Book Description
For decades, books about John or Robert Kennedy have woven either a shimmering tale of Camelot gallantry or a tawdry story of runaway ambition and reckless personal behavior. But the real story of the Kennedys in the 1960s has long been submerged -- until now. In Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot sheds a dramatic new light on the tumultuous inner life of the Kennedy presidency and its stunning aftermath. Talbot, the founder of Salon.com, has written a gripping political history that is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.
Brothers begins on the shattering afternoon of November 22, 1963, as a grief-stricken Robert Kennedy urgently demands answers about the assassination of his brother. Bobby's suspicions immediately focus on the nest of CIA spies, gangsters, and Cuban exiles that had long been plotting a violent regime change in Cuba. The Kennedys had struggled to control this swamp of anti-Castro intrigue based in southern Florida, but with little success.
Brothers then shifts back in time, revealing the shadowy conflicts that tore apart the Kennedy administration, pitting the young president and his even younger brother against their own national security apparatus. The Kennedy brothers and a small circle of their most trusted advisors -- men like Theodore Sorensen, Robert McNamara, and Kenneth O'Donnell, who were so close the Kennedys regarded them as family -- repeatedly thwarted Washington's warrior caste. These hard-line generals and spymasters were hell-bent on a showdown with the Communist foe -- in Berlin, Laos, Vietnam, and especially Cuba. But the Kennedys continually frustrated their militaristic ambitions, pushing instead for a peaceful resolution to the Cold War. The tensions within the Kennedy administration were heading for an explosive climax, when a burst of gunfire in a sunny Dallas plaza terminated John F. Kennedy's presidency.
Based on interviews with more than one hundred fifty people -- including many of the Kennedys' aging "band of brothers," whose testimony here might be their final word on this epic political story -- as well as newly released government documents, Brothers reveals the compelling, untold story of the Kennedy years, including JFK's heroic efforts to keep the country out of a cataclysmic war and Bobby Kennedy's secret quest to solve his beloved brother's murder. Bobby's subterranean search was a dangerous one and led, in part, to his own quest for power in 1968, in a passion-filled campaign that ended with his own murder. As Talbot reveals here, RFK might have been the victim of the same plotters he suspected of killing his brother. This is historical storytelling at its riveting best -- meticulously researched and movingly told.
Brothers is a sprawling narrative about the clash of powerful men and the darker side of the Cold War -- a tale of tragic grandeur that is certain to change our understanding of the relentlessly fascinating Kennedy saga.
Customer Reviews:
Capital!.......2007-09-22
Along with Richard Mahoney's Sons And Brothers, you won't find a better rendering of the shadows playing around the Kennedy brothers than in this very well-researched and well-written study. One fact stands out: the JFK assassination will be debated from now until doomsday, pending conclusive proof of this theory or that. I say "theory" because for all the millions of words spoken and written it basically remains an unsolved crime. Media efforts, with all the subtlety of an exploding frangible bullet, to drive home the Lone-Nut theory into our collective consciousness will destructively collide with Mr Talbot's sane and bold
approach, leaving only a few dust-like fragments.
Thought Provoking Tale of the Kennedy Years.......2007-09-11
This book is an enjoyable read. It is heavily footnoted with the footnotes conveniently separated from the main text at the back of the book. Documentation is critical for credibility given the nature of arguing one way or another concerning a conspiracy to murder the president.
After reading this book, I felt well supplied with a good historical knowledge of the period: the Bay of Pigs, the October Missile Crises, the CIA, Cuban Exiles, the Mafia, Jimmy Hoffa, the McClellan Commission, the Warren Commission, Conspiracy Theories, Bobby's reaction to the assassination, the Church Committee, and the House Select Committee on Assassinations.
It's difficult to summarize what I think is the core of this book in a few lines but here goes: The CIA and Cuban exiles expected Kennedy to supply air cover for the Bay of Pigs invasion, Kennedy did not. The mission failed. This set the hostile relationship between the CIA/Cubans/Joint Chiefs toward Kennedy for the rest of the Kennedy Administration. The settlement of the Cuban Missile Crises shut the door to the CIA's and Cuban exile's expectation that the US Government would support an invasion to topple Castro. The mob was angry at Kennedy because of Bobby's active effort as Attorney General to bust the mafia - even though the mob helped JFK win a close election (the Chicago Machine). It appears the author believes the CIA, Cuban exiles, and the Mob conspired to put a hit out on the president; then Bobby's assassination ended any hope of the Kennedy circle to unravel the conspiracy once Bobby had the power to investigate the murder.
