A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies

Rating:
Summary: Truth, War and Presentations
Review: On the face of it this is the type of book that I would usually give a bad review for. Its over promise and under deliver dust jacket description and the jerky subject matter layout make it somewhat aggravating to read. On the other hand what is detailed is so interesting and well written that I found I really enjoyed the book. The book is basically three different books, a review of the 9 / 11 event, a review of why the NSA and CIA had fallen on their faces so badly with the terrorist attacks, and the lead up to the Iraq war. On any of the three subjects I can point you to books that do a better job of detailing out each topic, but I have to give the author credit, he knows how to write in a way that brings excitement to each page.

I read the authors other book on the NSA and it was so detailed and well written that I expected this book to be the same. Maybe this was an unrealistic assumption, but if you are coming to this book after reading his last be warned that this book does not have the detail of his last. With that said, he does get high marks for what he chooses to put in the book. For example, he covers a number of aspects of the 9 / 11 attack that I have not read in other books including what was going on in the military command structure and NORAD during the attacks, a good amount of detail about what the 911 calls from the towers were detailing and probably the full story of the Air Force pilots that were sent into the air on that day.

The best part of the book and probably the most juicy as far as gossip goes in the detail he shares about the pre UN preparation that Colin Powell went through. The author had a heck of a good source because there is a enough detail to make Woodward jealous. The creation of the presentation sounded like a multiple day dog fight with Colin Powell getting brow beet into making a presentation that only your mother or a neo-conservative would love. I bet you that this is the most interesting review of those meeting we will get until Powell writes his own book on the matter. Overall I enjoyed the book a good deal. I was disappointed with the amount of detail on each topic, but it worked out well all together. If you are interested in the topic then you will enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: This book will be a reference work for American history.
Review: The Bamford book is huge in it's ramifications. He is a careful analyst, and a good structuralist in his writing. I happen to believe his research, but I am not overly uncritical if I need to be. I strongly recommend this book, and that is on the basis that is is packed with vital, need-to-know information that Americans deserve to have.
Ross Bartlett from El Cajon, California, seemed oddly dissonant in his review. I therefore went over to his review listings for a surf. Well, well: turns out Ross doesn't "read" all the books he reviews. I strongly suspect that he uses the Amazon 'preview' feature to skim a page or two.. I note from his list of "reviewed" books that he is a tireless troll working for the Hard Right - I call these ugly Americans 'Psycho-patriots', because they are mindless about their dogma.
Dear old Ross, a man fossilized in time and in belief (he seems to be a (heh heh) *Mormon*.... is using Amazon review priviledges to uncritically slam books he may not even have read - how much one considers this an indictment of the rabid Right Wing in American politics is up to you - I think it's pathetic.
Ross, do please mail me [e-mail] and get a bigger serve of what you obviously need.
Buy the book, learn how deeply you have been betrayed by your government. Lend the book to others. Get angry, then take action.

Rating:
Summary: Useless Reading
Review: This "book" is a fine example of political propoganda. Comparing the assasination of Kennedy to 911...apples to oranges. Airforce one is a technological wonder in Mr. Bamfords eyes. Yet, according to same, the President cannot lead a country from there. The President can only lead the country from the oval office. Just one out of a plethora contradictions found in the first 100 pages. I guess our leader needs to be placed in harms way to get Mr. Bamfords approval. Thank goodness this "book" was a gift. After 100 pages I coundn't take it anymore. A rediculous waste of print.

Rating:
Summary: Whose foreign policy is it, anyway?
Review: This book is worth buying just for Chapters 11-14 alone. If anyone has any doubts that the Iraq war is massive fraud perpertrated by a neocon cabal of mainly Jews in the interests of Israel's security, then all the insiders Bamford quotes in support of this view are in some giant conspiracy. Not possible. As Bamford discusses at great length with copious quotations from people on the inside, not one reason given by Bush and the cabal for going to war was true. Not one. No WMD's, no connection to Al Qaeda, no nuclear, biological or chemical threat to anyone, no pilotless drones launced from ships, no uranium purchases from Niger. Nothing. In fact, the war was planned before 9/11. 9/11 provided the 'pretext for war,' as Bamford has it in his title.
Now what? How do we get out of this mess? Is Israel any more secure because Saddam Hussein is gone? I doubt it. How many dead Jews because of the war? None, as far as know. How many dead American soldiers? As of 11/15, about 1200. How many dead Iraqis? According to the British medical journal, The Lancet, between 60,000 and 100,000. All for what?

Rating:
Summary: A lying Administration!
Review: This is an alarming book. Not only are our intelligence agencies incompetent, but also the managers in charge allow their employees' hard work to be politically manipulated.
This is what we must do:
1- Get rid of the Bush Administration - who fabricated intelligence evidence in order to lead us into an unjustified war and:
2 - re-order the intelligence communities so they will be able to be more effective in the future without being tampered by politicians.
In all - a must read for all concerned citizens.

Rating:
Summary: Deceptions that led to the Iraq War
Review: This is an excellent book. A lot of people need to read this book in order to start asking the right questions about the Iraq war. Not only questions about how good the intelligence was linking Iraq to 9/11 and Al Qaeda (much of it is either fraudulent or nonexistent, according to the book) but also questions about why leaders who saw how bad the intelligence was allowed the Bush administration to continue using the intelligence with impunity.