No comments about Annual Editions: Homeland Security, 2/e (Annual Editions).

4 comments about Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism.

1. This book spews the progressive line that judges should make laws and run the country. By proposing that war powers be taken over by a group of congress and ruled over by judges, he proposes that we all give up our right to vote and express ourselves to an unelected and unfireable federal judge. More of the same "we know better than you" pablum spewed by the socialist/communist/nambla movement. What is even sadder is that he is a professor of law and influences young minds in this capacity. Save your money. Why pay to read "I am smart and you are not". If so bright why has he never been able to get a real job in the private sector without the cushion of tenure. Buy a latte instead, more satisfying.



2. This is a pretty good book for people concerned about possible deterioration of American civil liberties in the event of further successful 9/11-type attacks. It is almost impossible to amend the U.S. Constitution. So Ackerman proposes laws that could be enacted by Congress and states that would help do this. It should be read in conjunction with Richard Posner's Catastrophe, which makes a case for some curtailment of civil liberties, given the dangers of the age we live in.



3. Ackerman's argument is straightforward. Future large scale terrorist attacks are probably going to happen, but happen infrequently. The problem after an attack is the uncertainty about immediate follow-on attacks; if terrorists successfully planned and executed one attack, they may have more in progress. Ackerman fears that in the rush to prevent attacks the President and the administrative organs will accumulate too much power and destroy our liberty. Worse, Presidents will be tempted to claim the country is at war, giving them even more power.
   
   Ackerman advocates a temporary state of emergency which the president may declare of his own authority. The declaration would have a built-in sunset provision, with only congress capable of reauthorizing. Reauthorization would require an escalating supermajority; the longer the emergency persisted the smaller a minority of legislators needed to end it. The declaration would permit broad powers of arrest and detention after an attack. Such measures would presumably mitigate the risk of further attacks, as well as re-establish national sovereignty.
   
   The book is thought provoking and worth reading, but there are problems with Ackerman's ideas. He assumes that the most pressing need in the immediate aftermath of an attack will be to reassure the public that measures are being taken to prevent further attacks. Reassuring the public is a concern, but I think it overextends a factor unique to 9/11. The actual attacks on 9/11 and the time needed to restore order was short. Aside from those stuck because of the airspace shutdown, most people were back to normal within a few days. The system disruptions were minimal.
   
   Such a short event period is unlikely in future large scale terrorist attacks. Dirty or nuclear bombs, chemical or biological weapons will involve much greater disruptions for a longer period of time. The event will look more like Katrina then 9/11. Massive social breakdown, no police or fire services, looting, confusion over evacuation destinations and means of transportation, these problems will last for weeks if not months. Plus, any response will be hamstrung by the need to protect responders from the contaminant (radiation, virus, chemical residue on skin or clothing). So at the time Ackerman thinks feds will be rounding up thousands of suspected terrorists most national systems will likely be overwhelmed just coping the direct aftermath of the attack.
   
   An even bigger problem is with Ackerman's assumption that terrorist attacks will be infrequent. This implies that the administration is capable of effectively stopping most attacks. If it fails to do so, wouldn't that initiate further restrictions of liberty which Ackerman fears? Put another way, if terrorists successfully execute an attack under existing laws, it implies those laws are inadequate to prevent terrorism. Cheap information flow implies the holes or flaws in the law will be exploited with increasing frequency until they are closed, and they will be exploited again if the holes are allowed to reopen. Closing those holes necessarily entails restrictions of liberties we now enjoy. This dynamic is I think the core of the problem, not the short term emergency response but the long term incremental battle between terrorists and the law. The state of emergency concept is flawed because it assumes temporary measures can have long term preventative effects.
   
   In a sense this book was aimed too much at 9/11. That event featured an improbable combination of mass casualties through primarily conventional means, with no subsequent attacks for a period of several years. Future attacks are unlikely to follow this pattern. That said, it is a starting point for dealing with the reality that in the current system terrorism encourages a dictatorial presidency, and terrorism isn't going away. Framers of the Constitution sought systematic ways of preventing tyranny from taking root, but they did not envision mass casualty terrorism. We owe it to them and to our children to further their work.



4. As the author says, this is a downer of a book. It attempts to use the National Emergencies Act of 1976 along with other constitutional and legal features of the U.S. system to propose a three-stage model of declarations of temporary states of emergency. The writing is somewhat crisp and vernacular, as if the heavy law parts were simplified, although it has teeth in some parts without being legalistic. Readers expecting detailed legal analysis will be disappointed. It's written at a low level. The best parts are the last two chapters which apply the book's ideas to a devastating attack scenario on Washington D.C.

3 comments about The Algerian War 1954-62 (Men-at-Arms).

1. This title in the Osprey Men At Arms series covers the war in Algeria 1954-1962. The book is well written and covers both sides. It's also a sort of a "companion" to the other MAA titles like The French Foregin Legion 1945 - ... and The French War In Indochina which are also written by the same author.

   In short, if you are interested in colonial wars like me or in the French Foregin Legion it`s a book you should have.




2. This is the best book of the Osprey uniforms series I have run across so far. It is an excellent introduction to the uniforms of the colonial (French) and revolutionary (Algerian) forces of the late 1950's and early '60s.

