Rating: 
Summary: Why Mr. Posner Slept
Review: This book was different than I had expected from the title. I thought it was going to be similar in form to the Kennedy book Why England Slept. The Kennedy book compared the two forms of governments fascism and democracy and why one type prepared for war more quickly than the other. Then give some conclusions on how each system worked. This book was not like this. The book is chronological in form. It starts out with the faction fighting between the Jewish community and Muslims community in New York. It tells how al Quaeda got started and who their leaders were. This was hard to follow, who every one was and where they were from, a couple of graphics or charts would have been helpful or a little biography at the end on each character in the appendix. He tells how Osa bin Ladin and other members of al Quaeda built up a terrorist network from the ground up and implicating several Arab nations helping out. Some helped out to achieve their clandestine goals other supplied funds to keep them out of their country, like protection money. Throughout this entire book he tells about the conflict between the CIA and FBI and how they would not cooperate in sharing information. He doesn't say but the competition and lack of cooperation between the two agencies seemed to be the major reason for September 11th. He tells about the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the bombing of different embassies over the years leading up to the USS Cole bombing. The most interesting part about the book was the way al Quaeda created all of its funding. All the funding came from here in America. Some through different scams but most of them came through Muslim charities and fund raisers. I found it hard to believe some of the quotes at these fund raisers where the speakers would say "Kill all Jews and Christians" and wanted to kill all moderate Muslims. It made the book seem more slanted and less accurate. The story of the Holy Land charity intrigued me. They got money for widows of martyrs. Well this is what I think about martyrs. First you got these guys who are too lazy to take care of their families so to get out of it they go and kill themselves and as many other people as they can so they don't have to work for a living. Then this charity wants you to give money to their families. It's a terrible cycle. He tells how President Clinton terror policy was non existent. After the first World Trade Center bombing he didn't go to visit it and never saw the CIA director until two years later. His policy was based on the polls and he would not react unless the polls said it was favorable. He was very concern about his Presidency having American causalities so he would just pull troops out when there was trouble. He was like Neville Chamberlain appeasing the Nazis before World War II. It had the same effect, it made Bin Ladin feel stronger and stronger and more willing to do more acts of terror. When the hijackers arrive he tells more about the bumbling of the FBI and INS in tracking them. He tells how simple they would have been able to catch them is they had all the databases they needed but budget constrictions on terror stopped that. He next goes into the connection in Germany and how German officials didn't give up the ring leaders because it was implied that they were double agents. Finally the author tell the story of how they captured and interrogated Zubaydah. This implied that the Saudi Royal family knew about September 11th and did not tell us. All those involved in the Royal family were eliminated to avoid embarrassment. Well I thought that the book was interesting in the facts that it presented. I think Mr. Posner should get a new editor because the book was put together like a high school term paper.
There were things in the notes that should have been part of the main text. As I said before some charts or biographies of the characters should have been included. As for the last chapter it seems like a fabrication because I don't believe that Mr. Posner could get that detail information about our interrogation of prisoners. Mr. Posner treatment of Saudi's throughout the book is demeaning so he must have his own agenda on them. As for my recommendation, you could read it if you want background information on the subject but make sure it is not the only one that you read.
Rating: 
Summary: An Important Book That Every American Should Read
Review: As a detailed, carefully documented exposé of ignorance, complacency, shortsightedness and negligence, WHY AMERICA SLEPT is perhaps the most important of the recent books addressing various aspects of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. A similar case could be made for James Bovard's TERRORISM AND TYRANNY, which examines not causes but effects, specifically the government's response to 9/11, which has consisted largely of an unprecedented assault on the Bill of Rights, especially in the areas of privacy and due process. It is a vastly important book that every American ought to read. Gerald Posner's concern, however, is with life-and-death issues, primarily the question of why the intelligence community failed to discover the al-Qaeda plot to hijack civilian airliners and crash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Although Posner's approach is generally detached and restrained, he has conceded that he was "infuriated" by some of his discoveries and "disgusted" in particular by President Clinton's failure to neutralize the threat posed by the al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. Posner provides details of opportunities to capture bin Laden, opportunities that he says Clinton either ignored or rejected. Moreover, he says, Clinton declined offers by both Sudan and Qatar to arrest bin Laden and deliver him to the United States. Perhaps for purposes of comic relief, Posner also quotes Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, as saying that as early as 1996 the administration was "trying to get bin Laden with everything we had." In this carnival of boneheadedness and floundering incompetence, Posner recounts one outrage after another. Among the worst, in terms of consequences, was the unwillingness of the FBI and CIA to cooperate and share information. Each had information of vital importance to the other, but the rules of their long-standing rivalry prohibited mature behavior. An FBI agent who asked the CIA for information about Zacarias Moussaoui received an official reprimand for doing so. Moussaoui was one of those aviation students who wanted to learn how to steer large airliners but had no interest in learning how to take off or land. The FBI agent was Coleen Rowley, one of the very few figures in this bleak history who behaved intelligently and honorably. WHY AMERICA SLEPT is filled with evidentiary specifics that attest to the thoroughness of Posner's research, and one suspects that this former Wall Street lawyer might have been happier as a prosecutor. But having turned to investigative reporting --- he is now the author or co-author of ten books --- Posner apparently finds sufficient satisfaction in fulfilling the imperative of the people's right to know, and in this book, most decisively, the people's need to know. He has pinpointed individual anomalies and systemic weaknesses that made America vulnerable to attack. This much and no more lies within the bounds of investigative reporting; readers have a shared responsibility to press for the necessary corrections to the problems he has identified. --- Reviewed by Harold V. Cordry
Rating: 
Summary: Keep an open mind...
