Rating: 
Summary: Sad, True, but Disappointing
Review: I find it so hard to separate myself from the pain and violation of 9/11 that it is difficult to read anything about the events surrounding that day. But it is important to understand what happened. Peter Lance provides us with some insights about many activities of the low-lifes that were involved in the attack on our country. He provides us with a laundry list of people and the bad things they did. He also provides us with a list of how the FBI missed chances to catch the bad guys. For this, the book earns some respect. However, the book centers around 3 people: An FBI agent; a fireman; and a terrorist. The FBI agent would not or could not discuss the case. The fireman died before he could be interviewed about 9/11 because he was killed during the attack. Therefore the fireman never really ties the knot because he, although a central character, doesn't know what will happen before 9/11 unfolds. And then there is the creepy terrorist who is in prison and he's not talking either. There are many emotional triggers pulled by Lance. For example: we learn how the fireman was ready to go to the middle east to defend our country but missed his chance at the last minute and was hugely dissapointed. The tale was a true testiment to the heroic quality of this person. But I felt the author filled this book with vingnettes such as these that broke my heart. However, they did nothing more than that and I felt used. And as a result, they distracted me from the case the book was trying to build. In the end, I thought this book did not accomplish anything meaningful. I did get excited, but not in a good way by a drilling investigation. Rather I was left empty - wondering - what was the point of the book other than to provide a laundry list of evil. I was left intellectually hungry.
Rating: 
Summary: Placing the blame....
Review: For all of the FBI lapses, where is it discussed just WHY the FBI had these lapses? There is nothing in there about how the Clinton administration put walls up so that the departments couldn't share pertinent information, and that the information gathering services themselves were hindered. The FBI failures were just a bi-product of a colossal administration failure. Just remember, Mr. Clinton was busy golfing when Osama bin Laden was offered to us, and he DID NOTHING.
Rating: 
Summary: While We Wait...
Review: As the Chief of Cardiology at a major university medical center in NYC, I am part of a Physician Emergency Response Team, a network of critical crisis medical personnel organized to handle massive emergencies as best we can. Thousands of medical personnel were in place at the highest alert level within minutes of those imcomprehensible blasts on 9/11/01. Some sped as close as they could get to the site, while others prepared the O.R.'s as best we could. Less than 2 miles from the World Trade Center, it took us a couple of hours for it to sink in. No injured were being brought in. We found the same to be the case at four other hospitals within 1/2 mile radius. Not a single person. By early afternoon, I found myself absurdly beginning to pray for something, even a body part, something to prove that my fellow New Yorkers, the mothers and fathers of the children who lived next door hadn't disintegrated into ash. We continued to wait, not leaving once for 14 days and 14 nights, although the reality became apparent long before that. Incredibly, there were so few survivors that our hospital was simply not needed. We were just too far from the site to offer help to the relative few who could be helped.
Not fearing the inevitable is absurdly reckless. We are in a state of seige and I for one am grateful to have had Peter Lance put things in perspective in his book "1000 Years For Revenge". His extensive investigation is the most illuminating document that I've read on the subject so far. The revelations he's uncovered in the process of his investigation are terrifying. He writes with a clarity and precision that is remarkablehe in the process of trying to make sense of what should never have happened.
The US goverment and as the author points out, especially the FBI, have dropped the ball. They have consistently miscalled the opponent and understandably, we citizens, who for so long have enjoyed a level of invulnerability, find it less frightening to look away.
As Peter Lance warns, it is just a matter of where and when. Anyone who feels complacent about their safety is simply wrong. Each of us has an obligation to expect that our government take responsibility for the safety of its citizens. Demanding anything less, makes us responsible as well for contributing to what will inevitably be nothing less than the devastation of human kind.
Rating:
Summary: A serious work of journalism
Review: Dan Rather apparently thought enough of Peter Lance's findings to devote two segments to it on the CBS Evening News. The Washington Post also gave it a thumbs up. I don't think anyone could seriously dismiss this book unless they 1) haven't read it, or 2) are embarassed by the revelations.Among them: Some of these Al Qaeda men were on the radar screen in the US as early as 1989. But because of infighting and incompetence, the FBI stopped surveillance and scared away a key informant. Some of the men then went on to bomb the WTC in 1993, one was convicted of killing a Rabbi, one was involved with the Africa embassy bombings, and one was convicted of plotting to blow up bridges and tunnels in Manhattan. Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of both the first WTC bombing and 9/11 escaped. His uncle Khalid Sheik Mohammed executed 9/11 after Yousef was captured in Pakistan. In the mid-90's the Phillipines police told the US Ebmassy about plots to fly planes into buildings in the US, and even said there were 10 Islamic men in flight schools training in the US. Unbelievably the US failed to act on it or see it in the context of a broader international conspiracy. The book brings to focus very legitimate criticisms of the FBI and INS before 9/11. The agency was designed to solve crimes. Prosecutors earn their stripes by putting people behind bars after the fact. Given all that the FBI knew about some of these Islamist characters living in the US, but failed to take seriously until after the damage was done, our society and others are well advised to demand agencies to prevent terror and protect us rather than just prosecute crimes; concentrating on intelligence, infiltration, prevention, communication between various agencies, and analysis of the bigger picture.
