No comments about The New York Times: A Nation Challenged, Young Reader's Edition.

2 comments about Terrorism As Crime: From Oklahoma City to Al-Qaeda and Beyond (Alternative Criminology).

1. The author's declared goal of this book is to examine terrorist's involvement in certain kinds of crimes and describe law enforcement's opportunities to detect and prevent them. I found this expectation satisfied. After a very good introductory chapter (available on line)the author essentially presents a series of case histories of domestic and foreign terrorist groups and individuals. These do serve to illustrate the author's points and make the book a worthwhile addition to the current literature on terrorism.
   
   In the introductory chapter the author emphasises the usefulness of "routine activity perspective" and "social learning theory" in analysing criminal activity. These criminolgical approaches were new to me, and I would have appreciated more discussion of them and more explicit connections between these approaches and the case studies.



2. The author gives the impression that the "right wing" has a monopoly on domestic terrorism. But what of ELF (eco-terrorists active today? What of the Symbionese Liberation Army (armed with machine guns, kidnapped Patty Hearst, robbed banks)? What of the Weather Underground who plotted to blow up the Pentagon...?
   
   The other giveaway to his political bias is his sensationalistic (and inaccurate) description of the MAC-10. "Once converted to a machine gun, the MAC-10 was one of the most gruesome weapons ever made." The MAC-10 was originally designed as a submachine gun intended as a sidearm for tank crews in the US Army. Its designer, George Ingram, hoped the weapon's compact size would make it a good replacement for the M-3 "grease gun" then in the US inventory. As it turned out, the DOD abandoned submachine guns in favor of the M16 assault rifle, except for special forces groups. The MAC-10 is no more deadly than a Thompson submachine gun "the Tommy gun", a British Sten, or an UZI, or a 12 gauge shotgun for that matter. The Thompson and the Sten have each killed far more people than the MAC-10. Thank Hollywood and the left for the MAC's dark reputation.

1 comments about Frontiers and Ghettos: State Violence in Serbia and Israel.

1. "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it. (Marx 1845 Theses on Feurbach)"
   
   I find this book informative but its theorizing useless and strange.
   
   It is factually comprehensive as regards state violence in Serbia and in Israel, which, as the author demonstrates, differed in frontier zones (such as south Lebanon and Bosnia after its recognition as a state) versus internal zones (such as the West Bank and the Sanjak).
   
   However, the horrific descriptions of daily life in the West Bank from 1967 to about 2000 only seem to imply that there the Israelis insisted upon a monopoly of force and a formalistic imitation of Western rights which most of the time, but not all of the time, meant that captives were beaten and not slaughtered wholesale.
   
   The author actually wants to believe that as a social "scientist" he has discovered an ontological difference between ghettoisation of subject peoples without the rights of the main ethnic group, and their existence in a frontier.
   
   Strangely, he does not test this theory against the Holocaust, for the Holocaust falsifies his theory.
   
   The Nazis re-created the mediaeval and 19th century ghettos of Poland and other Eastern European countries only as a way station to the Shoah, in which they in fact treated their subject populations (not only Jews but also Roma, confessional Christians, and dissidents) as an internal "frontier".
   
   It is true that in incompletely conquered areas of Russia, einsatzgruppen carried out crude mass exterminations using a variety of uncoordinated troops including the SS and the regular Army but contrary to the theory here, the Nazis seldom countenanced private armies or subcontracted exermination, while the Israelis, we know, subcontracted the Christian militia of Lebanon to carry out the 1982 massacre and Milosevic aided the Bosnian Serbs.
   
   But once it was clear to the Nazi leadership that these actions were ineffective and causing resistance, they ghettoised the subject populations, and proceeded to a step which on Ron's theory wasn't supposed to be taken.
   
   Nor does Ron test his theory against the Tsarist oppression of the jews after the 1882 assassination of Alexander. The Jews were already in ghettos in the Pale of Settlement, but the Tsarist state wanted to wreak vengeance on the "terrorists", and unleashed, IN AN INTERNAL FRONTIERIZATION of lands under the Tsar's control, private armies of Cossacks against the Jews...in mayhem that on Ron's theory never happened, but somehow caused the mass immigration of Eastern Europe's Jews to the USA in the late nineteenth century.
   