Review: This author is the same Mr Posner who won fame in 1993 when he became the foremost advocate of the official 'story' of the Kennedy Assassination. In that book his footnotes often lead nowhere, or direct the reader to sources whose pages say the opposite of what Posner attributes to them.
Just like that book, this one reassures people who are in the market for reassurance. The author continues to practice his chosen vocation of making himself useful to those who drive the gravy train.
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Rating: 
Summary: Inexcusable nonchalance of Clinton
Review: Gerald Posner delivers a well researched, provocative, and pithy look into the many dubious policies, people, actions, and non-actions that invariably led to 9/11. Posner reveals new information indicting the complicity of the Saudi monarchy as well as subsequent highly bizarre Saudi deaths of those in the know about 9/11. Posner, in what amounts to not much of a shocker, exposes the duplicity of Germany and their covering up for an Al-Queda informant. Without a doubt, the single biggest reason "why America slept" is none other than Bill Clinton and his blithe apathy and nonchalance for our all things national security. Posner recounts Clinton's well-documented inexcusable failure to capture Osama Bin Laden when given multiple opportunities to do so. After the Khobar Towers bombing, the first World Trade Center bombing, the USS Cole bombing, & the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Clinton's idea of fighting terrorism was nothing more than sending cruise missiles to destroy an aspirin factory in Nigeria and blowing up a deserted, yet somehow threatening, Al-Queda tent in Afghanistan. If Clinton had exhibited at least some semblance of a clue as to what was going on, 9/11 could have, and would have, been prevented.
Rating:
Summary: It's Gerald's Game, baby!!!
Review: It's Gerald Posner. It's his world and we're just living in it. He's the expert on the Kennedy assassination and now 9/11. Wow, this guy's good. I read Why America Slept during bathroom breaks, and I must say that it made those trips even more relaxing - a sort of releasing experience. I think maybe 9/11 could have been prevented, but how do know how to pick out a wolf in sheep's clothing? I don't know. If you do, let me know.
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Summary: Hindsight is perfect...
Review: This book about the intelligence failures that led to September 11th is an interesting read. The author, Mr. Posner does a good job of faulting all US Administrations back to that of Gerald Ford. Strangely he seems to fault George W. Bush the most, even though he was only in office a short time before those tragic events of 9/11. Regardless, the story is interesting and timely. However, all this faulting of the government ignores one thing, that hindsight is perfect. Surely anyone who could have would have prevented the attacks, but it is difficult to interepret various pieces of intelligence, and people do make mistakes, sometimes tragically. Maybe we will all learn from our errors and prevent incidents like this from occuring in the future. Recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: A decent timetable of events leading up to 9/11
Review: After finishing the books by Robert Baer on CIA, I purchased this book because of its glorious review in the International Herald Tribune. In my opinion this book does a decent job of describing the US counter-terrorist work from the eighties up to today. However there are so many things that drags this book down to mediocre. First, Posner's writing style is incredibly boring. It is a fact-book, sure, but the facts are presented in a dry manner. Gerald L. Posner's use of footnotes is extremely poor. Often you can find important information hidden in the footnotes which should have been one or more paragraphs in the main text. This is very messy, and makes the reading process staccato. In addition to that, he's got a slightly pro-Israel view which seeps through the text. There are a few light sarcastic comments regarding Islam thrown in as well. He also seems to be biased to support the FBI in their in-fighting with the CIA. This bias isn't strong, but you can sense it. He also uses a technique which every reader of conspiracy books knows well: He makes a point of something that wasn't done, which implies that he thinks it was a mistake or an error. Quite often these points do not make sense, and it is very clear why for instance the State Department did this or that. But what he does well is to sum up militant extremist islamists' activities in the US. It does show that he has done thorough research, and it is absolutely an interesting book. For more on FBI vs CIA as well as what makes Washington tick, I suggest you look up Robert Baer instead. But if your focus is a general understanding of militant islamists and 9/11 this is a pretty good book.