   As always there are 8 pages of colour plates presenting 3 soldiers each. These plates, by Mike Chappell, follow the Andrew Mollo pattern of colouring period photographs, but Chappell alters them slightly to provide additional detail. This volume also provides detailed b&w illustrations of French issue uniforms and camouflage patterns. In addition there are b&w photographs of caps and unit badges, and many reference photos of period troops. A map of the area of operations is provided, as well as a useful overview of unit formations. Note that in addition to descriptions of each colour plate in English, the last page of the book provides translations of the plate descriptions in French and German. As there is no translation of the body of the book, however, this is a somewhat odd use of space.

   48 pages is not really enough space to adequately cover two national armies, especially one as varied as that of the French. No table of rank or insignia is provided. Gear and weapons are not specifically presented. I would recommend this as a useful adjunct to a more comprehensive work on French uniforms of the cold war period.




3. After the Lost of Indochina,Algeria became more interested the need of independence but for some Algeria was the Jewel of the Emperie and specially for the Troops that have been their second nation like the French Foreign Legion who have fight for 134 years, many muslin were pro-french but with the pass of time the pressure for Muslim rights,internal self goverment,independence, or even complete integration with France had long been building up among the small but significant academic and professional class which had benefited from the French education.

   The post-war French loss of Syria and Lebano,military reverse in Indochina and events in Tunisia and Morocco all prepared the ground for rebellion in Algeria.

   The ALN try to emulated the VIETMINH, but never enjoyed the VIETMINH'S greatest asset, an area they could control and in which they could hide up and remain secure.

   After 8 years of war on March 1962 a cease-fire was finally arranged between government and FLN representatives at Evian, France. In the long-awaited referendum, held the following July, Algeria voted overwhelmingly for independence. The colons began a mass evacuation; before the end of the year most of them had left the country.

   Martin Windrow come again with another title dedicated to another War of French Decolonization(check The French Indochina War 1946-54 MMA322)this time we enter the Algerian War in North Africa, with a quick overview of the war and a summary of main eventes between 1954-1962, I like the comments on The Army of National Liberation(Command Structure)and the French Army in Algeria with all their troops from Zouaves to Natives,a part dedicated to the Mutiny of April and Select Bibliography(Small)

   The Book is small but help me see the War in a Quick look,with good photos and superb colour artwork by Mike Chappell. we can see the ANL and the French Amry Uniforms in Color(great plates on General Marcel Bigeard famous for the torture of Algerians)

   For more books on the Wars of Decolonization see Anthony Clayton "The Wars of French Decolonization" and "France, Soldiers, and Africa" thsi two title one dedicated to the French Troops in Africa from 1830 to 1962 and the other to the Wars of Liberation of the Colonial Rule Tunisia, Madagascar, Morocco, Indochina and Algeria. Martin Windrow is the author of 5 books on the French Army, French Foreign Legion 1914-45, The French Indochina War 1946-54, French Foreign Legion-Infantry and Cavalry since 1945 and French Foreign Legion Paratroops all from Osprey military History Books.

   For books on the Algerian War, The Battle of the Casbah by Paul Aussaressess, The Memory of Resistance by Martin Evans,The French Foreign Legion by Douglas Porch, All the major operations in the Algerian War and The Algerian War and the French Army, 1954-62 by Martin S. Alexander, The Movie of Anthony Quinn The Lost Command(1966) is dedicated to Algeria and the another movie "The Battle of Algiers" is also a great story on the War and the violent counter-terrorist measures use by the French Army. Athony Clayton also have another book dedicated to the Post War Era but explore all the major conflict only in Africa,"Frontiersmen-Warfare in Africa since 1950"

No comments about Paying The Price Pb.

5 comments about Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror.

1. Few of us have done battle with a murderous dictator. "Murder in Samarkand" tells how a British Ambassador did so and survived, only to be stabbed in the back by his own Prime Minister. Tony Blair ignored diplomatic advice if it complicated his relations with George W. Bush. How the British Foreign Office tried but failed to dismiss Ambassador Murray for invented disciplinary offences is an individual tale of injustice. However, the gripping core of this story is of a young and studious Ambassador driven to take absurd risks in remote parts of Uzbekistan as he builds up a dossier of incontrovertible brutalities by his host government. Those who try to obstruct him find this experienced and slightly overweight scholar is no patsy. He disputes the lies of petty bureaucrats. He storms into a corrupt procurator's office and dismisses him as a criminal - a risky way to use an Ambassador's "full and plenipotentiary" powers. But it works. The bully is exposed as a coward in front of those he has bullied. There is even a snow-shrouded chase with President Karimov's goons in pursuit - no wonder film rights are under discussion.
   
   The shocking part of this story - narrated with skill and honesty - is that, at heart, much of the British Foreign Office valued Ambassador Murray's reporting from his Embassy in Tashkent. Dealing with human rights abuses is never easy. Murray knew his way around the policy heavyweights at home well enough to make sure that a controversial speech critical of Uzbekistan had support from the human rights desks. But when the White House complained to Tony Blair and he passed this down the line, spines crumpled - from Foreign Secretary Jack Straw down. This book shows how diplomats can bring shame or honor to their country. There is a simple lesson for Tony Blair (and George Bush) to learn. If you ask diplomats who are trained to report truthfully, to tell lies, the lasting problems will come from the ones who obey you, not the ones who stick to their professional calling.



2. Allegations of visas in exchange for sex against a British ambassador to some ex-Soviet republic; subsequently cleared on all counts but forced out nonetheless. Like many in Britain that was all that really remained in my memory of the lurid headlines and media reports of a year or so ago - and life carried on.
   