By reading this book, one cannot unequivocally conclude there was or was not a conspiracy; but it is fun to speculate. There are so many tantalizing facts, such as all the people who mysteriously died who could have shed light on the assassination, some of those named include: Dorothy Kilgallen, David Morales, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, Sam Giancana, Johnny Roselli, and RFK (wins CA primary, thus odds higher to become president, so taken out?). Add to this the two failed plots in Miami and Chicago, both just before the Nov. 22, 1963 assassination, and both plots similar to the successful Oswald shooting; thus it is no surprise people still have questions concerning the official Warren Report.
A few notes: 1.The book points out that Curtis Le May urged Kennedy to go nuclear but it did not note that Fidel Castro urged Khrushchev to fire tactical nuclear missiles at the U.S. during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. 2. Kennedy and Khrushchev deserve our everlasting thanks for not going nuclear in 1962 despite great pressure to do so. 3. Should we believe the private or public RFK? When anyone holds at least two different versions of any subject, it is then obvious to question the truth of either. The author tells us that Robert Kennedy privately believed there was a powerful group of conspirators (i.e. the CIA in conjunction with the Mob and Cuban exiles) that plotted and carried out his brother's murder (this might be some of the "hidden history" in the subtitle) despite the fact that Bobby did publicly endorse the Warren Commission Report. 4. Abraham Zapruder (famous Zapruder film), David Powers and Kenneth O'Donnell (car behind JFK's) all say they heard shots fired from the grassy knoll but the Warren Commission only wanted to hear from David Powers when he changed his story and they didn't want to hear from Ken O'Donnell because he would not change his view that he heard shots from the grassy knoll. Instead the Warren Commission adopted Arlen Specter's "Magic Bullet Theory." The Warren Commission, Hoover, and much of the political establishment wanted to get over with the investigation as quickly as possible (and to have a simple explanation the country could easily understand) so that the country could move on. Also, Allen Dulles (who the book says had a disproportionate influence on the Warren Commission) may have been biased in search of the truth.
A very moving reminder of the Kennedys.......2007-09-05
David Talbot has written a very important book. It is very well researched and thoughtfully expresses the saga of the nation's inadequate search for truth around the killing of the Kennedy's. With so much at stake in national politics, it is a grim reminder that Americans, for all our patriotic bluster about standing for truth, liberty and freedom for all, cannot seem to look into the dark forces that often overrule our governments higher calling. And until we do, there is little hope that we can overcome those forces and avoid further debacles like Vietnam, Iraq and the killing of leaders that try to expose the deeper underpinnings of our country. The result being that we constantly lurch from one poorly thought out policy to another.
The young Kennedys, for all their faults and failings, were a powerful force for justice, and this nation has sorely missed their passion - and David Talbot has reminded us of what we lost and what little we did to find out why.
This book shows the extreme strain JFK and RFK had within their government.......2007-09-02
This book provides excellent facts and interviews with REAL people from the Kennedy days. These people were close to the Kennedy brothers and they provide a lot of insight on what happened behind closed doors. This is the best book about the Kennedys and this is also the best book to provide evidence for an overwhelming conspiracy involving our government. BUY IT IMMEDIATELY. YOU WILL NEVER THINK THE SAME!
A Great Book! Read it........2007-08-26
It took me a while to actually get into the book. It took about 40 or 50 pages.
I've read tons of material on JFK's murder and this book initially felt like just another rehash of all of the other evidence that other people have flogged to death. It is much more than that, however.
Most importantly, it provides the historical context for JFK's murder. Though it is not as thorough with the lead up to RFK's murder, he does provide a fair bit of context for RFK's murder in 1968. He does not, however, capture the mood, the near-panic of that spring/summer, as first MLK and then RFK was gunned down. Because I lived through those tumultous times, as a kid growing up in Detroit, I can safely say that it felt like the world was starting to spin off its axis. He does not quite capture that feeling or sense.
But he does a great job of providing that kind of feel for the time period leading up to Dallas in '63. I'd forgotten many of the details about the events from that time. Talbot pulls it all together with lots of detail and fact and illustrates how JFK's murder was almost an inevitable event. Considering everything that led up to it.
It always amuses me when one reads critical comments such as those offered by negative reviewers here, comments that in no way address the real factual issues and concerns that have remained unresolved for over 40 years. Critics simply lapse into ad hominem attacks and never, ever address the huge factual and logical holes in the Warren Commission approach to this crime.
As someone who tried criminal cases for a living, I believe that any case against Oswald as a lone nut killer is so full of holes, it probably could not have been charged, if he had lived. If they had attempted to try him as a lone killer, they would have been laughed out of the courtroom. Part of a conspiracy? Maybe. A lone killer shooting from the sixth floor? No way. Also, it amuses me that critics denigrate claims of conspiracy, as though only the unhinged would ever believe in such a ridiculous concept. Obviously these people have never spent much time in criminal courts, because prosecutors routinely charge people with conspiracies, day in and day out. If small and large conspiracies happen every day - according to the people who prosecute crimes in our country - why is it so unbelievable that a conspiracy to murder a very important person could happen?