Rating:
Summary: Reads like a prospectus
Review: Since 9/11, there have been so many media reports about numerous warnings against possible terrorist attacks from CIA and FBI field officers that did not receive adequate attention by higher up in the government. In this book, the author exhibits what those warnings and indicative moves were without any subjective assumptions, analysis or interpretations, as if Posner, a former Wall Street attorney (does it mean he was actually a securities lawyer who were drafting prospectus for public offerings?), were putting together a prospectus of a series of events that lead to 9/11. The author lets the facts tell readers what was happening, not necessary behind the scenes, instead of what must or might have happened based on the author's situational analysis. It blames much on Bill Clinton for paying little attention to preventing terrorism despite experiencing the first WTC blowout during his first term, thus weakening CIA and FBI. This approach gives more credibility to the message that the author is trying to deliver, that is 9/11 could have been avoided if those pre-warnings were properly entertained with counter actions. Having said this, because this book is written like a prospectus for securities offerings, it could be boring, especially the first half, to less serious readers, because the author does nothing to artificially heighten the excitement to make his book more entertaining. I wish there were more primary sources of information than relying so much on the secondary sources (i.e.; published articles and books). This is an easy read written in simple and concise sentences with plain vocabulary. However, it would help a great if all those footnotes and sources were incorporated in the main text, so that readers would not constantly need to go here and there for the complete information. In any event, you gotta be really into it to enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Absorbing and a Bit Biased
Review: This book is a must read for anyone who wants to dealve into the backgound of 9/11 and the fight against terrorism. The book is very well written and extremely absorbing. There is a a bit too much discussion of the lack of communications between Clinton and his first CIA director. I got the point after the 40th repetition of this problem. The book seems to be a bit biased against the Clinton administration, lecturing them for their non-action. (Page 142 "Although Clinton would likely have had little problem in winning public support for strong military action, he opted for doing nothing." and "The failure to respond publicly again emboldended bin Laden and his top aids." Yet on the Bush II administration there is a bit more of a soft glove approach. In Chapter 16, after a litany of facts of lack of funding of anti-terrorism, and lack of attention, Posner is a bit of an apologist for this non-action (P. 158)"But despite the long digressions from developing a new strategy, the group did decide that the Bush administration would follow a phased strategy of escalating pressure on the Taliban so that eventually the choices facing Afghanistan's Islamic rulers would be to hand over bin Laden and expel al Qaeda or face removal from power." And then, in the face of the "facts" presented, the innexplicable statement "But Bush did not want to repeat Clinton's mistake of talking tough publicly and then not following through with strong actions." -- this from a President that had taken NO strong action prior to 9/11 Still, this is a top notch book. It is an eye opener of some of the failings on the war against terrorism by the CIA, FBI, Media and every president from Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II. Finally, in reading this book, it became apparent to me that the same cast of characters keep popping up over and over again in acts of terrorism - such as Zubaydah, Rahman, Zawahiri and Ramzi Yousef. Makes me think that if we can arrest or kill bin Laden,and his top lieutenants real progress will have been made.
Rating:
Summary: Posner's book filled with incorrect information
Review: I have only read a little of Posner's book but have found the book full of inaccurate information and will lead me to question his research and information. For example, he says that 59 people were killed in the bombings in East Africa in 1998 (pg8) when the correct number is 224. He says the Lockerbie trial was held at the Hague (pg23) when in fact it was a Scottish court sitting in Kamp Zeist and had nothing to do, either geographically or politically with the Hague. I am very familiar with the Lockerbie bombing case and many of his "facts" about the investigation are distorted or wrong. The relationship between the CIA and FBI has been rocky, to say the least, through the years. For the sake of America I hope this is fixed but for an author who has written as much as Posner to have so many facts wrong in only 30 pages of a book, causes me to question all his facts and ultimately, his conclusions.
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