted with and the extent of irrational bias we face.
   
   So I came away from the book not so much disliking Bronwen, but more just wishing she would apologize for wasting my time and give me my money back.

5 comments about America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy.

1. While obviously opposed to the Bush approach to foreign policy in general and to Iraq in particular, Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay have nonetheless succeeded in producing a remarkably fair book attempting to explain the reasons behind the President's about face from recent U.S. foreign policy. The attacks on 9/11 and other terrorist activities over the past decade had gradually convinced the President that the internationalist view espoused by Bill Clinton and his own father was simply no longer the answer. Bush has chosen instead to embark on a new unilateralist course favored by most of his senior advisors that the authors argue may be somewhat productive in the short run but likely to be a disaster over the long haul. Extremely well written, thoughtful and meticulously documented, this book should be an essential read for any citizen seeking to get up to speed on foreign policy issues before the 2004 Presidential election.



2. Unlike the rather vitrioic and harsh rhetoric of the Bush-hating left, this book presents a fair yet reasoned critique of the Bush foreign policy. It rebuts the common assertion that Bush is an idiot or that he is being a tool by a neo-conservative cabal.
   
   As the authors demonstrate in this book, the major problem with American foreign policy under this administration is the rigid adherance to notions that are demonstratively false. The Bush Administration seems to believe that offending allies carries no risk and that multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, are worthless in the international sphere.
   This view is dangerous and in my view, demonstrative of the stunning arrogance of the Bush Administration.



3. The book is an adequate overview of President Bush's foreign policy through the first three years of his office. But it does not do justice to the more intelectually challenging questions of the administration's foreign policy such as why exactly did America go to war in Iraq and what kind of role are the neo-conservatives playing in the administration.



4. The present book is a compelling read and covers many but not all of the major issues on terrorism and Iraq.
   
   I feel like I have been on an overdose of these books just having read House of Bush, House of Saud by Craig Unger - the biggest tell all blockbuster (my opinion), The Choice by Zbigniew Brzezinski (an excellent analysis), Disarming Iraq by Hans Blix, Noam Chomsky's Hegemony of Survival (truly a book that makes one think), Thirty Days (about Tony Blair) by Peter Stothard, and Price of Loyalty by Paul O'Neill (excellent book), Why America Slept by Gerald Posner, the very popular best seller Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke, and the Rise of the Vulcans by Mann and Mann. I put together a "listmania" list of the 25 best books - the best books - mainly non political taken together, no strong bias conservative or liberal - a spectrum of opinion when you take them all together.
   
   Many of the books are "gotcha" books that link Bush with some wrong doings or alternately books like Brzezinski that lay out solutions. This book is a bit different. It is more of a chronological history, and the book has been highly acclaimed by the Economist, NY Times etc. After reading I can see why.
   
   I started to read the present book and was unable to put it down until I had read it virtually cover to cover. It is a surprisingly good book and neutral in tone and a compelling read - for myself it was a page turner. It brings together the story of Iraq and WMD's in chronological order (all briefly). It starts with the Bush campaign and what he says in his run for the presidency regarding foreign policy, his philosophy, the team that he put together, plus the authors put in some historical perspective starting with Washington, then Wilson, Truman, etc. It then works its way through pre and post 9-11, Afghanistan and Iraq until late 2003.
   
   Surprisingly I found that this book is in almost complete agreement with some of the more recent "tell all" books (Blix, O'Neill, Clarke), and I would strongly recommend reading this book. The overlying theme or conclusion is that the intelligence was flawed and incomplete. Like the Hans Blix book there were no WMD's in Iraq. The Iraq war was pushed by Wolfowitz and others prior to 9-11, and can best be described as a distraction or even an incitement of Muslims towards anti-Amercian feelings. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan lacked realistic follow up plans for the post military invasion. So those conflicts still remain unresolved. Also, the more serious threats of Iran and North Korea remain almost unsolvable due to the potential negative consequences of a military solution for those cases including the threat of North Korea dropping nuclear weapons on South Korea.
   
   An excellent book and I highly recommend.