   There is, in Ron's book, the false humility of the proud pseudo-scientist who has announced his "ground breaking" theory but then proceeds to confess that he isn't qualified to crack a history book or test his theory anywhere but his proper zone of research, which reminds me of what Adorno said about the self-moronization of this type of deliberately narrowed social research.
   
   I am certain that variants of Ron's theory were aired in comfortable parlors of the 1930s: give the Nazis the opportunities to create ghettos and they will calm down.
   
   This book illustrates Marx's theses on Feuerbach. From a sheerly scientific standpoint, social theory is so self-reflexive, so unavoidably a part of the phenomenon it describes, that it is profoundly UNSCIENTIFIC to pretend to be able to stand off from the world, whether at McGill or anywhere else, and so theorize as to avoid having that theory be used as an excuse or a pretext for mass murder.
   
   What this means is that the first duty of social theory is Hippocratic, do no harm, first not by uttering a theory with such a stunning historical counter-example and secondly not by arming the bad guys with an excuse for creating one more ghetto.
   
   I am alarmed by James Ron, not because he is from Israel or served in the Israeli army, for he seems to fully realize that Israel is illegitimate all the way down, for it defines full political personhood ethnically.
   
   Perhaps there is something ineradicably brutalizing about military training and military service in a situation unjust all the way down, such that in a later career, the foundational brutalization emerges in such an extraordinarily stunning fashion.
   
   "Oh, people getting killed...just give the murderers a nice little Guantanamo, a nice little Theriesenstadt, in which they can with de facto legitimacy stuff silenced and inconvenient victims so we can all feel good, and theorize, and get tenure".
   
   THE POINT IS TO CHANGE IT.

5 comments about 9-11 a Tribute.

1. This book starts off nicely by remembering 9-11 and that section is quite moving. In fact it is excellent. Then the book begins hero worship of the President, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and a parade of world leaders. It loses sight of 9-11 and thinks only of the "big" people. It continues into the war in Afghanistan then Iraq. I understand Afghanistan but the Invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. That part should have encompassed another book.



2. When future generations look back upon this event these are the pictures they will study. Hopefully, looking at them will give our descendants a sense of what it was like to be an American at the beginning of the 21st century.
   
   Yes, there are pictures of "important people" like Bush and Blair. While "little people" worked to repair the damage of 9/11, leaders like Bush and Blair had to decide how to respond. The response they chose was to destroy the Taliban and topple the pirate-ocracy of Saddam Hussein. Perhaps these actions aren't popular with some but what they did is now "history." History isn't composed of events and decisions that are nice, easy, sensible or popular.
   
   Look at these pictures and consider the people who's own history ended on that day.



3. This book was so great! The pictures can just show you what went on from like a person who expierienced its point of view! They are so amazing! I loved this book! This was one of the best 9-11 books that I have ever read!



4. Every police officer, deputy sheriff, firefighter, EMT, and others should have a copy of this book. I am a 20 year retired law enforcment veteran. My wife purchased this book for me. It was one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received. This day forever changed our lives. Our children and our grandchildren will deal with the aftermath of these events for years to come. Every time I pick this book up and even now as I write this review my eyes tear up. We must never forget the courage and service of those that fight and have fought to protect the many freedoms we enjoy as American citizens. This book helps us to remember.



5. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history, any kind of public safety information for a big situation...

1 comments about Military Tribunals And Presidential Power: American Revolution To The War On Terrorism.

1. You may have heard of military courts-martial, which in U.S. practice have evolved into something parallel to other U.S. courts, with independent judges and defense counsel, rules of evidence and procedure, military courts of appeal, and rooted in case law and applicable Constitutional law. The tribunals -- "military commissions" -- were different: an extraordinary and special proceeding with none of those guarantees, and, until 9/11, a freak wartime event last seen in WWII (Mr. Fisher's recent and excellent "Nazi Saboteurs on Trial" addresses one such case). Now the Bush Administration has revived the military commissions and this book is a timely (mid-2005) re-telling of the history and practice of these tribunals. I've written and researched on this topic and find Mr. Fisher's book is possibly the best single volume on the subject. His prose is clear to the layperson, he is brilliant in putting the tribunals in context, and is quick to find parallels in the detention (WWII + post-9/11) case law.
   
