Rating: 
Summary: woohoo!
Review: (...) people who think dick clarke is Satan's 2nd cousin do their best to paint him as a conniving, lying, traitorous psycho and those who think Bush is some sort of war-loving demon with oil in his veins hail mr. clarke as some sort of jesus/ben franklin/rocky kinda guy. some of these 'reviews' are quite hilarious though i guess, which counts for something. i especially like mr. hellyer's angry and explosive schtuff that is almost as funny as it is poorly-written. i like the one about the wrestling thing too. so i guess i'm writing to review the reviews which isn't terribly clever i realize. it's silly. like most of this crap. so please, let's just review the book, ok? ok. thanks. i'm purchasing the book today, so i'll get back with a review AFTER i read it. i capitalized the letters in 'after' to add emphasis and maybe some obvious comical irony. isn't that fantastic? wow.
Rating: 
Summary: READ IT FIRST KIDS
Review: "Readers" who place repeated posts of 1*, who "quote" the Bible and who have headings like this "Hindsight is 20/20 In retrospeck" (sic) do more than they intend to in underscoring Clarke's points about lack of clarity, obfuscation and obstruction. People, turn off the ranters on all sides (Hannity, Moore) and read as much as you can. Your jingoistic screeds undermine your understandble message of frustration and hope.If you want to appear fair-minded, READ THE BOOK before you comment on it.
Rating:
Summary: Clarke is an American Hero
Review: Please, do yourself a favor and read Richard Clarke's book, Against All Enemies. Your doubts about the negligence of this government (the Bush Administration) will forever be put to rest. There is little doubt why the Bush White House is in full panic mode. Try as they might, they will not assassinate the credibility of Clarke. He is untouchable. Anyone who happened to catch today's edition of Meet the Press will understand what I'm saying. This is the beginning of the end of George W. Bush.
Rating:
Summary: Let's focus on the *book* now. . .
Review: First off. Amazon.com is not a political forum. There are plenty of political forums you can go to if you wish to have an endless debate without having read the book.With that out of the way, here's the opinion of someone who has read the book. I approached this book with an open mind. I'm an indepedent, was a strong supporter of the Iraq war and of Bush's handling of the war on terror. After reading this book everything I believed was turned on its head. This book is a shocking indictment of the Bush administration's lackadaisical attitude to terrorism in the months leading up to 9/11. It also exposes a much more sinister fact, that the attacks of 9/11 served as a pretext to the administration's agenda of commencing a war on Iraq. Clarke does an excellent job of putting forth ample facts to back up this conclusion. Don't take my word for it, read the book. This book is not a political diatribe about the Bush administration. Clarke lays blame across the board, without regard to party affiliation. I'm an attorney and have worked for the federal government in that capacity. I can say without question that you do not get to be in such a sensitive position for 30 years unless you are impeccable in the performance of your public duties. For these reasons, I believe Clarke is wholly credible in his account. His story has also been supported by numerous persons who have nothing to gain, and possibly everything to lose by supporting him. Clarke has done America a public service. Putting the lives of American soldiers in harms way for expedient political gain was an unconscionable act committed by the Bush administration. After reading this book, I've come to the conclusion that the Bush administration has blood on it hands for its handling of the war on terror by engaging in a war that has diverted precious military resources from the war on terror. Certainly, no one thinks not having Saddam in power is a bad thing, but the fact of the matter is that the Iraq war was the wrong war at the wrong time. It has marred our relationship with many important allies and has resulted in the spawning of many eager persons willing to engage in martyrdom against the U.S., playing right into the hands of the enemy. I urge any potential readers of this book, even those out there with your opinions already formed, to approach this book with an open mind. You may be surprised about how you feel about our administration afterward. Clarke's book shows how the Bush administration has obfuscated the war in Iraq with the war on terror, and he has done so in a very convincing fashion. I've come away with the belief that this administration has betrayed the trust of the American people. Although I'm not a big supporter of John Kerry, I feel it's time that this administration needs to be removed from power. They have failed us.
Rating: 
Summary: John Kerry & Democrats thank you Clarke!
Review: any attacks on GWBII and his administration, even if they are not truthful are greatly appreciated. Perhaps you can be Kerry's running mate. You both are flim-flam-ish and don't seem to have any respect for facts or reality. You have already earned Kerry's respect. Sounds like you two would make a great team. Kinda of like Abbott & Costello, except, at least they were funny.
Rating:
Summary: Please read the book before reviewing it.
Review: Reviewer: Carl Hellyer (see more about me) from Graham, WA
says " Reading the reviews of this book, I find it very insightful how many persons choose to ignore the true facts in favor of revisionist history writers such as Clarke, merely to cling to the desperate hope that......." ...... i gave it a 3 only because the field is required. I have not read it and neither have you. Please refrain from evaluating it until you have read it.
you should do the same...
Rating:
Summary: Hindsight is 20/20 In retrospeck,
Review: how does this book or this information help u s now? And if Clarke was doing such a great job in 8 years under Clinton, how come we had any terror left at all? Were was Clarke during the WTC bombing in 1993? Hmmmmm?
Rating: 
Summary: A good national discussion, but read with two eyes open.