5. Just read this helpful little book. Daalder and Lindsay describe President Bush's post-9/11 foreign policy revolution. It's easy to read and is a fine introduction into the world of neoconservatism (though he doesn't really use the term "neocon" to describe Bush's worldview). The authors point out that the Administration is a bit more heterogenus than most recognize: some of the folks around the President really believed in the power of democracy, some believed that America must remain strong and assertive to protect its national interests. As has been told many times, Bush had his attention elsewhere prior to 9/11: a little foreign policy, but mostly domestic issues - and certainly almost no focus on terrorism. That changed, of course. We can all dispute the long-term impact of the supposed Bush revolution in foreign policy, but if things don't turn around soon in Iraq - and now Afghanistan - we may see another quick revolution back to a more realism-based look at the world. As Daalder and Lindsay pointed out, thankfully there are relatively few people who want to do away with an internationalist perspective. Retreating to within our borders and the believe that oceans can protect us has been thoroughly rebuked by reality. But that does not mean that the power of military preemption (or prevention) should be our stated right as a powerful nation.
   
   Daalder and Lindsay are most powerful in their analyses of the major speeches and documents to come from President Bush and his administration.
   
   Helpful book, but others are better: Rise of the Vulcans by James Mann is far more useful for understanding the different viewpoints of the Administration. That and he offers compelling of the major players in the Bush administration (although there is little discussion about Bush himself).

5 comments about The Assassins.

1. Stories about real-life possibilities and the likely actions agencies around the world take to cause and prevent them. I am very impressed.



2. This is as usual, a great book written by Oliver North. Shipping was fast. Book looks great.



3. This was the first book I have read voluntary in years, and what a great book. Really a great way to come back to reading. The book was gripping from the first page and you just need to read one more page...till your done with the book. An eary realism to the book and the time relevance of our time is great and something awesome to relate to. It is like watching the prime news at night.



4. I enjoyed the action North put into this story. With his military back ground as suport, the realism and pace of the story was enjoyable. Read it in two evenings.



5. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2JGQVMJYA0PN9 Oliver North's book isn't new, but it is still timely. It would make a great gift for any guy who has been in the military or for anyone who likes an action adventure. In this video review I tell you why this book is appealing and who it appeals to. Frank Derfler, author of "A Glint in Time"

No comments about Wired for Survival: The Rational (and Irrational) Choices We Make, from the Gas Pump to Terrorism.

5 comments about Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists Criminals & Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores.

1. Some US citizens almost seem compelled to feel afraid, very afraid. I suppose when the Soviet Union collapsed, the "perception managers" of the US elite needed to create a new menace to keep the population afraid in order to continue their funding of the military industrial complex, and to advance the growing police state. Moreover, many people have careers in the business of surveillance, detaining people, busting unionization efforts, building hi-tech fences and drones, constructing prisons and watching the border.
   We wouldn't have much to worry about if we treated other people in the world decently. We have been doing more than menacing them, throughout the Global South we have been killing them; if not by military intervention or CIA machinations, then through financial warfare and economic hit men. It is the job of propagandists like Malkin to studiously avoid this reality, and they can count on the psychic fear and intellectual dishonesty/laziness of many Americans to go along with this deception about the poor, put-upon military empire of the U.S. being "invaded."
   If people have the courage to look themselves in the mirror, here are a few resources to learn about the invasions, terror and war crimes committed by the U.S.:
   Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II
   The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
   The Fourth World War
   Z Magazine



2. Incredible eye opener. Very well written and easily understood. The message is clear and somewhat shocking. I finished this book in two days. I just couldnt put it down. It really captures your attention.



3. Somewhere, there is a middle aged ultra-conservative white male author who's job has been outsourced to the Phillipines. Jokes aside, I'm of Asian descent and I would like to disassociate myself with anything Michelle Malkin has ever written. She is full-blooded Filipino, which makes her racially insensitive attacks on Hispanics, Muslims, and other minority groups that much more absurd. She is thoroughly confused about her identity, and she should have her head examined.



4. This woman only attempts to instill fear in people. Most everything foreign is a menace in her mind. The only people who really belong here are Native Americans. The rest of us are just lucky to be here.