And while the particular facts are too complex to discuss in this forum, Talbot does a very good job of laying out basic, uncontested facts that clearly support his central thesis: that JFK was murdered by a conspiracy and that RFK was not stupid enough to have simply accepted the tripe that was being offered by the government. The book is remarkably free of speculation. It is grounded in simple solid reporting.
It is a book that was difficult to put down. I'm very glad that I took the time to read it. I finally realized why my old grandfather proudly hung one of those tacky velour "portraits" of JFK, MLK and RFK on his wall. (Most black folks know exactly the "portrait" I am referring to. The one that shows MLK flanked by the two Kennedy brothers.) This book makes you understand why my grandfather and so many other black folks all over the country felt so strongly about the two brothers.
Amazon.com
The result of months of intensive investigations and inquiries by a specially appointed bipartisan panel, The 9/11 Commission Report is one of the most important historical documents of the modern era. And while that fact alone makes it worth owning, it is also a chilling and valuable piece of nonfiction: a comprehensive and alarming look at one of the biggest intelligence failures in history and the events that led up to it. The commission traces the roots of al-Qaeda's strategies along with the emergence of the 19 hijackers and how they entered the United States and boarded airplanes. It details the missed opportunities of law enforcement officials to avert disaster. Using transcripts of cockpit voice recordings, the report describes events on board the planes along with the chaotic reaction on the ground from nearly every level of government. Going forward, the commission calls for a comprehensive overhaul of what it sees as a deeply flawed and disjointed intelligence-gathering operation. The creation of a post for a single National Security Director is recommended, along with the creation of a National Counterterrorism Center. The report finds fault with the approaches of both the Clinton and Bush administrations but, because they were a bipartisan panel and the problems described are so systemic and far-reaching, they stop short of assigning blame to any particular person or group. Credit must be given to how readable the report is. At more than 500 pages, the writing is clear and forceful and the information is made more accessible since it is fre from election politics and rancor. While the commission notes that future attacks are probably inevitable, a coordinated preventive effort along with a clear plan to respond with efficiency can offer Americans some hope in a post-9/11 world. --John Moe
Book Description
Nearly three thousand people died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In Lower Manhattan, on a field in Pennsylvania, and along the banks of the Potomac, the United States suffered the single largest loss of life from an enemy attack on its soil.
In November 2002 the United States Congress and President George W. Bush established by law the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission. This independent, bipartisan panel was directed to examine the facts and circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks, identify lessons learned, and provide recommendations to safeguard against future acts of terrorism.
This volume is the authorized edition of the Commission's final report.
Download Description
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission), an independent, bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation and the signature of President George W. Bush in late 2002, is chartered to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks. The Commission is also mandated to provide recommendations designed to guard against future attacks.
Customer Reviews:
An Interesting Account of the Events Leading Up To 9/11.......2007-09-09
The purpose of the 9-11 report is to "investigate the 'facts and circumstances relating to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001'." In pursuing this objective, the 9-11 Commission sought to be "independent, impartial, thorough, and nonpartisan." The Commission states that its
purpose is not to assign individual blame, and indeed, it doesn't. It is a unique piece of literature, historical yet not far enough removed from the actual events to really call it history in the traditional sense. It's not written for entertainment, yet it is fascinating nonetheless: the report almost reads like a spy novel as it traces the movement of the 9-11 conspirators, where they traveled, how they slipped in and out of the country, and how close some of them got to being captured. It gives you insights on how our government does, and doesn't, work, and describes how the numerous government agencies interact and, more often than not, fail to interact. It seeks to find the reasons why the attack succeeded, blaming everyone and no one, it seems, in the process. The 9-11 report leaves no doubt that it was written by a bi-partisan commission that refuses to lay the blame on individuals but instead lays it on institutions and processes.
The first chapter describes what happened in the air that morning, and from there, the report discusses the rise of Bin-Laden and Al Qaeda, the rise of counterterrorism activities in the US (touching on several departments, including the CIA and FBI), and on to how the 9-11 commission believes the attacks were planned and carried out. It then covers the actual events of September 11, 2001, describing in some detail how the first-responders handled this crisis and some of the shortcomings they had to deal with. Finally, the book addresses the ensuing war in Afghanistan (briefly) and makes recommendations on global strategy and reorganization within the US Government, esp. in the intelligence community. Throughout the report, the commission shoots down a number of rumors that were popular during the writing of the book, such as members of the Saudi family leaving the country while all flights were grounded, and one of the terrorists (Mohamed Atta) meeting with an Iraqi diplomat in Prague.