   Anyone for whom that rings bells owes it to themselves to read this book, as does anyone wondering about the true nature of the West's so called 'War on Terror'. It is deeply disturbing on two levels:
   
   1. It documents the appalling nature of the 20 year Uzbek Regime of Islam Karimov. A regime which spans the pre and post-to-date Soviet era. Not in some dry academic fashion either but through the exploits of the Ambassador who, at considerable risk to his own safety, intervened in numerous cases of offical brutality. The reader is left in no doubt that the Karimov regime of Uzbekistan is on a par with the very worst of the worlds self-serving and brutal dictatorships. It was during this period that controversy about US/UK willingness to 'make use of evidence obtained under torture' and US so called 'rendition flights' became public. The ambassador reported that any such 'evidence' from Uzbekistan was useless since the regime was simply in the business of forcing 'dissidents to confirm what the regime wanted the West to hear. His reports were unwelcome.
   
   2. To have the true nature of one the then principal strategic allies in the West's 'War on Terror' exposed to scrutiny was judged by the Foreign Office top brass to be (euphemistically) 'counterproductive'. In spite of him having overwhelming support from human rights organisations and the Ex-Pat British business community, not to mention achieving more genuine influence with the Karimov regime than any of his predecessors, he had to be stopped. The methods employed to stop him were the inspiration of those headlines which hid a myriad of other kafkaesque stratagems . They bring shame on both the British government and the upper echelons of a politicised civil service which even now is doing all it can to prevent both the sale of this book and publication of documents which prove its authenticity.



3. I note that the favorable reviews of this book, both on Amazon and on the book cover, seem to come from people already convinced that Murray is a victim and a hero and that Uzbekistan (and the United States) are evil.
   
   I don't know whether what Murray alleges can be taken fully or partially at face value or should be rejected outright. I do think he has a point of view that should be heard. A few points for the debate, however:
   
   1. This is a poorly, probably hastily written and edited book which is sloppy and contains internal inconsistencies.
   In spite of the bad writing it is highly entertaining (and disturbing) to read.
   2. This is clearly written to justify and promote the author--nothing wrong with that, especially if he his telling the truth. But it's worth keeping in mind that there are multiple points of view here
   3. He is clearly very disingenuous about his motivation and the evolution of his thinking, even if the rest of his allegations are true: a close reading reveals a bias against both the Karimov regime and the US before he ever reached the country.
   4. He has a deep-seated anti-Americanism that goes far beyond a normal European hatred of President Bush or doubt about the Iraq war--in fact, he criticizes the British government for standing firm with the USA after 9/11--on the grounds that the US did not enter WWII until it was attacked itself. This doesn't mean what he says is untrue--but it does suggest he had at least a strong point of view before the events in the book unfold.
   5. At various times in the book he accuses the same US officials of a) being totally complicit with the Uzbek regime and b) being totally naive in believing that the regime was reforming. One of these allegations might be true. Both are highly unlikely.
   6. While the allegations of the horrors of the Karimov regime ring true, his explanation of the campaign against him starts to wander into the real of highly implausible conspiracy theory: a phone call from the White House to London asking his removal sounds possible. A campaign by (who?) to set him up for the variety of allegations...a poisoning? If we were really all that bad, wouldn't it have just been easier to have him shot?
   7. For a diplomat, Murray shows a surprisingly simplistic view of diplomatic policy and priorities. The air base the U.S. was using in Uzbekistan--which he argued was so vital that we were "backing" the regime--was subsequently abandoned, after Murray's time, with little or no consequence on the war on terror.
   8. While his descriptions of his highly immoral personal behavior might serve to lend a further air of truth...the fact remains that he is a self-confessed serial adulterer and very heavy drinker. A man with a family who had a time consuming job but chose to spend his free time in strip clubs...none of this means he's lying...but it does, at least in my mind, make it plausible that he may not have totally come clean. He deceived his wife for decades, but he wouldn't deceive us?
   
   Look, this is a fascinating story--I would just counsel that it be read with a healthy amount of skepticism given the source. And that the author not be awarded hero status just because of the enemies he picked...



4. I can't understand why there are no reviews of this book. It is truly superb, a gripping account of a British ambassador, who defended the principles upon which a genuine democracy is based, waging a battle against a bloody dictator supported by the Bush/Cheney regime and his own government.
   
   Why did Bush/Cheney/Blair support Karimov, whom Craig Morris exposed as a torturer who had boiled an opposition leader in oil? Because of the dictator's "contributions" to the so-called War on Terror: a military base in Uzbekhistan for the Bush/Cheney regime, and a willing accomplice in the torture individuals believed to be terrorists.
   
   Of course Craig Murray suffered at the hands of his own government--the ways are revealed in the book--when he complained vehemently against using "information" which was the product of torture by the dictator's inhuman henchmen. He didn't know it at the time, but the CIA was carrying out a policy now known as "extraordinary rendition."
   
   The book is valuable, not only because it is a well-written account of Craig Murray's insistence on refusing to cooperate with a savage regime that terrified the population of Uzbekhistan in ways that the worst of our nightmares could not conceive, as well as this ambassador's battle against his own government, but also because it provides details of the daily life of a ranking diplomat, a rare occurrence.
   
   I cannot recommend Murder in Samarkand highly enough! The book deserves every one of the five stars I have given it.