Review: If I could sum up this book in one short paragraph, I would say Clarke's message is: "I was warning people about Al Qaeda for years before 9/11, but nobody took me seriously enough to do anything substantial about it. Although there were people in the Bush (Sr.) and Clinton administrations who recognized the threat from Al Qaeda, the bureaucracies of the FBI, CIA, and Department of Defense stymied effective action against Bin Laden and his organization, against the explicitly stated policies of President Clinton. When the Bush (Jr.) adminsitration came to power, things got worse; I was repeatedly delayed in getting Al Qaeda on the president's agenda. And after 9/11 occurred, the administration gave a half-hearted response in Afghanistan, and used the attacks to further a pre-existing agenda to remove Saddam, the result of which has been a drastic lessening of America's security because attacking Iraq played right into Al Qaeda's hands by showing America to the Muslim world to be exactly what Al Qaeda says it is: A country that is at war with Islam. And here are my suggestions for fixing this problem." To what extent the above is true, you should decide for yourself by reading the book. I can add a few points of interest, however: 1) There is little in the book that is previously unavailable information; this is one man's interpretation of events rather than a 'kiss-and-tell' revelation of dark secrets. If you have read the NY Times and The Economist on a regular basis, there is little here that will surprise you. The only factual information that was a revelation to me was the true extent to which we were combatting Iranian terrorism in the 90's, and the direct actions we took against their intelligence services. 2) The book is not meant to be a balanced analysis of global antiterrorism strategy. It starts with Reagan (I was surprised we did not at least go back to the 1973 Israeli-Arab war) and ends with the present day. It is one man's cry of 'why doesn't anyone LISTEN to me and do the right thing?' rather than a scholarly work. 3) The bureaucratic infighting, reluctance to change, and unwillingness to share information described of the CIA and FBI are nothing new to anyone who has worked in a medium or larger-sized public-sector company. I'm sure there are Dilbert cartoons all over the offices and cubicles of agents world-wide. Some of the stories are rather embarassing if true; for example, after the Sarin attacks in Japan in 1995, the FBI said there were no members of the Aum Shinri Kyo in the United States. Clarke says he then suggested the New York office look in the Yellow Pages, and there they were. 4) The above said, I am sure there are many hard-working members of the FBI and CIA who are frustrated with the speed and expertise with which intelligence relevant to counter-terrorism is processed. We all saw this two years ago when Rowley blew the whistle on the failure of her superiors to investigate Zacarias Moussaoui. 5) Clarke's criticisms of previous and ongoing bureaucratic gridlock are, if true, fair. His criticism of the decision to invade Iraq is a bit simplistic; there are strong arguments to be made against such an invasion (inflaming the Muslim world and thus spawning a whole new generation of terrorists being among them), but there are also strong geo-political arguments, if a bit Machiavellian, for ensuring the world - not just the United States - has predictable, ongoing access to the one material that underpins the entire world economy, thus placing food on the tables of billions: oil. (This review is not the place to argue such points, however!) 6) The end of the book is disappointing, and feels heavily edited. Clarke's program for fixing things is a bit facile and covers only a few pages: 'Improve relations with the Islamic world' and 'take Islam back from those who would turn it into a religion of hate' are easier said than done. Then again, as I said before, this book was not meant to be a scholarly treatise; it is more a call to action. Final synopsis: 4 stars, read with both eyes open, and don't make this your sole source of information for evaluating U.S. strategic policy. But it is definitely worth a read, and this is a discussion the nation should have.
Rating:
Summary: Well written, informed, honest, and, above all, interesting
Review: In a more "normal" world Mr Clarke's book would not be so inflammatory. It is not particularly partisan; he goes back a long time and critizes all four previous administrations. Much of his critisism also is reserved for CIA and FBI, which are supposed to be apolitical organizations. No, the real issue here is that the present administration does not accept critisism in any form. Especially not over their supposed "strong leadership" in the "war against terror". It is also obvious that Mr Clarke's critisism has hit a sore spot since the White House concentrate on destroying his credibility rather than conutering his arguments. The book also makes a point between the lines of the book that is actually quite important: Yes, the president did have regular briefings with the CIA. The president did not understand the danger. The president's lack of brains is actually a danger to this country.
Rating:
Summary: May this book be the beginning of a new honesty in gov't
Review: Why is multiple review posting allowed here? It skews the ratings (very undemocratic, Mr. Carl Hellyer).
"Against All Enemies" finally allows those of us with eyes to point out that the Emperor is indeed naked. Clarke is lying? Fine -- declassify his previous testimony, like he himself has requested. ALL such testimony. Set the whole truth free.
And a distinction - Mr. Hellyer writes, "Everyone's been shouting about how Bush is a cowboy and a warmonger, now the same people are shouting he's soft?!" What's the contradiction? You don't see the difference between showy big-biz endeavors, like Stars Wars and the Iraq war, and REAL defense, like quiet counter-terrorism and diplomacy? Clarke shows how GWB obsessed with the former, which make us less safe, while disdaining the latter, which make us more safe.
If the book speaks the truth, Clarke has performed a great service to the country, and indeed the world. If the book is the self-serving propaganda claimed by some, then open the government's arsenals of secrets and prove it.
| 