What I found particularly disturbing in this book was how easy the 9-11 terrorists entered and exited the country, and how easy it was for them to find people to assist them in finding a place to live, worship, etc.. I was also amazed at how easily money flowed from Al Qaeda to the 9-11 conspirators, and even more amazed at how easily they could have been caught yet weren't.
One of the biggest assets within the 9-11 report is also its biggest drawback: the book has hundreds of footnotes, and while most of these simply identify a source (say, a book or a person interviewed), many provide additional information about the topic discussed in the text. Many of these latter types of footnotes, I felt, needed to be in the body of
the main text and not hidden in the back of the book.
Recommendation: Highly recommended if you have any interest at all in knowing what happened before, during, and after September 11, 2001.
911 commission report.......2007-08-16
As it is non fiction catagory it would be hard to comment though after reading the report I now would reclassify it as fictional account on how kerosene can weaken 200,000 tons of construction steel to the point that the buildings collapsed! Also totally missing is any explanation why WTC7 came down.
Or any explanation where are the engines in the Pentagon attack?
Don't judge a book by its cover.......2007-08-10
Unfortunately, I am not sure how else to describe the report other than... well... garbage. I hate to say it but there are too many holes and it does not hold up to scrutiny.
Although it had a good story to tell and made popular by the government and media, it is just that- a story that does not hold up to the facts. I was hoping that it would provide more insight into the events on 9/11 but it left me asking all kinds of questions especially about WTC7, evidence of thermite, omitted testimony of eyewitnesses, and the testimony discrepancies between Cheney and Mieta.
I am deeply disappointed that I wasted my money on this. I gave it 2 stars because it did a least grab my attention and provided some good references in the back.
Gripping.......2007-06-09
I'd better declare first that I'm not a conspiracy theorist (I favour cock-up theory any day) and I work in the airline business.
I also have a friend who works for United who lost colleagues that day.
Or maybe she's another part of the Neo-Con-Judo-Zionist conspiracy and she's lying to me. A tad unlikely methinks - she's a Buddhist from Taiwan.
50 tonnes of fuel + 70 tonnes of aircraft travelling at ca.450mph.
You don't need a degree in Engineering to work out what will happen:
From the first chapter reading the accounts of what happened to each individual flight and seeing the total confusion between ATC, the FAA, NORAD etc is frightening. They didn't know what to do, they didn't know what was happening. With transponders turned off, it was impossible to track those aircraft accurately. Personally I've flown enough jumpseat trips that it still fills me with dread to think what was happening up front.
Later chapters on Bin-Laden and the rise of Al-Qaeda and Muslim extremism (mainly due to their corrupt self-serving leaders) are well presented.
Richard A. Clark's efforts to thwart Al-Qaeada are also explained.
Buy the book, it's a good read. Though I still can't believe they didn't put an Index in it.
Sadly, to digress a little, the unjustified invasion of Iraq subsequently has been a complete disaster. Saddam ran a secular society - you could drink alcohol and socialise with women. He was the Arab Caligula, only interested in himself and his personal empire. But Saddam had nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks. Nothing. So much goodwill towards the US has been lost due to Iraq and the Neo-Con (not my Taiwanese friend .-)) led invasion.
As for the Conspiracy theorists on this page, to be honest I'm quite shocked when I found this review page. I've honestly never read so many self-serving attempts to cling to straws in my life, like this "Loose-Change" stuff. It's an insult to those who died that day. And I'm not American!
Listen, do you really really think a government could pull off a stunt like this?
Have you ever been to the Middle East? Have you ever listened to the hatred there is towards the USA? Albeit very often from the same people who tell you next sentence they have a relative in New York and want to go and join them!
The seeds of 9-11 were sown years ago. Yes, of course there are inaccuracies (there always are in disaster reporting) but there is no conspiracy.
I know no conspiracy theorists in Air Traffic Control or the airline business. Get real - it happened.
And sadly many of us in Europe thought "no surprise it was US Domestic flights, US Airport security is a total farce".
[...]
Over and out
Pure whitewash - should be called 911 Omission report.......2007-05-22
Omits everything factual. Doesn't bother to mention, much less explain, what happened to the 47 box columns of steel from which the twin towers were constructed. Also no mention of building 7 falling on it's footprint at freefall speed, even though no airplane hit building 7.
The purpose of this report is to reinforce the blatant official fantasy, for the purpose of justifying problem / reaction / solution, and getting you to cave in and accept greater government control over you.
There was no effort made to check any facts. If you're seeking the truth about what happened on 9/11 you won't find it in this book. Instead you'll find lots of reasons to seek facts and you'll find the facts at [...]. You may also want to check out David Ray Griffin's books or Steven E. Jones.