5. The book details the real-life story of Craig Murray, a successful British career diplomat that became a pawn in the Great Game. Assigned to become Ambassador to Uzbekistan, he took over a very small embassy with all the attendant issues (morale, support, etc.) He also very quickly became aware of horrific human rights abuses in Uzbekistan that have been substantiated by other NGOs like Human Rights Watch.
   
   His subsequent attempt to stand up against a regime that enjoyed boiling people alive, executing real or perceived enemies of the state in extra-judicial killings, etc. subsequently got Mr. Murray into trouble with the Blair administration since he was stirring the pot with one of their erstwhile allies in the "War on Terror". However, as Mr. Murray so eloquently lays out, it is precisely this type of tyrannical regime that leads to the rise of fundamentalist, extremist groups in the first place.
   
   Mr. Murray went to extraordinary lengths to represent British interests in Uzbekistan and traveled the whole nation to get to know it better. Along the way, he tried his best to encourage Democracy and Rule of Law, a novelty in Uzbekistan. Some of his more dangerous and coloful confrontations included standing up to various local government officials, thugs, etc. and are recounted in gripping detail. It is evident that Mr. Murray risked considerable harm to himself.
   
   Like most other diplomats in Uzbekistan, Mr. Murray could have simply looked the other way, just as the British government instructed him to when he reported human rights abuses and other issues with the regime that the Blair and Bush administrations wanted to cozy up to. That is not to say that he is a knight in shining armor, but he seems to be pretty honest about his personal flaws.
   
   When one of his internal Memos to the Foreign Office decrying the human rights abuses in Uzbekistan was leaked to the press, the British government took extraordinary steps to kick him out of the Foreign Service. With his departure, the British Foreign Service lost one of their more courageous and competent ambassadors, though perhaps he was a bit too honest and outspoken for the diplomatic club.
   
   The US version of this book ("Dirty Diplomacy") names more names regarding the folk working behind the scenes to kick Mr. Murray out of the Foreign Service, thanks to US freedom of speech laws. The British paperback version has more pictures, however. Either book is a very interesting read, and I highly recommend them.

1 comments about The Media and the War on Terrorism.

1. This is a superb collection of essays, first-person observations, and recollections of so-called embedded reporters and photographic journalists, edited jointly by Marvin Kalb, a former CBS reporter turned Harvard resident scholar, and Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the prestigious Brookings Institution. Written in the first person, each of the collected essays takes the reader up-close and personal and shows how difficult it is to know the degree to which such observations are typical or representative of what is going on the overall conflict in which they are embedded. And therein lies the rub, for to some extent it is apparent that even embedded reporter can be manipulated and co-opted by the military, and in several cases that is apparently the case for the individual reporters recounting their war tales.

   The pieces are both candid and raw; in the sense they somehow manage to catch the very essence of the intricate dance between accurate reporting and the tension with the host army to whom they owe their sustenance and their safety. This tension between the ostensibly objective reporters, on the one hand, and the very partisan military representatives overseeing them, on the other, is what drives the considerable insight the correspondents manage to extricate from the madness of the ongoing battle they cover. This is especially true for electronic media journalists, whose products are almost immediately available to the general public, and who still find themselves both physically and existentially with the troops.

   The latest tendency to meaningfully embed reporters with elements of the shock troops racing across Iraq, seen in context, is just another of many such attempts by the military to deftly manage the reporting from the front, and indeed, to prejudice the reporters by forcing them to live alongside the often valiant and sometimes suffering soldiers, whose personalities and sacrifices do indeed win the reporters over to see the war through their eyes. The experience in Iraq, upon reflection, will likely show that reporters and journalists were kept "on the reservation" by sequestering them into small groups seeing only limited actions, and seldom allowing them to see aspects of the conflict not consistent with military goals and objectives. Once again, the omnipresent tension between the needs for security on the one hand, and the rights of the citizens of a free society to know what is being done in their names, on the other, is all too apparent here. Enjoy!

5 comments about The Real Terror Network: Terrorism in Fact and Propaganda.

1. I read this book six years ago, so I write this review based only on distant memories. After sitting in a train station and reading the first sixty pages, my life has never been the same. It is methodical, extremely well-documented, and never sensational. I recommend it as a fundamental building block for anyone looking to develop their understanding of the way the world really works.