   (Postscript: the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, June 29, 2006, was directly on point to military commissions and Presidential powers. The book is still very worth reading in light of possible attempts in Congress to address the issue.)

5 comments about Al Qaeda in Europe: The New Battleground of International Jihad.

1. An impressive and well-documented book that grabs and holds your interest
   from the very start.  Vidino gives an overview of who's who behind the
   terrorist networks--great for the layman!--then addresses the specifics of
   how each group finds recruits, finds financing and finds havens.  I find
   him masterful at weaving everything together, including how political,
   social and legal issues in Europe bear upon the existence of radical groups
   there.  A fascinating analysis...but disturbing."



2. Lorenzo Vidino's Al Qaeda In Europe: The New Battleground Of International Jihad provides an excellent companion piece, considering how Europe has become a key battleground on the War on Terror. This is the first book in English to examine Islamic roots and terrorism in Europe, comes from a Deputy Director of The Investigative Project, and examines exactly how terrorists raise money, communicate, and operate through hidden cells across the continent. Original documentation from a dozen nations accompanies transcripts of Al Qaeda conversations and chapters which examine particular plots.



3. I found it an essential document toward the understanding of the dangers that we in the US face because of the denial rampant in Western European leaders and their disgust with Western culture and civilization. If I were to present an underlying theme of my own about Western Europe, it would be: Western European leaders are trying not to offend the people who have come to kill them. Liberals are Liberals wherever they live and lead. Our Liberals here will have the same reaction to al-Qaeda here--if they changed their name and called themselves something else, like "The Religion of Peace."



4. A true masterpiece for anyone who wants to be a subject matter expert in the area of understanding the new trends as to how al-qaeda has established it's foot in europe. This book also illustrates how al-qaeda will go to great lengths to further its reign of so call crusade against not only America but also Europe. We all must join in the fight against international jihad and terrorism which is now the single most common security threat in the world today.



5. The book is somewhat useful for gaining a better understanding of the terror threat facing Europe but occasionally sweeping generalizations or unclear claims are made. The first sentence of page 71 is "Today, hundreds of thousands of Muslims residing in Europe embrace, to varying degrees, a militant interpretation of Islam, favoring the introduction of sharia law and despising Western value and principles". Vidino provides no source for this statistic when one would assume some sort of public opinion poll or academic study to be necessary for such a statement. If a second version of this book were produced with the necessary citations and a decrease in the amount of "allegedly" and "reportedly" statements it could provide a better resource to those interested in terrorism studies.

3 comments about A Devil's Triangle: Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Rogue States.

1. If you don't follow the news often (like many of us who lead busy lives), this is a good, short book that explains how and why the world is so messed up today.
   
   Brookes explains in detail how we got to where we are today with this "devil's triangle" of terrorists, available weapons of mass destruction and rogue states. Brookes, a former CIA analyst and U.S. Navy officer, writes with experience and authority on the subject.
   
   The book is well-written among volumes of this genre. It has nice vignettes to introduce each chapter and well-researched history lessons (His "Quick History of Terrorism," for example, begins in the first century AD with Roman-occupied Judea).
   
   However, be prepared to tackle some unfamiliar -- but not unintelligible -- acronyms such as CA, CW, BW, CWC, BWC, JRA, HEU, NPT, DPRK and MILF (teenagers, please stop snickering). There are a lot of them in this book and this makes reading it a little tricky in some parts.
   
   But it's not impossible. Those who really want to know what's wrong with the world -- and how to fix it -- will get through them, and be smarter for it.
   
   
   



2. This book provides basic, yet informative overviews of historical and current agendas within "influential terrorist groups" that have made a profound impact on world-wide political, religious, financial and power agendas. The book mainly addresses fundamental Islamic issues with specific regard to popular political and religious radical groups motivated by influencing media, military and political Middle East agendas.
   