Rating:
Summary: "Wake Up America"
Review: "1000 Years for Revenge" is the most rivetting, brillant work of investigative journalism that any reader could ever hope for. But it's more. It reads like the best of thrillers that makes it impossible to put down. The author, Peter Lance, it turns out is an award winning investigative journalist, who with unparalled skill methodically details a time line of astonishing revelations that expose the incredible and inexcusable bungling of our government, particluarly the FBI, that dates back to 1989 - 12 entire years - that allowed for the horror that each of us has suffered as a result of the two attacks on the World Trade Center. He reveals fact after astonishing fact that confirms this terrifying information by having uncovered volumes of declassified documents and conducted a staggering amount of probing interviews with key principals that confirm these terrible tragedies didn't have to happen. And he traces the events that offer proof of something worse - the FBI's attempts to cover up their mistakes, time after time after time. 9/11 didn't have to happen. Now more than ever, our national security is being compromised Mr. Lance reveals in a way that's more dangerous than ever before. To not read this book is to ignore a wake call that is nothing less than central to our survival.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting; loaded with compelling, interconnected stories
Review: Do you remember where you were on September 11th? If you do, then you were undoubtedly affected by the 14-year or so plot by Muslim extremists to rein terror on America. 1000 Years For Revenge follows the plot as if it were Osama and co's personal diary. Along the way, it exposes the bungling to blatant bureaucratic ignorance demonstrated by the FBI, which as told through a number of insiders, may have facilitated the tragedy on 9/11 among a myriad of other terrorist acts. The book follows the trails and tribulations of FBI Agent Nancy Floyd, her inside man, Salem; the heroism of Firefighter Ronnie Bucca and his quest to put the pieces of the terrorist's plot together as an outsider; and Ramzi Yousef, or the "Mozart of Terror." The book follows the play by play of Yousef and his dealings with the men that strolled into America's backyard only to plan to destroy it's landmarks, it's infrastructure, and ultimately, it's people. We all know the end of the story, but it's the events that lead up to 9/11 that Peter Lance is outlining for us here. In tremendous detail, which sometimes reads like a Hollywood cliffhanger, we learn about the countless FBI missteps, the cunningness of Osama, Yousef, and co., and the bravery and struggle of Floyd and Bucca. Honestly, I couldn't put the book down. In less than 24 hours, I was at page 300, in the middle of the DSS's capture of Yousef and his plans for fellow jihadists to fly jetliners into the Trade Center, the Pentagon, a nuclear facility, and even Sears Tower. I'm a slow reader too, so this was an accomplishment. The part that ties Terry Nichols into the mix, circumstantially, left me feeling a bit queasy and wanting to learn more. In a nutshell, nearly two years after the attacks, as this 25 year old Brooklynite looks out his living room window at the spotlights that serve as a sobering memorial to where WTC once stood, I confess that this book has left me both frightened and satisfied. Frightened that in a mosque 5 minutes from my home, my neighbors could construct a plethora lethal plots that could have been hijacked a number of times by the FBI. Yet, at the same time, satisfied that America's collective gut feeling that "there is more than this terror mess than meets the eye" is laid out and documented by the extraordinary people that were the closest to this evil. Just read the intro and you'll be hooked. Dan DeCriscio - Brooklyn, NY
Rating:
Summary: Federal Bureau of Idiots
Review: The book does a wonderful job of portraying just how poorly the FBI functions. 9-11 could have and should have been averted. The employees at the FBI (our paid servants) are a group of misfits. This book is one of many that honestly, without bias, shows us just how badly the organization runs. The blood of all the 9-11 victims is on their hands.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! An eye-opening book that really gets you thinking....
Review: Peter Lance did a FANTASTIC job writing this book. This book is very factual and is very credible. At the same time, Peter Lance makes this a very gripping story. I highly reccomend this book. It is a wonderful read and you will not ever want to put it down. This is a can't miss book. This a book that everybody should read!
Rating: 
Summary: Nancy Floyd a hero?
Review: I cannot comment on the Fire Marshall who lost his life because I do not possess any knowledge regarding who he was, what he had done, or what he may have tried to do and I thank him for his courage and sacrifice. However, I suggest Mr. Lance conduct more research on Nancy Floyd's background and her FBI service before writing or relaying anything she says as gospel. The book reads like a thriller and I would give it four stars as a thriller. But because the author loses credibilty in his portrayal of Nancy Floyd, I give it an overall one star.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: I never thought that the FBI has that many problems. They better get their act together fast.
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