2. Edward Herman, famous for his iconoclastic studies (e.g. Manufacturing Consent)with Noam Chomsky, published this book in 1982, though its themes very much apply today. Herman shows that the U.S. mass media almost always accept the U.S. government version of events without question, especially in foreign affairs and cater to its propaganda needs. Herman explains why it is that fascist military regimes in the third world from Indonesia to Brazil to Guatemala to Uraguay to the Philipines to Chile that have often been installed and given heavy aid by the United States and murdered and tortured hundreds of thousands of people, often in extremely gruesome fashion, and yet very little coverage has been given to their abuses, despite massive evidence presented by church groups and human rights organizations, refugees and many others, in contrast to the massive daily coverage of the injustices suffered by dissidents in the Soviet block, the official enemy of the U.S. government and much of big business. He examines why it is that, to give one of many examples, Brazillian labor leader Luis De Silva can be referred to at one point by a New York Times editorial as "the Lech Walesa of Brazil" and yet that same paper can devote very little coverage to the gross injustices he suffered at the hands of a U.S. client government and yet devoted massive daily coverage to the injustices suffered by Walesa in Communist Poland. He examines why it is that while unions were being eliminated and union leaders and members being executed by the thousands in Colombia, Guatemala, Chile and elsewhere, the United States government and its allies and the U.S. media, can launch into a hocus pocus of holy horror at the far less murderous repression of the Solidarity union in Poland. He examines why it is that the media, when they deign to look at the terror in the U.S. backed client states at all, almost never attribute its source to U.S. training and supply of the military officials who conduct it, instead asserting that the client state government is unfortunately unable to control the death squads or rogue segments of the military, despite massive evidence that these elements are firmly under the control of the client government and being directed by it, or perhaps implying that the U.S. is an innocent bystander looking helplessly over a country that has no history of democracy, is prone to violence, etc; he examines why it is that the media rarely focus on the nature of the massive U.S. training of the Latin American militaries where not much emphasis is placed on military training but much emphasis is placed on ideological training, ingraining the idea in these already reactionary forces that any sort of reform movement, however mild, that seeks to help the oppressed peasantry, establish union rights, and so on, is by definition part of a hellish conspiracy of the Soviet Union and Cuba to overthrow Western Civilization, and so on. They are taught that communism is completely evil and that the United States and those who ally with it are the forces of virtue and civilization and that since the popular movements (unions, peasant self-help organizations,etc.) are by definition, not indiginous movements seeking to fight oppression and misery inflicted by very primitive oligarchies, but agents of world Communism, any means necessary can be used to eliminate them. They also tend to be taught advanced techniques of torture.

   He examines why the extensive CIA-backed and protected terror network of the Cuban exile community (e.g. Omega 7, once described by the FBI as the "most dangerous terrorist organization in the U.S. today" yet never prosecuted or investigated; or Orlando Bosch who escaped from prison in Venezuela after blowing up a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people in 1976, and committing many other crimes) is never examined by the U.S. media. He examines why it is that South Africa's mass murder in its U.S.-backed illegal occupation of Namibia (such as its massacre of over 600 people at Kassinga in May 1978) and murderous invasion of Angola were rarely condemned by the media, though Cuba's perfectly legal responsive military operations on behalf of the Angolan government, with an extremely reluctant Soviet Union in the background, was violently condemned. He examines why it is that the media never has looked into the famous "Operation Condor" began in the mid-1970's on the initiative of Pinochet's Chile which allowed the various intelligence services of the American backed terror and torture regimes (Brazil, Chile, Uraguay, Argentina, Paraguay, etc.) to operate in each other's countries to search for their own exiled dissidents to kidnap and murder, whose victims seem to run into the hundreds at the very least.

   He examines, very extensively, why it is that almost all of the U.S. client regimes have instituted economic policies that have resulted in vast increases in malnutrition, unemployment, child mortality, and so on, and great inceases in poverty, yet these regimes are often refered to in the U.S. media as having produced an "economic miracle." He examines why it was that such bizarre terrorism "experts" were given such grave attention in the U.S. media in the 80's, particularly the late Claire Sterling with her methods of scholarship that would make an intelligent ten year old die laughing and her amusing use of the intelligence services of apartheid South Africa and Pinochet's Chile as "sources." Or General Jan Sejna, who according to Sterling fled Czechoslovakia, as the Soviet army invaded in 1968, but who actually left his country after being implicated in a corruption scandal during Dubcek's brief "Prague Spring" government that the Soviets overthrew , with his wild tales of the Soviets training terrorists in his country for worldwide subversion with methods of scholarship and evidence scarcely more compelling than Sterling's.

   There is much else in this book that I didn't mention above, including a couple of pages devoted to Israel and what one of its former prime ministers, Moshe Sharett, referred to as its "scared terrorism." Once or twice, as during his devastating critique of the economic situation in the American client regimes, Herman gets a bit too heavy, but those periods are brief and rare.




3. I was interested in this book some years back, read parts of it, never finished it. One of those sorts
   of books, the kind that would be one of 10 - 20 I would have out at any one time while trying to
   discover and better understand the world in which we live. Now it is November 28, 2001 and
   America has been victim to one of the largest terrorist attacks in history. I decided to look again into
   some of the writings on the war on terrorism which actually began long before 9/11/2001.

   The Real Terror network is a chilling book. Ed Herman is an expert on terrorism if ever there was
   one. Problem is he is not judgmental in his use of the term, as the media then and today tend to
   be, so he is brushed aside from the mainstream (certainly have not seen him interviewed on TV
   during our newest crisis!). Early on in the book he describes terrorism as the use of violence to
   achieve political goals. With this as his starting point, he goes on to examine various activities of
   what he calls retail terrorists (ie. small Soviet sponsored, the PLO, Libya etc) vs wholesale
   terrorism (ie state terrorism).

   Herman's basic premise is that the terrorism carried out with US support in South Africa, Angola,
   Cuba, and by Israel far outweigh that carried out by the folks actually branded as terrorists, the
   ones we are in the process of "smoking out" today. He goes on to provide a wealth of examples
   of US support for terrorism which is documented in a very scholarly way. There is also a very
   effective chapter examining the role of the media in defining who we generally think of as
   terrorists, by downplaying or completely ignoring our own actions while repeatedly running
   stories on enemy terrorism. Basically he is describing the propaganda model he later flushes out
   with co-author Noam Chomsky in "manufacturing Consent"
   I would suggest that this book be dusted off and read by anyone who has the stomach. It is not a
   pretty picture, or an easy read for that matter. It is not overly long book, and I think that if more
   people were exposed to truths like the ones Herman outlines, more people would protest, and
   likely the world would be a better, at least safer place.