   The information provided is something you might find on a reading list for a CIA class on "Terrorist History 101" with a primary context of "basic Middle Eastern political agendas, resources and overview of strategic weapons acquisition and uses." In great detail, the book covers many aspects of various radical groups, both successful and unsuccessful endeavors and methods of influencing the political arena, as well as associated business/financial aspects of related connections. Detailed information on weapons trade is also included.
   
   Aimed towards fundamental Islamic political agendas in particular, the book lacks in-depth research of other related regional contributors to the world-wide aspect of global arms business, although there is some brief mention of related radical influences of Asian, Russian, European, African and Australian regions with regard to political interests and resources.
   
   As the author represents a conservative think tank organization in Washington DC, readers must consider the book's agenda when reading certain elements of its political persuasions in popularizing political agendas. The overall essence of the book gives particularly good insight into certain political undertones.
   
   It's a great resource book to have on hand with a brief history of Islamic religious, political and historical originations that have led to many current ideologies and factions that are interrelated or juxtaposed to current political agendas in the Middle East. It also briefly covers radical political examples during the Renaissance Era that influenced warring factions between Christian and Jewish religious oppositions.
   The book offers basic historical and current research of related "terrorist factions and interests" and is a very easy read (1-2 days).



3. This book is very badly written, hardly contains a useable amount of background information, uses the kind of language you would expect from a white house press secretary, looks at things from a very present and unilateral perspective and works in a very non-scientific way. Brookes echoes Bush administration phrases, hardly quotes from scholarly work at all, uses colloquial language and skims over thousands of issues like someone who pretends to just want to give you a quick overview, but essentially, Brookes doesn't have anything to offer but a quick cash-in into a currently hot topic with a quickly-written book that isn't worth its money.

2 comments about Understanding September 11th: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America.

1. As a teacher of adolescents, I often find myself unable to answer their "Why?" questions about the state of world affairs. This book gave me a deeper understanding of the history and issues underlying the events of September 11. Mr. Frank presents the information concisely and unsentimentally -- a difficult feat given the emotional import of the subject matter. I found it immensely informative and will undoubtedly refer to it during this school year as the first anniversary approaches and passes.

   I'm also the mother of a two-year-old girl, and I've felt at a loss as to how to explain the attacks to her when the time comes. By the time she is of grade-school age, her social studies texts will definitely contain references to September 11. I now plan to read Mr. Frank's book with her to give her all the background information she could possibly need, and to share with her my husband's and my memories of that terrible day.




2. Mr. Frank has swallowed the whole barrel of government Kool Aid. He cites no evidence linking Osama bin Laden to the crimes of 9/11, because there is none. He tells the children who are his main intended readership that certain Arabs planned and coreographed 9/11 when there have never been any criminal indictments or trials to prove that premise, and so, without even any evidence of that, we cannot infer as much and still remain faithful to our creed demanding due process and presuming innocence until guilt has been proven -- and here, it hasn't even been formally charged! And, there are other suspicions, actually backed by LOTS OF evidence, as to who really planned and carried out 9/11. Are we, of all people, not concerned to follow the evidence when a crime (especially a horrible mass murder) has been committed in our midst? Mitch Frank's "blame the Arabs" refrain is not the right answer, and ought not be urged on America's children!

5 comments about Living Terrors: What America Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe.

1. I first read LIVING TERRORS two years ago, when the first edition hit bookstores. I re-read it this past week (mid-November 2002) and it still chills me... as well it should.

   From William Clinton to anti-terrorism czar Richard Clarke to the bioterrorism mavens at USAMMRID and Johns Hopkins University-- the prediction is as unanimous as it is chilling. There will be a biological attack by terrorists --on U.S. soil-- within the next five to ten years.

   And when it does, it will doubtless follow one or another of the scenarios detailed in Living Terrors. I've spent the past six hours reading it cover-to-cover, and it is an outstanding book-- the kind of thing that ought to be required reading at all levels of government and the general public. It is that rare combination of solid research and excellent writing to which all non-fiction should aspire.

