Rating: 
Summary: May raise more questions than answers
Review: It's interesting to read Lee's side of the story, but annoying to read his assertions that the only reason he was picked on was because of his race. This is clearly absurd, and that kind of appeal to race-baiting makes the rest of his story suspect.Because, whatever the FBI's screwups, Lee was investigated for a number of reasons, and it wasn't (just?) his genetic makeup. "Lee's book, however, does not totally explain why he downloaded computer codes associated with nuclear weapons designs in 1993-94, and again in 1997. In fact, he focuses his attention on the earlier download and not at all on those of 1997. "As he did in earlier interviews, he said in his book that the downloading in the 1993-94 period was done "to protect my files, to make a backup copy." He adds, as he did just before his guilty plea to the surprise of his own lawyers, that he had "made more than one backup copy, actually." Why more than one backup? Because, he writes, "there were no lab rules against making copies -- most prudent people keep copies of their important documents." "He also said he had "lost some important codes before, when the [Los Alamos computer] operating system changed, and I didn't want that to happen again." "But, as Los Alamos senior scientists testified at Lee's trial, and another newly published book on the Lee case, "A Convenient Spy," repeats, Los Alamos scientists in the highly classified X Division where Lee worked were repeatedly offered opportunities to copy their own work in case of computer failure, "day by day, even computer stroke by computer stroke," one said recently." ("Los Alamos Scientist Criticizes FBI in Book,"
Walter Pincus, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, January 16, 2002; Page A08) So even if he is innocent of spying charges, there are still critical questions left unanswered - and which he didn't answer in this huge book. Perhaps he will remedy this in the future; for until this is done, there will always be doubts about his complete innocence.
Rating: 
Summary: A journey to political enlightenment
Review: Like most American, Dr. Lee was incredibly naive about his own government. If you don't believe Dr. Lee's version, which was just what I expected from DOE and the Labs management, then you don't understand your government. Like Dr. Lee, I was "investigated" and "followed around" by inept FBI agents, just for working at a National Laboratory and associating with Chinese (my wife and graduate students). In over 20 years at the lab I never worked on nuclear weapons, yet just associating with Asians at the time of Dr. Lee's persecution was enough to damage my career. Unlike some of the other "reviewers", probably Bill Richardson and the like, I know first hand that DOE and our government is guilty of racial bias against Asians and Asian Americans.
Rating:
Summary: no sweet liberty!
Review: Not since the Rosenbergs, has the American press & the American investigatory & justice systems become such a rabid & irresponsible horde. Overnight, a respected, loyal & an ordinary family man; a fly fisher fan, an ardent gardener, who happened to be a scientist at one of this nation's most secret facilities, working alongside hundreds of others in an era of casual security; who happened to have been a naturalized American born on the island of Taiwan which is now fighting for its life with mainland China, became a pariah. Overnight, this middle-aged quiet husband, father, neighbor & scientist became a vilified citizen, an incarcerated prisoner with no legal recourse & the scapegoat for the criminally complacent nuclear facilities program of the US government. Overnight, the investigative branches of that same government, became both the source of civil hysteria & individual harassment. Prior to the Events of 9/11, the government's handling of Wen Ho Lee was literally draconian & illegal, & was neither the FBI's nor the Attorney General's finest hour. If you doubt it - consider how spies in white skins leaving substantive trails of clues, have recently been uncovered & handled! Or CEOs who have bilked us out of billions of dollars! Read MY COUNTRY VERSUS ME & learn about the dignity, keen observational skills & courage of one solitary citizen against a ravening racist horde. Learn too, about the groundswell of valiant supporters, both for Wen Ho Lee & for the very survival of the American Constitution. Lawyers at their worst & best; our bureaucracy at its most intractable. Read it & weep, & then be glad that Wen Ho Lee is one of the very best kinds of Americans!
Rating: 
Summary: An end to all skeptics about Doctor Lee
Review: One suspected all along, given the incredibly bad history of government law enforcement -- fabricating, planting evidence, withholding evidence in order to convict minorities (resulting in 97 recent reversal of death row convictions once DNA evidence was scientifically possible etc.); that the charges against Doctor Lee was trumped up all along. This book put an end to all questions. This is a must read for all who cares about this country. Anonymous
(I love this country but it is not as Abraham Lincoln says equal justice for all)
Rating: 
Summary: Deny.. Deny.. "My" country.