4. This is an essential read, but note the date - written in 1982, not 1998 as stated on the Amazon.com website. It provides great insight into US foreign policy, particularly in South America up to 1982. You can almost begin to identify with the 'retail terrorist' but then it's the 'state terrorist' that emerges as the real problem. It also makes you realize the enormous extent to which the 'american people' have been duped by the covert operations of Presidents veiled in Hollywood style PR.

   When I see this kind of well researched content in the New York Times or the Economist, I'll believe we are on the right track!

   By accident, I read the "Marcos Dynasty" after this. Enough said!




5. Twenty-four years have elapsed since Herman exposed U.S. state terrorism and the CIA moles inside the corporatist media that camouflage it. In 1982, William J. Casey and George Bush were lighting up Central America while Reagan was on the mend after being shot by George Bush's friend's son - John W. Hinckley Jr. At the same time in the Middle East, CIA-installed authoritarian regimes in Iraq and in Iran were pitted against each other and lighting each other up. War seems not only to be the health of the state, but its `raison d'etre'.
   
   Today the Bush Crime Family still remains at the helm of what Daddy Bush called "a new world order" in 1989. Never before has American liberty been so threatened as it is now in 2006 by the Bush-n-Blair Crime Alliance. There are dangerous parallels between the United States and Nazi Germany in the way power and rights are systematically being taken away. The United States is sliding fast down the slippery slope to Nazi Germany. Under Bush-n-Blair's War on Freedom, Congress has acquiescently stood by and allowed the executive branch of the federal government to wield the power to: 1) send the whole nation to war on behalf of British interests without a Congressional declaration of war; 2) arrest any American citizen as a suspected terrorist and have the military incarcerate him or her without charge - denying fundamental rights that go back longer than the Constitution, Bill of Rights, or the Declaration of Independence all the way to Magna Carta (this is what the Jose Padilla case is all about); 3) monitor your telephone conversations, email, and bank records without court-issued warrants - while you may NOT monitor the government's telephone conversations, etc in kind; 4) issue secret summonses under the USA (anti)Patriot Act for people's personal and business records, with harsh punishments for those who exercise their right to freedom of speech and tell about the issuance of said summonses; 5) detain people in jail for indefinite periods as "material witnesses"; 6) ignore habeas corpus for people held at Guantanamo Bay and at CIA secret prisons elsewhere, and 7) bomb, shoot, or otherwise kill foreigners at home in their countries.
   
   Herman's book is a chilling account of how corporatist media camouflages U.S. state terrorism and how Hollywood and other media including professional sports distract the American public through entertainment while the U.S. government goes around the globe killing and terrorizing people in its aim to install puppet regimes in other peoples' countries. He said "In short, we have been living not only in an age of escalating `terrorism' but in age of Orwell, where words are managed and propaganda and scholarship are organized so that terror means the lesser terror - the greater terror is defined out of existence and given little attention" (p13). George Orwell, who wrote a futuristic novel based on his WWII experiences at the BBC about state terrorism and the propaganda that disquises it, titled it `1984' but he was really talking about 1944.
   
   Lies and half-truths - readily believed by a nation of people who have been conditioned to believe what they are told rather than what they see - are employed by the U.S. government and its corporatist media in their bombardment of disinformation and propaganda upon the American people. Truth becomes an ineffective counter to mistruth because most people refuse to believe the truth. Americans are so culturally programmed to believe that the truth is mere lies, that they mentally switch off rather than check it out.
   
   After the preface, which runs 20 pages, are five chapters: Chapter 1 is The Semantics and Role of Terrorism, Chapter 2 is Contemporary Terrorism (1): The Lesser and Mythical Terror Networks, Chapter 3 is Contemporary Terrorism (2): The Real Terror Network, Chapter 4 is Contemporary Terrorism (3): The Role of the Mass Media, and Chapter 5 is Remedies for Terrorism. These are followed by Footnotes and an Index.
   
   In Chapter 1, Herman said that `Security' is a timeless excuse used for rationalizing anything that third world elites want, "serving as a morally pure and highly elastic cover" for their abuses of human rights (p36). He added that "since the military elites that rule them [third world countries] have a weak or non-existent local base, and rely heavily on their external supporter (the U.S.= the Godfather), they must be very cooperative with the Godfather and its multinational progeny. They provide `security' - to Godfather and progeny - but regrettably, `insecurity' to the majority of the population"(p36).
   
   Iraq is a good contemporary example of Herman's timeless axiom - Saddam Hussayn always played to the Godfather in Washington, District of Criminals. He invaded Kuwait after Uncle Sam became angry with Kuwait's re-Islamisation of Bosnia and invited him to do so in retribution for Kuwait's slant drilling of Iraqi oil. Saddam's reward was to have his internal enemies (conscripted into the army) wiped out by Daddy Bush's military. This resulting short-term stability to Saddam's regime came at the cost of tens of thousands of human lives.
   
   Saddam later again cooperated with western officials who claimed they were searching for weapons of mass destruction. They didn't exist. But the inspectors did mark the locations of the weapons that Iraqis did possess - this knowledge helping Bush Junior to invade and occupy Iraq after Saddam began losing his grip there despite 130 months of consecutive British and American (Clinton) bombings of Saddam's internal enemies.
   