   I spent months extensively researching biological terrorism for my novel on the subject, Final Epidemic-- from Richard Preston to Ken Alibek to the works of Don Henderson of Johns Hopkins, and more. Living Terrors stands among the best of them. Frankly, since starting research on the subject back in November 1999, I've been shocked and appalled at just how vulnerable the world is --and remains-- to biological terrorism. Dr. Osterholm and Mr. Schwartz detail this onrushing catastrophe in a manner that is cautionary without sensationalism-- providing information that, when the inevitable microbe attack occurs, could nonetheless save American lives.

   Buy --and read-- Living Terrors. And for your own sake, take this issue seriously, today.




2. Published in 2000, this prescient book presents the authors' suggestion that the United States will inevitably be attacked with biological agents, and that not enough is being done to prepare for that eventuality. Well, a year later, the first serious bioterrorist attack was indeed launched.

   This book studies what agents might be used in a biological attack, how, by whom, what the U.S. government has done, and what it must do. Each chapter begins with part of a bioterrorist scenario, showing how easy and frighteningly effective a biological attack could be. Due to the fact of when the book was written, it is scathing in its review of the actions taken by the Clinton administration, but cannot comment on the bioterrorist attacks of 2001. Nonetheless, this is a fascinating book, one that I highly recommend to anyone interested in bioterrorism.




3. This book presents threat scenarios, and it also presents an 8 point program.

   Flatly, Dr. Osterholm doesn't go NEARLY far enough. This prescription and Dr. Osterholm's exposition of threat is far behind the times. I could understand the threat exposition not presenting the leading edge, however, his 8 point program is, today, a Potemkin perimeter. False security is worse than none at all.

   Those physicians who think Osterholm is out there in the hype zone just don't understand what the march of science and technology is creating. Let us hope that we are so lucky as to only face a smallpox epidemic or, luckier yet, an anthrax attack. We could survive those.

   Understand, I absolutely do not want to see any such thing occur at any level. I am simply pointing out that in todays world the scenarios Dr. Osterholm has presented are relatively minor and his program is grossly inadequate.




4. While Dr. Osterholm's suggestions for improvements to the nations biological defense were ingenious and visionary, the rest of the text was to sensational for me to take seriously. The examples of biological attacks were so dramatic that at points I was laughing. The terrorists had some how bypassed all safeties in place without any effort which would not be the case for a large scale attack. Just read "Silent Death" or "Biohazard" and you would understand the difficulty in the types of attacks he was describing.
   Yes, there have been bioterrorist attacks in the U.S. but none of the scale he is describing. He doesnt seem to understand the destinction between biological warfare and bioterrorism that he says he is trying to make. There is a real threat and his underlying message is an important one but the approach was meant to shock instead of to teach.
   If your interested in biological weapons or warfare I would suggest "Germs" or "Biohazard" instead. They take them selves more seriously and the detailed accounts of actual biological attacks is more frightening then anything that can be made up.



5. This book by Michael Osterholm is extreamly hard to put down. I have had the privilege of knowing the author because of having somewhat similar backgrounds regarding microbes and other disease producing agents. My respect for Mike is his distinct ability to get his message across both lucidly and with much gravity. All who read this book should heed it's message loud and clear!

2 comments about Fuel The Fire #3 (Shaiton's Fire Series).

1. Don't even try to think ahead while reading this book. I think Master Thoene's advice might be something like, "Sit down, sit back, strap yourself in secure. Keep your limbs in tight at ALL times, and hang on until this book comes to a full and complete stop". A thriller should be thrilling. With characters you actually care about. Put in situations that are beyond merely intense. And achieve all this by delivering a message as profound as breath. Thoene's holding 4 Aces!
   Sam Tomaino
   Visalia, CA



2. Sizewise, compared to it's two predecessors, Fuel the Fire's a runt. However, as usual, the plot was thick with thieves and muddled with murderers planning to promote themselves to mass-murderer stardom. And once again, poor Steve's gotta save the day. Warning: book contains certain heartwrenching plot twists designed to tug at the tear ducts. (No, I did not cry, but I felt like it.)