5. Michelle Malkin is a first-generation
   American of flipapina extraction who
   married a non-practicing khazar-amer-
   cian husband and does her best in this
   book to indict arabs and hungarians?!
   
   She prattles on about a lone hungarian
   kook (one of a very few, I can asure you!)
   and shows very little knowledge of the real
   9-11 story. No wonder! She works for the
   dopes on Fox News! Though she makes many
   points in here, she is very anti-arab,
   which surprises me and seems to have
   no knowledge of the five israelies
   that were arrested and deported by the
   FBI for being caught on the room of a New
   Jersey building, looking out at the Trade
   Towers when the planes hit the building,
   with a telescope!
   She dismisses a palestinian inmagrant to
   the US sho was wrongly accused of a crime
   and who WAS persecuted by the Israelies!
   Throughout the book she constantly lets the
   Israeli war criminals off the hook (and just
   in time for the USS Liberty bombing anniver-
   sary!) and harps on the arabs. Bias showing
   Mrs. Malkin! This sentence says it all:
   'Before the next Mohammed traipses through
   the door and leads more hordes of American-
   haters on another mission of death and
   destruction, we must..."
   Items that I though were good to point out,
   however:
   *A Jamaican convict who shot a Virginia of-
   ficer point-blank in the head during a foot
   chase.
   *In 1997 Rudy Giuliani [who the dopey Skull
   'N Bones-er 'Pat' Robertson ENDOSED], filed
   suit against the Feds on immigration laws...*
   *Pg. 50: "Take San Francisco, which has had a
   'sanctuary' policy since Diane Feinstein was
   mayor in the 1980's..."
   *Pg. 56 "Once again Rep. (Tom) Tancredo (Co-R),
   and his caucus fought the bipartisan onslught
   [see above]
   *Pg. 63 "Capistalists will sell us the rope with
   which to hang them" [widely attributed to V.I. Lenin
   (wrote the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion -
   R.A.S.)]
   *Item: And I don't like this one, because it repeat-
   es Establishment lies. I am so sick of everyone (and
   here Mrs. Malkin, doubleminded as usual jumps face
   first on the bandwagon) of the 'so-called Shoe-bomber
   being referred to as 'Richard Reid'. His name is not
   Richard Reid. That was an alias the brits gave him;
   his real name is probably Mutafa Al-Kaliq, or maybe
   even Emanuel Goldstein!*
   
   Mrs. Malkin is a cute chick, but doesn't know real
   terrotists from phoney ones. Working for a dopey bunch
   like Fox News will do that for you. Yes, it's a pretty
   good book despite the anti-arab hate propaganda and
   hiding the Zionist & Masonic tails that wags the dog...

5 comments about Real Time.

1. As a school librarian who works with young adults, I read Real Time with great interest. It deals with current issues in a way that today's teens can relate to both on a personal level and as a window into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ms. Kass has drawn together a diverse cast of characters, each with his/her own agenda and emotional baggage, intertwining their lives against the background of historical tragedy and present-day issues. The protaganist, Thomas Wanniger, is coming to Israel to try to unravel the mystery of his grandfather's disappearance while serving in the German army during World War II. His decision to participate as a volunteer on a kibbutz near Jerusalem draws several other characters into the plot, which is laid out, chapter by chapter, on a digitally measured time-line. Sameh Lahem, a Palestinian who sneaks across the border every day to work as a dishwasher in a popular diner, expresses the frustration and religious zeal of the Palestinian youth ready to give up their own lives to kill Israelis. The tension grows as the inevitable crossing of their paths ends explosively. Real Time succeeds in balancing many points of view in the context of everyday reality in Israel. My own enthusiasm for Real Time is apparently shared by many others as it was recently awarded the prestigious Sydney Taylor Award. I plan to recommend it most highly to high school students and adults.