   Today Saddam is kept alive and on the sidelines in case his dictatorial rule is needed again by `The Godfather', whereas the resistance leader Zaraqawi was bombed to the Heavens. The U.S.-installed sham democracy in Iraq is still fighting against the Iraqi Sons of Liberty who are resisting the invaders. If the sham democracy fails, Bush will no doubt reinstall Saddam in the name of `security' as his father did with the rulers in Central American countries. Self-determination is not permitted in oil-rich countries.
   
   Herman said "If `terrorism' means `intimidation by violence or the threat of violence,' and if we allow the definition to include violence by states and agents of states, then it is these, not isolated individuals or small groups, that are the most important terrorists in the world"(p201). Our troops have long been state terrorists who invade and kill in the perverse name of `Freedom'. Up is Down and War is Peace in Nazi Amerika.
   
   Can we Americans stop our slide down the slippery slope to a Nazi Amerika? Can we turn away from the corporatist Hitlerite direction our government has taken? Herman warned us that the U.S. "has become the big bull in the china shop, threatening the shop as well as the china"(p213), adding only "if they can get away with it"(p220). Herman and veterans for peace recommend opposing state terrorism.

5 comments about Damascus Gate.

1. i was compelled to finish this pile of words simply because the man signed my copy at a book fair. i've never been to israel but Stone's depiction seemed fanciful. it read awkwardly at times and i think his efforts to paint the city as diverse were much too pretentious. it's like he threw darts at an atlas and decided that a character would be from the landing of that dart. nevertheless i respect his thorough research and apparant command of colloquialistic theology. borderline narrative at best.



2. Took a bit of work getting past what initially seemed like cliche on journalists in hot spots, travellers, NGO scenes, mysticisms, etc., but turned into an engaging reading once I started to empathize with the characters.
   
   Thought there was a scene early where it hinted that DeKuf was in control, rather than Razi, but maybe I misread?
   
   There were few dopey parts where the author tries to lay heavy with mysticism. Didn't particularly work for me, but then I scanned through them quickly, and don't feel I missed out much.
   
   I'm not much of a fiction reader, but I enjoyed this one.



3. With all the great reviews, I thought this would be good, especially as I really enjoyed Children of Light. Instead, the first chapter is one of the most boring I have ever read. I tried it a second time, thinking I missed something. I didn't. I thought it would get better. It didn't. This is one of the most arduous and tedious books I've read, with excessive and boring detail about everything. Unlike many other readers, I stop reading at a certain point if a book doesn't interest me. I stopped at page 50. Others who have reviewed this actually finished it, and then say it was really bad. This book is a good reason to stop at 50.



4. The references are indeed tedious at first, but the novel picks up speed toward the middle, and for me, became compelling. The story is ultimately about believers, non-believers, and seekers. We see characters whose faith (or lack thereof) make them gulible and fanatical or manipulative and self-interested, but Stone never makes us feel that one group is any better than the other. Instead he shows us the fallibility of them all. If life is like a children's story, Robert Stone shows us the "Alice in Wonderland" logic of each perspective - all without scorning the seeker's longing for something more. I'm glad I kept reading.



5. first let me state my very strong bias -- Robert Stone is the best practicing novelist in america today. He is a serious novelist in the classic sense, drawing on hemingway and conrad, among others, for inspiration. he also is an embodiment of the 60's generation, one who survived and who has felt and filtered the last 50 years thru his considerable intellect.
   
   yes, this novel requires work on the part of readers. if you want a light read, a beach novel, read grisham or others. (although, in interest of full disclosure -- i did read this on the beach.)
   
   stone has serious business at hand here -- trying to make sense of the religious, cultural and political issues in israel in a way only fiction can. this is powerful stuff. his research is meticulous and i learned a ton. it also does what novels should -- it pushes you, rivets you, makes you feel a range of powerful emotions and when you read the last page, you will pause and stare into empty space for a while. such is the effect.
   
   yes, this novel is dense and complex. but give it time, stick with it and it will reward as much as or more than any novel you have read.

5 comments about The Days of Awe.

1. I am compelled to add my review of this book, if only because I feel so misled and betrayed by the others who wrote such glowing reviews. I found this book to be so disappointing because it COULD have been so much better. The writing was choppy,rambling and disjointed. It was almost impossible to follow the italisized running commentary by Artie who was attempting to write another fable. What was most disconcerting to me (and I swear I'm not a prude) is the crude description of sex acts as well as the continual use of the "f" word. So, so unnecessary, so gratuitous, so out of place. The plot could have moved along so well without it. I was going to promote it to my book club -- until I read it. We won't be discussing this book.



2. To this non-Jewish reader, "The Days of Awe" presents a trove of conflicts, both as a literary work and as to its subject matter. I would not characterize this novel a masterpiece, as some have, because I agree to a certain extent with another amazon reader's review that this book could have been more than it is. The domestic ordinariness of Muggs' three walks per day, breakfast foods, the abiding health worries of senior citizens, etc., began to wear me down as I worked my way toward September 11 and then proceeded into its aftermath. Also, there is that the vulgar treatment of sex that diminishes Artie and Johanna rather than believably humanizing them. Earthiness is one thing, crudity dropped on the pages for seeming shock value is another.
   
   Stylistically, the novel's habit of skipping into and out of characters' minds at the drop of the proverbial hat reduces readability. Author Nissenson remarks in the book's-end conversation (that offers valuable context) that he experimented for the first time with switching points of view between characters in the middle of scenes. That experiment unfortunately leads to narrative confusion and density this reader would rather have done without.
   