When a lie is big enough and you tell it often enought the people may believe it and this is the purpose of the 911 Omission report.
Book Description
September 11, 2001, distinguished Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis argues, was not the first time a surprise attack shattered American assumptions about national security and reshaped American grand strategy. We've been there before, and have responded each time by dramatically expanding our security responsibilities.
The pattern began in 1814, when the British attacked Washington, burning the White House and the Capitol. This early violation of homeland security gave rise to a strategy of unilateralism and preemption, best articulated by John Quincy Adams, aimed at maintaining strength beyond challenge throughout the North American continent. It remained in place for over a century. Only when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 did the inadequacies of this strategy become evident: as a consequence, the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt devised a new grand strategy of cooperation with allies on an intercontinental scale to defeat authoritarianism. That strategy defined the American approach throughout World War II and the Cold War.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11, Gaddis writes, made it clear that this strategy was now insufficient to ensure American security. The Bush administration has, therefore, devised a new grand strategy whose foundations lie in the nineteenth-century tradition of unilateralism, preemption, and hegemony, projected this time on a global scale. How successful it will be in the face of twenty-first-century challenges is the question that confronts us. This provocative book, informed by the experiences of the past but focused on the present and the future, is one of the first attempts by a major scholar of grand strategy and international relations to provide an answer.
Customer Reviews:
A Scholarly Work.......2007-05-21
Ron Marlar (a retired USAF officer, college professor, school teacher, living currently in Florida)
John Lewis Gaddis is a widely respected professor of history and political science at Yale University. These eminent qualifications should not be held against him but rather demand some significant attention.
Writing as an academician he produces in Surprise, Security, and the American Experience a scholarly work worthy of reading and retention for rereading as time passes. Gaddis draws on historical leaders and events to predict assessment of contemporary leadership based on real history, not the revisionist kind so popular in U.S. schools, colleges and universities of today.
He uses solid documentation to make his appropriately qualified, tentative forecast no doubt unpopular with some due to their political views, biases and prejudices. His book qualifies, therefore, at some level as controversial and is at the same time stimulating of discussion and alternative views.
Compiled from a series of public lectures on American Civilization and Government, Surprise, Security, and the American Experience meets the standards of peer review on that basis alone. Gaddis focuses on the attack of September 11, 2001, and subsequent events that inspire much talk and writing currently.
Unlike some of the other talk and writings by media representatives generally lacking academic expertise, Gaddis provides source documentation suitable for assessment by his peers as well as any other readers. Evidence of the extent of documentation is in the fact that his book as published in hard cover by Harvard University Press is a quick read - 118 pages of text followed by 29 pages of bibliographical notes and a helpful index.
American ethnocentrism.Intellectual weakness.......2006-08-18
John lewis Gaddis displays a lot of the most annoying features of the scholars who want to be remembered for their 'version/vision of history' rather than to take upon the (much more demanding)task of building knowledge through careful-if less appealing- empirical inquiries. This book thus exhibits overtly grotesque (especially when you know the author is a historian at Yale, no less!) instances of ethnocentrism in its generalizations about 'the American experience' and what seems to be haunting Gaddis: the undeniable superiority of American democracy and values over that of other countries. Since the author claims to be taking lessons from history in his analysis of the current strategical posture of the USA, maybe he should have remembered that America, for all its successes, remains an 'unfinished nation' as Alan Brinkley has demonstrated, and that its position of preponderance now is historically contingent to say the least, and owes nothing to a fantasized unique American genius. Ironically, what comes to mind when reading Gaddis is the pathetic pamphlets of French and German intellectuals before WWI, aimed at providing a ready to use intellectual rationalization of the most stupid nationalism.
Numerous holes in the reasoning of Gaddis. One star is too high a rating for this book........2006-04-11
This book could be fun to read if readers do not question anything, however, for the countless analytical minds who critique:
The author, Gaddis, is so caught up in his little world that he fails to understand or consider the obvious, and there are too many examples of this. The book begins with the chapter titled "A morning at Yale" where somehow, I get the immpression Gaddis can't stop talking about how he teaches at Yale university, and his Yale collegues who are so great, blah, blah, blah.
Somewhere in the middle of the second chapter, Gaddis gets over the peak of his ego (it climaxes again later in the book), and starts throwing out historical facts along with answering his own questions that he falsely labels as "America's" questions. Many of his exclamations are written is such a ridiculous pseudo-intellectual manner (along with the unsystematic reasoning that is applied) and it is annoying how he can't stop telling the reader how they feel or what they think, by INEXCUSABLY generalizing. The book ends with a chapter titled "An evening at Yale", which should be retitled to "An evening on Uranus" to match how far our of reality this professor seems to be ; )
If you have to buy this book, then buy it used, because I would hate to see another dime added to what seems like another pompus professor, caught up in his own self-glorifying world.