2. Although the reader of Real Time begins this journey cognizant of the impending and catastrophic explosion that connects the lives of its diverse characters, there is nothing predictable about this book. It is a powerful and gripping story, and hooks the reader from the start. Each character is depicted with complexity, from the guilt-ridden adolescent grandson of a German soldier, compelled to discover the truth about his grandfather's past, to the Holocaust survivor trying to create order and beauty on an Israeli kibbutz. These are but two of the lives that are fatefully woven together, and the reader is quickly drawn into their worlds, both external and political, and internal and private. Ms. Kass artfully renders palpable the wide range of often contradictory--and therefore real--emotions that haunt each of the characters, and succeeds in the extremely difficult task of translating the wordless horror of trauma into language. There are no happy endings in this book, at least not in the familiar sense; however, amidst the interminable suffering, Ms. Kass' depiction of deep and enduring love offers relief, and serves to sustain us and give us hope.



3. This book is the 2004 winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers category. The award is given each year for the best in Jewish children's literature.
   
   Real Time follows a number of characters hour by hour to the moment when their lives intersect at a bus bombing in Israel, and through the aftermath of the event. We hear the voices of kibbutzniks, an earnest German youth, and even the Palestinian boy who has been persuaded to
   carry the bomb. Some characters are followed through the entire book, while others make only brief appearances. The format takes some time to adjust to, but once you become immersed in the story, it is extremely readable.
   
   The book is sophisticated in its construction, in its characterization, and in its realism. Intricate timing allows us to see simultaneous events and to understand how they are likely to become connected. Every character is realistically portrayed as a mixture of good and bad, guilt and hope, victim and oppressor, each dealing with their own unbearable situation. Each person speaks for him or herself, without interpretation by a narrator, effectively and economically revealing the relevant thoughts and emotions. While the events of the story are the stuff of today's headlines, the book's format shows how political situations are really composed of many, many overlapping personal situations. The whole concept of the book is summed up by the character Baruch, when he says "I am part of the story, and Dan, and Lidia, and also the Palestinian boy, the suicide bomber. Like tangled string when you pull it, it gets tighter."



4. I was apprehensive about reading this book because I wasn't sure whether it would be from a balanced perspective or whether it would take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Having read it, I wouldn't classify it in either category; I'd just have to say that it's realistic. The book revolves around a homicide bombing of a bus in Israel. It is told through the perspectives of various characters, including a German teenager who's come to Israel to find out about his grandfather who may have been a Nazi, an Israeli soldier, an Israeli immigrant, the 16 year old Palestinian boy recruited as a "Shaheed," the Israeli who imploys this boy illegally, a Palestinian doctor treating the bomb victims in an Israeli hospital, and others.
   
   The author presents a startlingly realistic portrait of what living and being in Israel is like for all of these people. She communicates the emotions and tensions that come with living under such tense circumstances and brings readers into this challenging world, allowing them to see what it's like for themselves.
   
   I highly recommend this book and challenge audiences to try to step out of their secure worlds for a few hours and into the lives of the people in this book. I think it will be an enlightening experience.



5. REAL TIME is set in contemporary Israel, telling a story in real time, in which the lives of so many people come together, minute by minute. The narration switches back and forth between several different characters, telling one story but also many stories.
   
   These characters include Thomas, a German boy who has come to Israel looking for answers about his family. Baruch, a Holocaust survivor who now works on a kibbutz. Vera, another kibbutz worker who is finding her Jewish roots and escaping her tragic past in Odessa. Sameh, a Palestinian working illegally at a diner. Saheh's friend Omar, a reporter, and many, many others. All of these people are different, looking for different things, but there is a moment when all of their lives come together, and it is a tragedy.
   
   So much sadness, so much despair, is evident. Can there be healing and hope for those who survive this tragedy? Only time will tell.
   
   This novel is a breathtaking story, but it's more than that. For one thing, it's a behind-the-scenes look at what is usually seen only on television. And yet it's more than behind-the-scenes; it's the secrets, thoughts, hopes, and dreams of every person involved. The way this story is told, in (as the title suggests) real time, switching back and forth between several narrators, is a part of what makes it amazing. If just one character told the story, so many aspects of it would not be seen. Pnina Kass Moed is a brilliant writer, and the story she tells in REAL TIME is equally brilliant.
   
   Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce