Rating: 
Summary: Should be in the fiction file
Review: Just finished it and wish I could take it back.
Rating:
Summary: Did Clarke commit perjury?
Review: Richard Clarke was part of the Clinton administration for eight years and nothing was done to stop Al Qaeda. While he lambastes the President of the United States, Clarke fails to mention the possibility of extradition of bin Laden during the Clinton years from both the Sudan and Afghanistan. Nor does he mention the chance to nab bin Laden toward the end of the Clinton administration. Nor does he mention that nothing was done for eight years under Clarke's leadership when the World Trade Centers were bombed for the first time, as well as the USS Cole, and the attacks in Africa and Saudi Arabia. Clarke had eight years, which makes his one-sided attacks regarding a less than eight-month period under Bush hateful and narrow-minded. I don't blame Clinton and I don't blame Bush for our prior inaction. Neither President had specific information from the FBI or CIA about the terrorists planning the attack within our country. Furthermore, from what I gather there has only been reluctance from many quarters to launch preemptive attacks. Bush didn't launch a preemptive attack before 9/11 and the Bush haters are screaming. He did launch a preemptive attack after 9/11 and the Bush haters are still screaming. Confronting terrorism prior to 9/11 was a systemic problem with our intelligence, the Pentagon, other parts of the government, the rest of the world, and all administrations. Even under Reagan, there was no retaliation for the Beirut bombings due to uncertainty over intelligence and questions over how to treat the attacks. These problems continued until 9/11. Since then, President Bush should get credit for finally doing something. Before Bush, both Afghanistan and Iraq (lets not forget that Ansar al-Islam in Northern Iraq is an offshoot of Al Qaeda) were safe havens for terrorists to live, train, plan, execute, and receive money. These places are no longer safe havens and terrorists cannot multiply there with impunity as they did under Clarke during the Clinton administration. Libya has come around and there has been progress with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, and others in cooperating and getting rid of these terrorists. The situation isn't perfect, but much more is being done now than before Bush took office. The terrorists are losing. This is a war and they are being captured, killed, and neutralized. Before they could roam freely, now they have to hide like the murderous cowards they are. The sickening attacks on the President by Clarke and others haters are providing aid and comfort to the terrorists that seek to hurt the U.S. and her citizens. God Bless America and our troops.
Rating: 
Summary: There really are some good people in goverment
Review: After years of deception, obfuscation, swindles and orchestrated misinformation by President Bush, I was starting to wonder if we would ever again know the truth about what happens behind the scenes of government.
Richard Clarke pulls back the curtain. A career member of the Senior Executive Service of the federal government, Clarke documents the past 20 years of U.S. foreign policy in the area of terrorism and other notable events (Iraq/Afghanistan) from Ronald Reagan to the present. His experience and perspective allow us to see the context in which these events unfolded.
He gives credit where credit is due (e.g. Reagan ended the Cold War) but is candid about failings and unintended consequences (Ronald Reagan created Al Qaeda by training and supplying Osama bin Laden's extremists with Stinger missles via Pakistan with Saudi financing to fight the Cold War. Britain supplied them Javelin missiles).
Bill Clinton was the first President to take terrorism seriously as a post-Cold War threat but he was weakened in his fight by the meaningless Republican-inflamed Lewinsky scandal.
All three Republican Presidents failed to even enter the ring of the fight against terrorism. Their priorites were elsewhere (Cold War, Iraq, Lewinsky).
Clarke reveals President Bush's flipflop on Homeland Security. When President Bush realized the legislation in Congress introduced by the Democrats (based on the Hart-Rudman Comission findings of February 2001) was being supported by BOTH parties and showed the Democrats were way ahead of him in the fight against terrorism, the President changed his position and supported the legislation by taking Joe Liberman's name off it (he sponsored it) and renaming it the "Homeland Security Act".
Remember folks, looks are deceiving!
To say this book is fiction is the act of a fool. Much of it is nothing new and has been reported by American media throughout the period.
Clarke just took us to the front line!
Richard Clarke has served his country with honor. He is only trying to offer the American people understanding of a war that the ideologues of the conservative right have grossly mismanaged.
"to protect the Constitution against all enemies....That mission should be our first calling, not unnecesary wars to test personal theories or expiate personal guilt or revenge."- Richard Clarke (from the preface)
Bravo Mr. Clarke, you are a true patriot!
Rating:
Summary: You can smell the truth in it
Review: Considering the ranting of a couple previous reviewers, you can tell this book has struck a motherload of truthfulness. The objective and detailed anaylsis is what you will never get from Rush Limbots or the Fox News channel. It is refreshing to hear the truth from a level headed, registered Republican, conservative, defense hawk, with impeccable credential of the highest level concerning our nations security. Clark has exposed the outright incompetence and coverup of how the administration de-emphasized the internal terrorist threat. There were apple warnings by a multitude of people throughout the government who encouraged putting Bin Laden & Co. on the front burner, but it never happened.
Rating: 
Summary: You're Right, I'm wrong... Al Qaeda doesn't care...
Review: Help! Amazon's been invaded by Moveon.org! I've never seen such pathetic, politically charged drivel in my entire 6 years of reviewing books on Amazon. While we sit here and point fingers at one another (strictly and pitifully along party lines) Osama and crew are plotting the next attack. They want us to be divided, and it looks like we are. Divided nations don't make good decisions. Exactly what Osama and his terrorist brethren are hoping for... If we can cast aside how we feel about Bush, and cast aside how we feel about Richard Clarke for just a minute and look at this whole situation objectively (if you are able to look at things objectively) then its obvious that you cannot "fix" the past. Who's right and who's wrong doesn't really matter, our dead are not coming back. Our government was simply not structured to handle the new form of terror we faced prior to 9/11. Osama was and still is sort of like an AIDS virus, there is no vaccine or cure, and he keeps mutating. We have put in place effective treatment, but he's still deadly. All we can do is hope to adapt as fast as possible and stay one step ahead. Bush, Clinton, Bush 2, and Dick Clarke didn't fly those planes into the WTC, though based on some of the criticism I've read here, Bush 2 may as well have been the co-pilot on all four planes. This type of criticism really unobjective and ignorant because Bush was barely in office long enough (234 Days to be exact) to know who the President of Pakistan was, never mind fixing 20 years of ineptness on behalf of our intelligence agencies. Remember some things, Osama and crew want to KILL US, Democrat, Republican, male, female, independent, whatever. It doesn't matter, Al Qaeda wants you and me DEAD. Terrorism trumps everything else (the economy (a terror attack would destroy the economy), civil rights, Richard Clarke's book, Bush Bashing, Clinton hating, etc) because none of it matters (your opinion or mine)... If we're DEAD. Islamic Extremeists are little more than a modern day KKK. They are Islamic Supremicists. They are serial killers of the worst kind, they kill and discriminate (they are so blinded by their hatred that if you are American, Jewish or a 'suspected collaborator' with either, no questions asked you're executed, no judge, no trial, no jury.) It's their way or the highway. You can't leave terrorist alone, the same way you can't leave a serial killer alone, you have to go after them, or innocent people will continue to die. As I've mentioned, our government through no fault of it's own (the government is not immune to classic organizational failings that every company faces) left the terrorists alone for the past 20 years, and look what that got us... You may disagree with Bush, and that's OK, you may think that Clarke has creidibility problems, so what, maybe you believe Clinton did nothing in his 8 years in office, true or not true none of it matters now. Bush sent out the vice squad to Afghanistan and Iraq, though a link between Saddam and Al Qaeda was never confirmed, no one will dispute that Saddam was a terrorist. Bush used WMD as the reasoning to go into Iraq, but heck, if our intelligence was so inept not to stop 9/11 on our home turf, why's it so hard to believe our intelligence was wrong about WMD half a world away in Iraq? We were so grossly unprepared for this kind of unconventional attack, we didn't even see the threat gathering. Shame on us as a nation of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Be careful how much you criticize Bush for not doing enough to stop 9/11 while he pre-emptively went after Saddam in Iraq. You may sound hypocritical as your ripping him apart for being 'apathetic' about Al Qaeda before 9/11 and ripping him apart for being a 'cowboy' by going into Iraq. You can't have it both ways. No one likes war, it is ugly, it is unfair, innocent people die. But it is a necessary evil to defend our great nation. Don't forget, they attacked us first. Osama declared war on the US in 1997, we didn't take him seriously, we paid dearly, he's running scared today and he HATES GEORGE BUSH, why? Because Bush wants him dead. I only hope we get him before it's too late. Of course, this review and my opinion won't matter... if Osama gets us and we're DEAD.