WELL WRITTEN AND ACCURATE.......2006-01-03
PROVIDES WELL WRITTEN AND ACCURATE ANALYSIS OF U. S. NATIONAL SECURITY THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY'S HISTORY. DOES NOT ATTEMPT TO PANDER TO POPULAR OPINION. CONCISE, YET THOROUGH, HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE PLACED IN JUXTAPOSITION WITH THE EVENTS OF SEPTEMBER 11TH.
Right idea? Mabye. Wrong tactics - unquestionably.......2005-12-26
What John Gaddis omits is that the strategy he outlines has to be bold, innovative, imaginative and lead by a gifted communicator - George Washington. Lincoln. FDR. Kennedy; all of them come to mind.
Why an occupation and military force in an age where knowledge sharing, intelligence gathering, collaboration and education are the most powerful tools available? Instead of Generals and the Secretary of Defense, shouldn't an effort of this magnitude be lead by people at Google? If a visionary is needed to articulate the goal, why not Tom Friedman?
What would $300 billion do to remake Palestine? the Gaza Strip? Jordan? Afghanistan? What models should we be creating -- one forced on a country already deeply divided over religious matter by a Christian Army? Or one built by kids using the New Tools? Why not bring Oxford and Cambridge, Stanford and Harvard to the Region by way of the Internet? Why not bring 100,000 bright young Arabs to Paris, London, New York, Nebraska? Why not send 100,000 very motivated college graduates from England, Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States -- to teach English and learn Arabic? Farsi? Pustan? What values? what knowledge? would they bring home with them? What relationships would they build? What intelligence would they gain?
The idea of pre-emption is fine if one is willing to use 4th or 5th generation war to achieve the goals of changing minds and winning hearts. The idea of pre-emption is horrible if it is done at the tip of a spear.
John Hibbs
skipper@bfranklin.edu
http://www.bfranklin.edu/johnhibbs
Book Description
The United States will confront a series of fundamental challenges through the middle of the twenty-first century. Using a theory of economic systems to gauge present and future global conflicts, Steven Rosefielde and D. Quinn Mills see the challenges as posed sequentially by terrorism, Russia, China, and the European Union. In the cases of terrorism, Russia, and China, Western leaders appreciate aspects of these perils, but they are crafting unduly soft policies to deal with the challenges. The authors believe that â€~globalists’ notwithstanding, such views are myopic in an era where nuclear proliferation has invalidated the concept of mutually assured destruction. What America requires is a new security concept that the authors call â€~strategic independence’ to enable keeping the peace in dangerous times and foster new generations of leaders capable of acting sanely despite a current public culture addicted to wishful thinking.
Customer Reviews:
A rigid, narrow vision.......2007-09-03
The title refers to two illusions that the authors claim are embedded in America's "public culture." One illusion is the notion that people and nations are generally well-intentioned and fair-minded, so that conflicts must result from misunderstanding. The other is that all economic and political systems are converging on Western-style capitalist democracy. Certainly some Americans believe these things, but are these beliefs as pervasive and strongly held as the authors claim? Central to the book is the claim that these illusions have the American mind in a tight grip. Are the authors right? You don't need to read the book to judge for yourself. If you think (as I do) that the authors have oversimplified American attitudes, one major thesis of their book collapses. There is a deeper problem with the book. The authors claim to see the world clearly, without illusion. Yet never, ever, do they display any uncertainty (or sense of humor) about anything. The future, especially the long-term future, is too uncertain for anyone to have confidence about how things will play out. The authors do not seem to recognize any possibility they could be wrong--for example, about the permanent superiority of the US economic system. Yet their own table on page 176 (intended to show the inferiority of Soviet economic performance) shows that Japan did better than the US in growth of per capita GDP for 1973-2001, and West Europe did just as well. Who knows what the statistics for 2002-2030 will show? Furthermore, they have tunnel vision: they see only threats of a military or quasi-military nature. Their four key threats are (1) terrorism, (2) Russia, (3) China and (4) Europe. To meet those threats they espouse a concept of "strategic independence." They are overconfident about the ability of the US to cope with such threats all by itself. Never, ever, do they see a need for a Plan "B." And it does not seem to occur to them that other sorts of threats might turn out to be more important. They are blind to the possible necessity of long-term allies and treaties to face non-military threats. For example, a pandemic may well kill far more Americans in the next fifty years than terrorists armed with a few nukes could possibly kill. Dealing with possible pandemics requires good international cooperation (as does dealing with terrorism). Pandemics are just one example; any reader can easily imagine other such examples. Finally, people who claim to be free of illusions had better get their facts right. The authors often get facts wrong. For example, they claim that unemployment in the US "is lower than in any of the other developed great powers." (p 138) According to the CIA Factbook, unemployment in the US in 2006 was 4.8%, whereas in Japan it was 4.1%. They show faulty judgment on other issues. On page 289 they take seriously the idea that Saddam had WMDs just before the war but moved them to Syria. This is of course theoretically possible; it's also theoretically possible that Dick Cheney machinated the US into war with Iraq so as to enrich Halliburton. Only committed ideologues would entertain either theory. I could give more examples of the authors' errors and misjudgments, but this review is already too long. The book does set forth provocative opinions that are worth thinking about, some of which might turn out to be right, which is why I give it more than one star.
