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Summary: Essential reading
Review: This book is riveting...a well-crafted tale of the behind-the-scenes behind the US anti-terrorism policy and how it changed over the years. By now the hype has been ratcheted up to ridiculous levels, but the fact remains that this book is essential reading for anyone living in this dangerous modern world.
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Summary: A generally NONPARTISAN book - n't believe Bushistas
Review: First, there's little that's new in this book to those who follow Washington politics through weblogs, etc. But, to the great amount of the actual or potential American electorate who still is giving Bush the benefit of the doubt, much of this book may come as a revelation, especially in the intensity of its presentation.
Clarke is not perfect. Nor does he give the Clinton administration a free pass. And he voted Republican in the last general election.
So, this is NOT some "smear" campaign. The only smear campaigns are by Bush (the campaign comes straight from him, as White House insiders attest) against Clarke, and by Bushista reviewers passing out 1-star ratings.
Read the book. And, for laughs, or McCarthyite chills, read the 1-star ratings
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Summary: People ought to be ashamed
Review: To buy this book of lies. Every point he makes in this piece of garbage has been shown to be fake. He was all for President Bush and the war on terror in 2002, but since he was left out of the loop, his ego takes a hit and he reverses his stance and blames the President for 9/11. Yeah, right. Like Clinton did diddly-squat during his presidency. This book is terrible. I read it because I thought I might be swayed from the Bush Administration. Maybe they were lying, maybe they knew. After reading this and researching the hypocracy of (...)Clark's words, President Bush has my vote next November. And I'm a Democrat too!
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Summary: Evidence Mounts Up
Review: The first chapter of the book takes you inside the White House Situation Room on 9/11. Dick Clarke is standing before a wall of video monitors with the acting heads of all the critical government agancies. He is trying to cover all bases to minimize the damage of any further attacks, and get federal response co-ordinated for the incidents that have already taken place. All the while, (with Condi Rice and Dick Cheney safely tucked away in the bunker down below) the Secret Service keeps sticking their heads in the door saying that there were hostile aircraft approaching on radar, 10 minutes out. Fascinating Reading.The front row seat that Richard Clarke had through four administrations gives him a unique and credible perspective to the events leading up to 9/11. You can sense the man's frustration at the Bush Administration for their downgrading of the al-Queda threat. The frustration with the FBI and CIA for not sharing information. I have also read the Ron Suskind/Paul O'Neil book "The Price of Loyalty" (...)
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Summary: a real american
Review: You can only pile lie upon lie for a limited time before it topples. I have not seen this many administration insiders come forward with damaging critiques toward a sitting president ever!
Mr. Clarke, a veteran of 4 administrations (3 Republican) has provided desperately needed proof that some of our 'public servants' are truly that, and believe in an ethical standard.
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Summary: The most Patriotic Book since 9-11 occured
Review: I'm a Republican and voted for George Bush. I have actually taken the time to read Richard Clarke's "Against all Enemies." For the life of me I really haver to say the ANYONE who claims Clarke's book is partisan against George Bush has not even read the book. Also people claiming Clarke is "profiting on 9-11" had better be on record condmening Rudy Guiliani and many others as well. Now a case in point. Condi Rice is bveing hung out to dry. Is it deserved? Well she has said, as have other admininistration officials, that no one could have imagined that terrorists would use planes in such a way. We no know this is a lie, it is clearly document as one of the top threats and one which was planned against france ealier. Is this a blanket indictment of Bush, or for that matter of Clinton? No. But it does show that certain offcials are idiots and liars. It also shows that the intelligence community which has been made a scapegoat is much less to blame that administration politicos who can not see the world, events, and possible future events except through their political lenses. That is also where Clarke's illumination of the emphasis on Iraq, and the desperate attempt to find a 911 link to Iraq by Rice and Rumsfeld, refelcted their pre-911 obsession that by its nature distracted from the real threat that got 3,000 fellow Americans killed. My brother came back from Afghanistan after spending the better part of a year there. He is as "gung ho" a patriot as you can find. He says we are vasty stretched thin in Afghanistan. He rejoined because of 911. I think there is going to be a big surprised for our party in the number of military and military familes who are going to stay home on election day. Do yourself a favor no matter what your political view. Get Clarke's book, read it and recommend it to others. You will see the long term struggle we are up against, the level of threats from our enemy and the level of ineptitute and political self serving of some of our public officials. Richard clarke has done this nation a great service.
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Summary: Lindsey, O'Neill, Clarke - Spot a Trend?
Review: .
