Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA

Rating:
Summary: Superficial, but readable
Review: Anyone interested in the Iran-Contra issue should have read this book. But the title, is a bit misleading. Woodward focuses too much on the Iran-Contra issue (and superficially at that) to the detriment of other CIA and DoD paramilitary/covert activities during the era of the 80s.
Furthermore, the way Woodward wove himself into the storyline would lead one to believe that he was a key character in the whole Casey-era saga. Fortunately, this is hardly the case.
Nevertheless, the book is a good review of the key players at the macro-level who were creating policy. Of note, the interaction between Goldwater and Casey is enlightening.
If you really want to get to the meat of CIA/DoD secret activities during this era, Steve Emerson's "Secret Warriors" will provide far more insight into the covert activities of the 80s.

Rating:
Summary: Superficial, but readable
Review: Anyone interested in the Iran-Contra issue should have read this book. But the title, is a bit misleading. Woodward focuses too much on the Iran-Contra issue (and superficially at that) to the detriment of other CIA and DoD paramilitary/covert activities during the era of the 80s.
Furthermore, the way Woodward wove himself into the storyline would lead one to believe that he was a key character in the whole Casey-era saga. Fortunately, this is hardly the case.
Nevertheless, the book is a good review of the key players at the macro-level who were creating policy. Of note, the interaction between Goldwater and Casey is enlightening.
If you really want to get to the meat of CIA/DoD secret activities during this era, Steve Emerson's "Secret Warriors" will provide far more insight into the covert activities of the 80s.

Rating:
Summary: A biased view of history
Review: As an historian, this book fails in many ways. Woodward has strong liberal leanings, and he continually allows his own biases to show through in his research. If he had used this book for a doctoral dissertation, it would have gotten slammed by his dissertation committee.

Fortuantely for him, American readers are much more attracted to unsubstantiated dirt than they are to hard historical research.

Something that troubles me throughout this book is how Woodward takes Casey to task for his slurring of words during his public speaking, only to mention in passing at the very end of the book that Casey had been suffering from an unknown cancerous growth in his brain.

Another interesting point. Woodward hammers the CIA for allowing a few of their employees to get away with spying (and they should have been hammered for this), but he sees nothing wrong with the press publishing as many secrets as they can. In some ways, it appears the Russians were wasting their money on paying spys, when the Washington Post was working so hard to provide all these secrets for the price of a subscription.

My final note is that Woodward obviously sees himself as the bright star protecting the American public from political powerbrokers in our nation's capital. Unfortunately, he has been noticably quiet in regards to the many dangerous and threatening policies put forth by the Clinton Administration.

My final comment. I found this book to be very flawed and biased.

Rick Varley University of Hawaii

Rating:
Summary: Always An Interesting Author
Review: I am a big fair of Woodward, so much so that I would even consider reading his shopping list. With that said I will give him a little slack on the Casey deathbed revelations. I think if the author would have know the level of scorn he has received concerning the "Casey confession" he may have used a tape recorder.

Overall this book gives the reader some very interesting stories about the Regan years and his use of the CIA. The reader of any book covering a review of a set of government policies that had a very firm stamp of approval or even the direction of the President will always fall on side or another on if the book is a truthful and "shocking" exposé or a "political bias hatchet job". I think that is one of the fun things about this book, no matter what side of the argument you are on; you will experience some emotion while reading this book. If you are also very interested in this subject it is interesting to go back into time and read his review and then compare it to some of the new facts on the subject.

Overall, this is another Woodward book, well written and constructed, very detailed and full of a lot of conversations that make you feel that you are involved, not just page after page of monotone lecturing. I wish he spent a little more time on footnotes so that the reader could be a better judge to the research he puts into the book and the sources used. If you like Woodward, you will love this book. If you have leanings to the left then you will have a lot of "you see" stories to tell, and if you are a strong Reaganite then you will be happy with the strong effort described in the book to defeat the USSR.

Rating:
Summary: Woodward garbage
Review: The controversy of this book was the "death bed" confession of William Casey Woodward claimed to hear, that Mrs. Casey said never could have happened, since Woodward was never left alone with Casey in his hospital room. I thought, would Woodward lie? at the time of this book's publication. Having read SILENT COUP, a big part of which documents Woodwards monstrous lies when covering Watergate, I now believe Mrs. Casey. That slices the value of this book to nothing. (But read SILENT COUP, preferrably the paperback version with an "update.")

Rating:
Summary: A contemporary account of still important issues
Review: While this book may be a little old now, having been written prior to the first George Bush's Presidency, there are still insights into government operations as well as tidbits that are relevant today. Veil follows the tenure of the Director of the CIA Bob Casey. It begins with Reagan's election and ends with Casey's death. The book is written mostly from firsthand interviews (Casey wanted some of what he was saying to be put directly in the book).

During the course of the book readers will see names like Ariel Sharon appear (no Osama is never mentioned). For those interested in wondering how some of today's issues came into being you will see a glimpse herein.

There are, however, many operations that are discussed and at one point it is easy to lose track of which one is being discussed. Furthermore, for those readers who did not live through the time period or who were too young to care then, some of the names and events will seem very unfamiliar.

This is indeed a book full of Woodward's writing style with many events two decades old. That does not mean, however, that it doesn't offer pertinent insight .