Book Description
This definitive survey examines the impact of nuclear weaponry on national security issues. Written by an experienced author and founder of the Peace and Common Security Institute in Berkeley, California, this text describes how current nuclear dilemmas have developed out of past choices and events. The final chapter of this chronologically organized text covers events that took place from 1985-1991, making the material relevant to the post-Cold War era.
Book Description
Brand-new chapter exclusive to the paperback edition
Colonel David Hunt has dedicated his career to fighting terrorism. A U.S. Army veteran for nearly thirty years, he has helped take out an active terrorist camp, trained the FBI and Special Forces in counterterrorism tactics, and served as security adviser to six different Olympic Games.
And Colonel Hunt is angry. Why? Because even after the attacks on our country and on Americans around the world, the people charged with protecting us—the politicians and the bureaucrats in the military and in intelligence—still aren’t getting the job done. In They Just Don’t Get It, you’ll learn:
• How many of the government’s recent “reforms” are actually counterproductive
• How we can fight this war and still safeguard our civil liberties and the American way of life
• What you can do to keep your family safe
• How to fix the intelligence disaster (and yes, the politicians in D.C. still haven't fixed it)
As politicians posture and pundits bicker, we’re losing sight of the problem: We’re still not equipped to win the war on terror. Hunt shows us there are changes we can make at every level—as individual citizens, as a government, and as a military power—in order to win the war on terror and ensure our survival as a free, proud, and strong nation.
Customer Reviews:
good, common sense-based book.......2007-09-05
Col. David Hunt's book is a good read. He is not the most polished writer around -- the book is written more like an extended conversation -- but he gets his points across. The book tends to get redundant at times, but it remains an interesting book to read which one can easily complete in one evening or two. If even a small fraction of what Hunt alledges is true, Americans should be very concerned about our safety and the glaring lack of leadership in our country.
They Just Don't Get It.......2007-06-12
Of the 30 books I've read over the last year, this is the worst. If I were to equate this with anything written in the last 5 years it would be the last book by Ann Colter. I'm glad I forgot the title of that book. An uneducated person may like books like this, but can come away from the experience with a pedestrian view of history.
Hunt Should Be The Secretary of Defense.......2006-09-14
Col. David Hunt has written a superb plan for fighting the war on terror. It is bold, decisive, and politically incorrect. It is also far better than what we are doing or anyone else is talking about.
The author traces the history of terrorism from the 1972 Munich Olympics through 9/11 and beyond. He shows how our leaders have been ineffective in responding. He is not partisan. He reviews botches by Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush.
He also critiques many problems with our current approach to dealing with terrorists. Some of those include the following: Failing to use the best troops (special ops.) effectively and fully, allowing Pakistan to harbor bin Laden, failing to secure the Iraqi borders allowing the Syrians and Iranians to continue to supply terrorists, continuing to be cozy with the Saudis in spite of their financing of terror, having too much bureaucracy interfering with decision making, and many more.
Along with the problems, the author also presents numerous solutions. Some of those are politically incorrect; Some may seem outrageous. Most are worthwhile and should be pondered and discussed. Some of his ideas (including some highly controversial ones) are as follows: a total reorganization of intelligence with unity of command, de-bureaucratizing the defense and intelligence arenas, creation of a 'Terrorist Killing Agency', mandatory national service (not necessarily military) as a way to overcome personnel shortages, and the elimination of the ill conceived and nonsensical color coding system that the Homeland Security Dept. created. There are many more as well.
While I certainly don't agree with all of his ideas, I do think that every American elected official and voter should read this book. Its ideas should be debated and considered. If several of these were implemented, we would all be much safer.
A Must Read To Understand Winning The War On Terror.......2006-08-26
In his mundane, conversational style, Colonel Hunt cites many of the terrorist attacks which have killed innocent citizens, profiles the killers responsible for these atrocities and offers political as well as logistical solutions to combat terrorists in this insurgent style of war.
Detractors will hurl insults at the messenger and his message to complicate his clearly stated, basic premise: This is not a traditional war. We must retaliate against these killers using our special forces, trained to defeat terrorist aggression without bureaucratic interference from politicians and the military hierarchy.