In this book, author Clarke quotes a fellow Republican that states something on the order of: "This administration is more secretive, closed, insular and vindictive than the Mafia". Disagree, dissent, or breach this, and You're Out. As has been the case with our economic advisors, Treasury Secretaries and top security specialists. And each and every month resignations continue due to this disgust with the Bush administration. The book places most emphasis on this current administration's myopia of: not listening, no analysis, no thoughts to war's consequences, placating private agenda's of Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz w/o discussion, and over-simplifying and playing to Samuel Johnson's note that -patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel-. The problem is that underlying Truths are concealed, obfuscated and just plain lied about. Most regrettably, this will be to the great loss of our Nation. It's planting the seeds of our economic ruin and an even greater animosity and danger aimed toward the United States states Clarke. I agree. Greatest kudos to author Clarke for maintaining his integrity to say it like it is. Disagree? Then maybe like Bush, you too refuse to read newspapers and be in bed by ten. If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.
-- Respectfully submitted from a Republican family member of 100+ years that will first break tradition on this next election. Never in a million years did I ever think I'd miss Bill Clinton.
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Summary: Finally, the truth behind 9/11!!
Review: For many Americans the shock of 9/11 was mind boggling! The first thing many of us wondered was how in the world something like this could happen to the U.S.?? Thanks to Richard Clarke's blockbuster expose, now we know!! Mr. Clarke takes us inside the Bush Whitehouse, revealing the appalling arrogance and ideological blindness that perverted their counterterrorism efforts before and after 9/11. Clarke allows us to see exactly how Al-Queda terrorists caught the highest levels of the U.S. government completely by surprise! This book is a must read, if you really want to understand the run up to the 9/11 attacks and why the invasion of Iraq undermines the war on terror. This book plainly reveals the awful truth, that September 11th could and should have been stopped!! (...) Thanks to the revelations of a very credible insider like Mr. Clarke. (...)
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Summary: A Gripping Tale
Review: Clarke's book, crazy reviews aside, is not a screed against the Bush administration. He does think that they dropped the ball, especially with their focus on Iraq, but the book isn't vitriolic. Instead, Clarke begins by telling us the events of September 11th, then walks back in time to show how Al Qaeda amassed power during the 90's and into today. The book is historical, allowing Clarke to point out the failures of the government leading to the attacks by UBL & Al Qaeda. Although I don't agree with his policy prescriptions (He wasn't in favor of DHS and thinks we need a domestic intel agency akin to MI5) he makes a strong case for them. Clarke's title "Against All Enemies" neatly summarizes his thesis: that America is under attack by two different groups of people, from those who would seek to bring the world under a 14th century perverted Islamic theocracy, and from those at home who would seek to undermine our liberties (the very reason Al Qaeda hates us) without increasing our security. Clarke doesn't think we should always prefer liberty over security, but he belittles programs that have no real benefit over concrete steps to improve and strengthen America's defenses. Along these lines, he criticizes the invasion of Iraq as being not only a distraction from the fight against AQ, but also for providing UBL with a poster-perfect recruiting tool. Clarke doesn't spare criticism from the Clinton years, saying that useful reforms like going after the money of terrorism went nowhere, despite support from key figures. He also bemoans the CIA's DO for a lack of assets in key countries. But all of his criticism builds to a simple conclusion: before September 11th, there was no political momentum to go after terrorists on a large scale. It is this point he drives home through detail: after September 11th, all of the plans that were formulated, all of the steps he had in the works that would go into effect, needed to be approved. It is this failure of the Bush administration, more than any pre-9/11 intel, that he points out: we had the world at our side, ready to help, and we went into Afghanistan with a bold solution. Yet months later, the warlords were back in power, the Taliban was regrouping, UBL was on the loose, and the administration had turned its gaze to Iraq. The failure to use the most tragic moment in American history as a chance to destroy Al Qaeda is clearly the subtext that drove Clarke to resign and publish this work. Altogether, the book is a quick read and very spy-thriller-ish. The fact that it is true makes many of the poignant scenes tragic, leading me to wonder not only why our leaders needed September 11th as a political cover to make the tough decisions, but why they squandered those decisions with an ill-advised adventure in democracy, unrelated to fighting terrorism.
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Summary: very informative
Review: I recommend this book to anyone of any political stripe who would like to know more about U.S. foreign policy as it pertains to the Middle East over the past 20 years. Richard Clarke had a front row seat to many of the most important decisions made under four different presidents and his forthright, opinionated manner makes for a provocative read. I think the way the Republicans are responding to this book is quite silly. Clearly, Richard Clarke is a man who has seen it all and has enormous credibility. Moreover, he doesn't exactly single Bush II out for criticism; he has critical things to say about all of the administrations that he worked for. It is refreshing to read a book by someone as honest, fortright, and nonpartisan as Richard Clarke.
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