Rating: 
Summary: Clarke is professional and honest
Review: First of all, I have read this book cover to cover. How many of the reviewers have? In my mind the most important fact is that Clarke was there and tried his best to offer advice to his presidents in a non-partisan way which is what good civil servants are supposed to do. That his advice was not taken or acted upon is regretful, but the blame for failure lies around the table not with his perceived weakness of not handling things efficiently. After all, the commander in chief has got to make the final decision not a staff member. Now then, for the Republicans attacking this book, I think one has to see clearly from what Clarke proposed in the book, that he was hawkish in most circumstances. Clinton the dove of peace failed to measure up and his team dawdled while Osama plotted. Tenet said as much in his TV appearance and accepted blame for the CIA not having the proper focus, but truthfully what else could he do? Bush apparently mishandled Osama from the start with his pathological vendetta against Saddam consumming his passions, time, and energy. Clarke spells this all out quite convincingly giving us names, dates, memos, conversations, and other fairly reliable data to judge the scenario. This is seminal reading on the terrorist threat for the objective reader who wants more facts and less spin than the White House allows us. As for poor Leslie Stahl, why in heaven's name attack her? Perhaps her detractors would rather have Connie Chung hold the interview or even Rush himself, the epitome of objectivity and decency in the media.
Rating:
Summary: Finally...Let the Truth Be Told!
Review: It's about time someone stood up to the hypocracy that is the Bush Administration! Reading this entire book in ONE SITTING, many unanswered questions are brought to life and answered, not only for the families who lost loved ones on 9/11, but for the nation as a whole! And right now the Bush cronies are in a mad panic to save-face, including VP Cheney and his truly inane "recollections" of Clarke not being present during any of the post-9/11 meetings (yeah, that makes total sense as Clarke was the Counterterrorism Czar...HELLO!!) Oh, and ATTN: MICHAEL T - did you even read the book??? Your so-called review below looks like it's based on a newscast you saw, not a reaction to actually reading the book. There's a difference there, sir!
Rating:
Summary: 1 and 2 star raters are the sore losers
Review: They obviously have their heads buried so far up Bush's backside they can't even SEE the truth, let alone know what it is. Read their rants and it's obvious that to them, this is the most serious threat yet to Bush's credibility on Iraq with people who have either given him the benefit of the doubt or not kept informed so far.
Consider that Bush stoolies in the media have gone so far as to insinuate Clarke is a racist for not kissing up to Rice, and you get the story.
If you want the story and don't know it, read the book, not their pathetic whinings.
Rating:
Summary: An enlightening and insightful view -- the truth will out
Review: This book provides an insightful view of our national security 'policy' It should be required reading by all Americans interested in learning how our government has handled the war on terror (critisms on both Clinton and Bush administrations are included by the way). Intelligence, facts and an understanding of history should be included in making national security policy decisions. Unfortunately, Bush appears to have been incapable of doing so in waging war on terror. This text outlines how Bush and his administration have missed opportunities and misdirected our efforts on the war on terror, by taking us to Iraq, underfunding our agencies (in favor of huge tax cuts), and alienating us from much of the world. We need someone who can understand complex and nuanced information (rational, intelligent thought) in the White House -- we cannot hope to win the war on terror with the current policies that are in place. Regardless of your own political 'bent' take the time to look the facts. Don't be afraid of the truth...Mr. Clarke provides us with a view of the world we live in and helps us to understand how we got where we are today...This is a must read book.
Rating:
Summary: Against all Emenies Richard Clarke
Review: This book should be in the fiction catagory.
I give it no stars. Its a disgrace to write such a book
when we are in a time of war.
Richard Clarke is just spewing sour grapes. To bad for
him he could of went out on a high note, but looks like
a fool or worst now. Shame Shame on Clarke.I'm sure he will
pushing his book at the democrat convention later this
year.
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