   Returning September 11, I had gotten the impression from reviews I had read prior to opening the book, that "The Days of Awe" turned on this event. It doesn't. Nissenson says that he began writing in the spring of 2001 and when September 11 happened, he had to include it. He did, but it is clearly an inclusion, not a seminal anchor, and I think that was an opportunity for germane and thorough character exploration lost.
   
   However, I'm glad I read the entire novel. It provides remarkable food for thought. Not only does it inform convincingly about the lives of well-to-do New York West End Jewish (and to some degree, Protestant) people, but it explores the reality -- common to all people -- of grappling with the meaning of life and death. Secularity has encompassed and largely defined Artie, his family and most of their friends. Yet, as is so often the case with human beings, when he is faced with the threat of loss through death, he turns to a form of religious expression. Despite his lifelong interest in other cultures' myths (Greek, Navajo, Nordic), Artie Rubin seeks a kind of sanctuary in the faith of his fathers. He convinces himself that garbing himself in "tefillin" and praying according to Jewish tradition will keep death at bay. In so doing, Artie makes the human error of converting religious ritual into a superstitious formula. He isn't really doing what Rabbi Klugman advises; he isn't letting himself be a conduit for prayer's ends, he is using prayer as a means to his own obsessive-compulsive ends. That this results in bitter consequences for Artie and leads him to resume living in the secular world "from which there is no appeal" is perhaps the consummate message of "The Days of Awe," in my opinion.
   
   Both Artie's personal and professional life zero in on death. Artie is writing and illustrating a book about the god, Odin. He spends a lot of time assembling a digital image of Odin's face at the pivotal moment when he (Odin) realizes he must die. The finished image is the only picture in "The Days of Awe," and it is quite stunning. It encapsulates the raw and primitive, uncomprehending disbelief that we mortals feel too about life's finite essence.
   
   Despite its imperfections, this book says something rich and yet ineffable about the struggles we all have with the meaning of life and its inevitable end. I recommend it highly for precisely that discussion.



3. I read this book because of an awesome review I thought it'd received in THE WASHINGTON POST book section. I must have read the review for a different book, because this was not the emotionally moving book the review claimed it to be. The writing was engaging enough, but I sort of forced myself to stick with it to get to the part that would blow my mind as the review had promised. It never happened. It was a moderately interesting insight into a older age persons life. I never got to the emotionally moving part. I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone.



4. Citigroup 29.89, Intel 29.89, Cisco 19.08, Microsoft 43.92, Johnson & Johnson 57.98,
   
   BP 156/97
   
   Interest level in this book: 4.7 on a 1 to 10 scale ...
   
   New Yorkers struggle to cope with 9/11 and its aftermath. Some rediscover spirituality. Other discover Absolut vodka. The narrative unfolds in a diary-journal type format.
   
   On the bright side, it is a relatively quick read.
   
   Not a terrible book, but not a great one, either. Your mileage (and enjoyment) may vary.



5. Artie Rubin, 67, lives in the Upper West Side, with his wife Johanna. Artie struggles with his aging and is certain that he will die at 73 (year his father died). Then his wife Johanna suffers a heart attack. Author does a marvelous job in developing the characters of Artie and Johanna with the day-to-day travails of work, family and faith. When involving the two leading characters, the book is funny, moving and compelling. It is when the author broadens the novel to other characters and events (9/11, Middle East, secularism, religion, friends), I thought the book and storyline lost its way.

5 comments about Hunting Eric Rudolph.

1. Hunting Eric Rudolph is an awesome read. The authors deliver the story of Rudolph's entire life, often with an insightful and somtimes humorous backdrop. It goes in depth to explain the reasons for Rudolph's perplexing psyche and the culture in which it was cultivated.
   
   The real value of the book however is the context in which it is delivered. Schuster explains why this story was not only significant in our past, but what we can extract from it to prevent similar types of domestic terrorism in our future. Thoroughly researched and masterfully presented, this was definitely a book that I could not put down.



2. This is one of the best true crime books I've read in a long time. Really well done. Highly recommended!



3. This account of Eric Rudolph was very interesting. I found the book a little more interesting than the average reader probably will because he was born in my hometown, I lived in B'ham and I was also vacationing in Murphy in the summer of 98 when the fbi had helicopters and officers searching the entire nantahala area.The only complaint I have about the book (and it's minimal) is that I thought that they spent too much time on details about his family in the middle of the book and it kind of slowed down the pace. Having said that, the pace is still as good as any fiction novel/mystery novel i've ever read. If you enjoy a fast paced, puzzle solving-type story, this book is right up your alley.



4. This is a gripping story, very well-told. From that bomb explosion at the Atlanta Olympics, through the Richard Jewell madness, and then subsequent attacks on abortion clinics, this tale is told with the detailed knowledge of a true insider -- an agent on the case -- with a skilled journalist's perspective and context. The psychological profile of Rudolph, the criminal mastermind,gives it special depth. Schuster and Stone really deliver. I enjoyed it immensely.



5. The authors present their extensive research with an entertaining style. Henry Schuster has spent much of his life reporting on terrorism and closely followed the Rudolph criminal proceedings. Charles Stone was involved with the manhunt and provides details from the point of view of one of the hundreds of law enforcement agents determined to bring Rudolph in. I would also like to suggest "Life's Been A Blast," written by one of the bombing survivors. "Life's Been A Blast" (available on Amazon) provides the view of someone who was standing in direct aim of one of Rudolph's bombs and lived to tell about it.