Review: Originally from Taiwan, China, Lee's book doesn't seem to be the "cooperation" he promised the FBI in his dismissal-deal, but instead a launching against them. It must be reiterated, Wen Ho Lee has had the overwhelming backing of the American political system, of universities, of unrivaled special interest groups, and the most renowned journalist sources schooled in treason. The Liberal, Democrat race-card carrying American politicians heavily debilitated anyone towards the center of truth; Lee was saved because his case was exposed at the least dangerous time for those of "color" to commit major crimes -- what some have called the era of "O.J. Justice." The journalism field occupied by a self-admitted 90% Democrat-voting constituency, the college campus intellectual sphere of elitists obsessed with non-white ideology and law schools' churning out reasoning which unfairly professes that racism is "because of whites" ("Critical Race Theory," Delgado), and an eight-year reign by a president (who's pardons didn't require anything having to do with innocence) blew America's legal infrastructure, defense security, and political stability into ruinous conditions -- all well describing how Wen Ho Lee can only be lucky for the backing he received and why it is wrong for Lee to claim the system was against him. In my opinion he was not an innocent in the wrong place, but guilty at the right time, and he is taking advantage of the silence of America's majority. It must be clarified that the apologies issued by both the presiding judge as well as President Clinton were of complete mystery and were typical of cover-up behavior. It cannot be denied that 58 of the counts against Lee were dropped because the necessary court case against him would undoubtedly require further exposure and leaks of more highly secret nuclear information in order to prove the case, and this information leakage was far too great to risk in a trial. The sensitivity of the nuclear-weapons discussions required for his trial is far more severe than any other in history. The idea that a completely airtight trial (to convict Lee) could have been held in secrecy is a fabricated impossibility and furthermore un-American (secret convictions work in Communism, not Democracies), and thus Lee had almost all counts dismissed even though, to this day, FBI Director Louis Freeh has stated that all 59 charges could easily be proven in a court of law. The dismissals were out of reluctance, and Lee capitalizes on them as "innocence." Meanwhile, the cooperation which the FBI was supposed to secure with Lee in agreement to dismiss 58 charges has not been realized, and Lee's rejection of officials in "his" country appears only more suspicious. As far as race is concerned, there was also a substantial amount of behavioral profiling and empirical evidence, and I can see why the FBI saw him as suspect: (a) Lee is a foreign national from a society which is growingly America's number one militaristic rival. (b) Lee has been seen hugging with China's top nuclear engineers (having aggressively pursued contact with them) during the same time phase of which the United States suffered it's worst nuclear espionage from the same country. (c) In a statement of goof and blunder China's top nuclear weapons director Hu Side beamingly admitted to a group of scientists that Wen Ho Lee had made important contributions to China's nuclear weapons program. (d) Lee was witnessed conducting operations out of a hotel room in 1986 and '88 with officials in Beijing, at first denied the events to the FBI during questioning but when told they were recorded confessed his attempted cover-up. (e) Lee's downloading of 400,000 secret files (while maintaining contact with top Chinese government scientists) was illegal, and the destruction of the files and his frantic efforts to reenter the lab by break-in after he was fired from the premises was just too suspicious for me, and not enough reasonable answers have been provided. (f) Clinton's administration purposely disallowed the FBI to place a wiretap on Lee despite authorizing some 700 taps on others. (g) The Clinton presidency was the perfect time for Lee's case to start and finish, as by far the most damaging nuclear, military and technological espionage to occur against the United States of America was authorized while Clinton was in charge. Clinton purposely covered up the incidents (further benefit for Lee in the process), and numerous whistle-blowers were silenced and fired throughout the ranks of law enforcement. The bias of the system was in favor of Wen Ho Lee, not against him.
Rating: 
Summary: The Book, Plus the Judge's Conclusions, Are a Pair
Review: Reading the reviews has been educational and depressing. The book is NOT, by itself, convincing. What should never be forgotten, however, is that the federal judge, who eventually had the facts in front of him--and was able to assess the protagonists face to face--apologized at length to Dr. Lee ad excoriated the federal officials who had been responsible for his prosecution and outrageous treatment in prison. Even the President publicly expressed concerns about the matter. And, of course, we have the fact that the federal grovernment dropped all but a very minor charge despite the humiliation of doing so. Those who imagine that it did so to protect classified information overlook the fact that in case after case of real spies, the trials are held, classified informtion is protected, and convictions are achieved. The claim that the government let Lee go to protect classified information is manifestly bogus. With these calibration points, then, it seems to me that readers would be well advised to take the book seriously for what it is: a highly personal, painful, and bitter account of someone who was outrageously deprived of his rights as a citizen. Officials and FBI officers should have gone to jail. Read as a personal account, the book is riveting and plausible. It is not, however, an analysis. Nor is it in the least even-handed. It offers no data and provides no citations to help researchers. It is just what it says it is, a personal account. I can't rate the book more highly because of its one sidedness, but it's surely a good read when supplemented by the racts of the judge's conclusions and the government's having dropped all charges other than a minor one.
Rating:
Summary: A book full of insight, honesty, sadness and some fun
Review: Reading this book is like having a friendly and long chat with a newly-found friend who is witty, insightful, strong and who has gone through the worst and most injust ordeal. The book is written with the clarity and logic of a top-notch scientist, with the passion and modesty of the once poor farm boy. The book is a superb reality show: dramatic, sad, suspenseful, tragic, funny, and, above all, real.
Rating:
Summary: National Security degrades into a racial profiling witchhunt
Review: Thanks to Dr. Lee for setting the record straight. It's amazing that after all he endured he could triumph and tell his story for all to hear. Anyone thinking that the FBI, CIA, DOJ, are unbiased bodies should think again and read this book. You'll see how easy it is to make someone look guilty in the public eye.
Rating:
Summary: Should make us reevaluate how "free and just" the US is!
Review: Thanks to Dr. Lee for setting the record straight. It's amazing that after all he endured he could triumph and tell his story for all to hear. Anyone thinking that the FBI, CIA, DOJ, are unbiased bodies should think again and read this book. You'll see how easy it is to make someone look guilty in the public eye.
Rating:
Summary: Horror non-fiction
Review: The story told in this book is as scary as a horror fiction, except it really happened ! Dr Lee's advice at the end of the book was absolutely correct - if the FBI comes knocking, call the lawyer before you talk.
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