Rating: 
Summary: A great read ... accessible writing
Review: Even if this book weren't the topic of the day, it'd be well worth your attention. Richard Clarke has a smooth writing style that makes complicated issues easy to understand, and he has a fine sense of what it takes to hold a reader's interest. Whether you're on the left, the right, or in the middle, this volume contains information you should consider -- then accept or reject -- before you vote in November. My own reaction was that Clarke's voice is a persuasive one, but one thing did bother me as I zipped through the pages: there are a lot of direct quotes made by various people, and I have to wonder how Clarke's memory could be so verbatim. Did he keep notes? A diary? Or is he just giving us the flavor of the remarks made by others, not meaning for us to take them as word for word quotes? I had this same reaction to All The President's Men, a wonderful book that had details that I doubt the authors could truly know (such as the thoughts of the players in the political drama they covered, or what they were looking at in a given moment, etc.).
Rating:
Summary: Thank you.
Review: Thank you Mr. Clarke for your apology to the victims of 9/11.
You are a stand-up guy and a real hero, to oppose the bullies in the White House like you've done.
Your book is a brilliant read and confirms ALL of my suspicions about 9/11 and the Iraq war that followed.I have never seen such a fearsome, and deceitful administration as this one and I greatly appreciate your courage to tell the truth.
I feel a little bit safer now that they've been brought down a bit.
Rating:
Summary: An End to Bush's Terrorism
Review: Let's all face the facts. If it wasn't for Americus dominate-the-world attitude, we would never have gotten bombed in 2001. Bush is a bigger terrorist than Uzama. Those guys at Fox News are playing a tape of Clark from 2002 in which he clearly stated that Bush's fight against terrorism was great from day #1. What a slur!!! The right wing should never use someone's own earlier words to contradict his later words. I change my mind all the time! And now their going to declassify Senate testimony in which Clark additionally said, under oath, the exact opposite of what he said the other day in front of the 911 commission. A intellijent guy like Clark, like all us new democrats, should be able to change his story as often as Clinton changed bimbos.
Rating:
Summary: A Quick Review--Get It!
Review: Right now I'm on Chapter Four and enjoying it very much. (I had gone to see Ambassador Joe Wilson speak in Seattle a few months ago, and he mentioned this book as one that was going to be very damaging to Bush because Clarke knew where all the skeletons were--so I put it on back-order at Amazon.com that night. It arrived on Wednesday).
Chapter One relived September 11th from Clarke's point of view, which was the point of view of the guy running the crisis response team from the basement of the White House...in other words, a pretty damn interesting point of view.
The subsequent chapters have been a fast-paced review of US foreign policy in the Middle East beginning in 1979 with the Soviet's invasion of Afghanistan and our urgent response of increasing our presence in the Middle East. Clarke was in the thick of a lot of the key events in the Middle East, including the first Gulf War.
According to Clarke, Osama bin Laden, a Saudi and hard-core Muslim fundamentalist, was outraged that the Saudi government allowed the US to remain in the country after the war was over. Clarke implies that the reason we had to remain in Saudi Arabia is because Bush I made the mistaken decision to allow the Republican Army to escape pretty much intact rather than destroying it when we had the opportunity.
We also outraged the Arab world when we allowed Saddam to brutally suppress the Shia and Kurds when they rose up against him right after the war--as we had encouraged them to do.
The book has covered a great deal of interesting ground already, and I'm less than a quarter of the way through it. It's relatively light on historical details, so it helps if you're generally familiar with US foreign policy since 1979 before reading it. On the other hand, if you are less than familiar with events such as our misadventures in Lebanon, this book may entice you to brush up on your history.
Rating:
Summary: It's about time
Review: First, let me say that regardless of the controversy, this book is an amazing primer on terrorism and al-Qaeda. Secondly, it's about time that the lies, deceit, and arrogance of the BushCo administration were exposed. Thank you, Richard Clarke. Certainly a good number of factors and events precipitated the 9/11 catastrophe. It is doubtful that anyone could have anticipated all the actions necessary to have prevented it; however, based on Clarke's assertions, members of the Bush administration didn't even try. Were Clarke, regardless of his former government service position, the only person making such claims, they would be laughable; however, considering that several other ranking officials formerly included in Bush's inner circle have told similar and overlapping tales, and considering his long service to three Republican Presidents and one from the other side of the aisle, and considering that he, himself is a Republican hawk of the first order, his testimony is particularly damning. That the Bushies are running in circles in their conflicting and pathetic attempts to discredit Clarke instead of going about their business protecting the country from terrorism and getting reelected is more telling than the admissions of guilt they cannot afford to make. If the conduct of Bush's predecessor who embarrassed the country with what went on beneath the desk in the oval office was an impeachable offense; then the actions of the current administration, were it not that their party controls both houses of congress, are treasonable. Their conduct is outrageous, untenable, unconscionable ... there simply aren't words one can use in polite company to describe or condemn these people. Bush and his cronies are who give politicians a deservedly bad name. Another book well worth reading: "Worse than Watergate" by John Dean.
Rating: 
Summary: The only question is when was he lying?
Review: Richard Clarke is on his way to perjury charges. The only question is was he lying to the Intelligence Committee of Congress or was he lying to the 9/11 commission.
Rating:
Summary: Best thing since sliced bread!
Review: This is a winner. At last the truth!
Rating:
Summary: Just finished the book.
Review: Now we know why this administration doesn't want an open hearing. Also considering the fact of Rice's refusal to testify under oath,the picture becomes ruefully clear. This administration is more concerned with furthering its own ideological agenda,than in protecting America.
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Summary: Misdirected vengence - and Bush is letting it happen.
Review: Good ole American xenophobia and hatred fuel the War in Iraq. Since we haven't been able to track down the real 9/11 conspirators, Saddam and Iraq have served as a sufficient proxy. The Bush political machine is letting this happen despite the truth laid bare by Richard Clarke. It is unfortunate that Bush is advancing so perilous a policy for the sake of blind ideology and supportive polling from his core conservative base which wants Arab blood, Iraqi blood, on their hands as revenge for 9/11. What gets Richard Clarke and so many other critics is the squandered opportunity that Bush had for leadership post 9/11. Instead he has opted to speak in the same religiously vitriolic tones of the mullahs, etc.. he opposes. He needs to stop talking about "us and them" and silencing critics as "with the terrorists". The President of the United States needs to be above this dishonorable behavior. Oh yeah, what ever happened to the Road Map for Peace - another deception!
Rating:
Summary: Read this before you vote.
Review: If you think the Bush administration is "tough on terror," think again. This book blows the lid off that claim--and then some. Richard Clarke is no tree-hugging liberal, either; he served as counter-terrorism czar under Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II. While he highlights mistakes made by the Clinton and Bush I administrations, he saves the bulk of his contempt for Bush II, who, in his estimation, concentrated on the phantom threat of Iraq from day-one, rather than concentrating on the all-too-real one posed by Al Qaeda. This invaluable account, along with the Paul O'Neill book, "The Price of Loyalty," paints a stunning picture of a White House bent on "getting Saddam" at all costs--in this case, the lives of thousands of innocents in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
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