Rating: 
Summary: The Truth Shall Set You Free
Review: It looks like the Bush administration operates like the Cosa Nostra. Anyone who dares to break the code of silence by telling the facts will be smeared and denigrated, which I guess is slightly better than being whacked. Clarke should be applauded for his bravery and honesty. And this book will make your head spin. Seeing the Bushies trying to dismiss this guy as an opportunist leftist wacko doesn't really hold up when you look at his thirty year resume. It's also pretty hilarious to watch Condi Rice babbling her head off on every talk show now while contradicting herself all over the place. This is the most entertaining thing ever. Bush and his cronies are going to need a blow torch to cut themselves out of their web of lies.
Rating:
Summary: True American and Republican
Review: I am a staunch Republican, but first I rise to be American. I am proud to see this facts-based, totally objective book. I congradulate,Richard Clark to rise to the level of Statesman rather than his narrow level of Republican party. I hope our Republican colleagues will rise to this level of high objectivity shown in this book and leave their narrow selfish interests.
Rating:
Summary: Credible
Review: Despite the spin coming from his critics, Mr. Clarke comes across as an extremely credible witness to the way power was wielded in four separate administrations. And, it has become a rather uncomfortable situation for the incumbent president to face the damning verdict of his own former chief terrorism adviser.Clarke's account essentially strips Bush not only of the mantle of hero in the wake of national tragedy but also of the excuse that his administration's eight months in office was too short a time to mount an effective defense against terrorism. As Clarke concedes, it is highly unlikely that his proposals, even if adopted, would have stopped the attacks. What would have stopped them was vigilance. That's how, Clarke explains, the Clinton adminstration succeeded in thwarting the Millennium Attacks. One must come to the conclusion, therefore, that it was a lack of vigilance -- not a lack of military action -- that was at the heart of the 9/11 tragedy. With that conclusion naturally follows another: that it was George Bush, not Bill Clinton, who was derelict in his duty.
Rating:
Summary: Why are they so scared?
Review: You have to wonder why Bush and his minions are so scared by the truth if they have nothing to hide. This book is only the tip of the iceberg, though, as it comes from an insider who wouldn't tell it all. Despite this caveat, the truth is SO damaging to Bush and his rotten administration, that it is easy to understand the campaign of character assassination in which the whole government has embarked. The thrust of the book is that instead of truculently basking on the glory of September 11, Bush should be tried and convicted for 3000 people murdered that day.
Rating:
Summary: VERY INSIGHTFUL CRITIQUE
Review: THIS IS A GREAT READ B/C IT ONCE AGAIN SHEDS LIGHT ON THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S FAILURES. CLARKE IS LEGIT. HE HAS PROVEN HIMSELF NON-PARTISAN BY HAVING WORKED WITH MANY PAST ADMINISTRATIONS, BOTH DEM AND REP. IN FACT, HE IS A REGISTERED REPUBLICAN. THAT'S TWO INSIDE SOURCES NOW, HIM AND O'NEILL, TELLING IT LIKE IT IS. AS FAR AS THE RIGHT SAYING HE TOLD TWO DIFFERENT STORIES, THAT SEEMS TO BE ALL THEY CAN SAY. BUT I BUY THE FACT THAT HE DID NOT WANT TO RIP THE PREZ WHEN HE WORKED FOR HIM. THAT MAKES SENSE TO ME...AND IT SHOULD TO EVERYONE THAT WORKS FOR A LIVING AND HAS A BOSS TO ANSWER TOO. IT SHOWED CLASS THAT HE APOLOGIZED TO 9/11 FAMILIES. LET'S FACE IT, MORE AND MORE POLITCAL FIGURES ARE FRUSTRATED AT BUSH'S ARROGANCE... WHICH WAS AGAIN ON DISPLAY WITH THE RECENT WMD JOKE. IF SOMEONE CAN BE SO CLUELESS ABOUT HOW THAT IS HURTFUL, AND HOW HIS... FAILURE.... COSTED HUNDREDS OF AMERICAN LIVES, IT'S NO WONDER HE'S SO OUT OF TOUCH, AND JUST COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT. THIS BOOK DEMONSTRATES THAT. SPEAKING OF ARROGANCE, WHAT I FIND PARTICULARLY INTERESTING AND VALUABLE ARE THE PARTS CONCERNING BUSH'S UTTER OBSESSION ON THE IRAQ CONNECTION TO 9/11, AND TERRORISM. CONNECTION? WELL THERE IS NONE. THE WORLD HAS BEEN DUPED. AMERICA, YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS HAVE DIED FOR NO GOOD REASON...HAHAHA. SCARY. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Anti-Bush Book since "Price of Loyalty" !
Review: This book doesn't tell me anything I haven't suspected before about Bush. For all you die-hard Republicans who want to bury your head in the sand and spout "it's all lies", don't you think it's strange that lifelong Republicans like Paul O'Neill and Clarke are writing these anti-Bush books? I'm sure more books by rebelling Republicans are on the way. It's proof that this administration is so bad that even the closest insiders are fed up with it. Or are you gonna wait until Bush himself writes a book called, "I Messed Up Big Time".
Rating: 
Summary: BEWARE! SERIOUS CREDIBILITY ISSUES!
Review: Before buying this book be aware of Richard Clarke's serious credibility issues. He says he is not partisan but records from the Federal Election Commission shows his only political contributions in the last decade have gone to Democrats. Then a reporter has on record a brief he gave in August of 2002 saying the exact opposite of what he says now. He says he was just highlighting the positive and did not lie. There is no way that he could be telling the truth in both statements on August of 2002 and in his 9/11 hearing. They are complete opposites. Then there is Richard Clarke's Resignation letter that again tells the exact opposite of what he is saying now. One more little tidbit to keep in mind is that 60 Minutes and Lesley Stahl did not disclose to their audience that the parent company of CBS is also the parent company of Clarke's publisher - Viacom. A serious ethical issue!
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!
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