This book is must read for all who understandably feel confused by the doublespeak of our politicians, military leaders and journalists.
Good views expressed poorly........2006-08-23
Much of what Col Hunt has to say is quite interesting and I agree with his views and arguments, however, the book is more like a +200 page rant and rave than a well written book. I felt like he was just complaining most of the time about what's wrong with politicians and he offers "simple" solutions to all of our problems which are entirely unrealistic. It's a good example of why are our government is not run by the military and why we need civilians ultimately in control. A great man, who has served his country with great honor, but in my view is not a very good author. Ultimately, I did not enjoy this book, and struggled to force myself to finish it.
Book Description
G. Gordon Liddy reminds us what we loved about America, back when you could shoot off a firecracker, light up a cigar, or drive fast and there wasn't a government bureaucrat telling you how to live your life.
Customer Reviews:
When I was a Kid, This was a Free Country.......2007-03-01
Good book w/ great details of things eroded to where they are...
BIG BROTHER? More like BIG MOTHER! I wonder what freedoms my children may one day miss........2006-10-25
First, it is clear that most of the poor opinions of this book are from reviewers who never actually devoted time to reading it and have merely based their reviews on a preconceived notion of the author (particularly ones that contain the word "Bush" in any context other than possible references to shrubbery).
Liddy has always been that loyal right-wing kind of soul that doesn't mince words when it comes to FREEDOM. In a post 9/11 age, Liddy's ideals (so far as this book is concerned) warrant additional consideration.
I was initially intrigued by the author's role in Watergate, but agreed with many of his revelations about the erosion of basic freedoms in American society.
This book isn't an intellectual analysis of our guaranteed freedoms or "RIGHTS" cataloged in dusty historical documents; it is a reflection on the deterioration of American testicular fortitude in attitudes and principles since WWII.
While the U.S. has been worried about "Big Brother," "Big Mother" has sneaked in to wipe our collective behinds and keep us from hurting ourselves.
Liddy is a gung-ho, old school, ball buster with a definite axe to grind, he's served time for his crimes if not his principles and I enjoyed this book.
There's some typical conservative grandstanding, but I think it's healthy and a balanced mind and attitude will see those parts for what they are.
I'm less than half Liddy's age and I can say without a second thought that even when I was a kid this country seemed a lot more free than today.
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, AUTHORS AND OTHER READERS DESERVE YOUR OPINIONS.
An Insightful Reminiscence.......2006-09-27
First of all, ignore the typically snide, leftist bitchings from the negative critics. Their responses are entirely predictable, being very thoroughly indoctrinated by their commisars. When you really summarize it all, the contemporary "liberalism" is about nothing more than endorsing legalized drug-abuse, gay marriage, and free welfare for all those societal parasites who just don't feel like working for a living.
The main point (especially for all the leftists who just don't get the message of Mr. Liddy's book) is that our complacency has led to ever increasing regulation, bureaucracy, and ultimately...complete strangulation of our previously free society. We are afflicted with government at all levels that blatantly seeks to oversee every aspect of our lives, where they simply have no business doing so. Mr. Liddy speaks of a time when the citizens of the United States still believed that the government must answer to the people, not the other way around. He speaks of a time when the vast majority of the people had a definite concept of right and wrong, and a sense of personal honor. He speaks of a time when nobody questioned your right to defend yourself against violent attack, and the right to possess the right "tools" to do so.
Mr. Liddy has given us a thought provoking essay on how far we have fallen in his lifetime, by his own observation. Leftists will always hate this book because it endorses concepts they despise: Patriotism, Self-Reliance, Manhood, and Honor.
Unless You Were Black, Female, Jewish or Gay.......2006-02-18
I grew up a straight, white, male Christian in the same area that Liddy grew up in and at the same time. I remember a country in which blacks could not vote in many states, in which women would lose the few jobs they were allowed to have if they were preganant, in which Jews were excluded from many businesses, schools and social activities and in which gays were confined to the closet.
In 1964 I remember that I couldn't get in to Yale despite having 300 points more on my SAT and a much better GPA than George Bush, who got in on an affirmative action program for rich New England WASPs.
Mr. Liddy paints a rosy picture because he is looking through rose-colored glasses.
America today, even under Bush, is much freer than the America Liddy and I grew up in.
Well written and cogent essays on our culture.......2005-06-05
With the revelation this week that Mark Felt of the FBI was Woodward's "Deep Throat" during his reporting on the Watergate scandals, G. Gordon Liddy is back in the limelight as one of those deeply involved in that break-in. This book has an appendix that recounts the lawsuits Liddy has faced and used to promote his view of what the break-in was really about. The traditional view is that it was the Nixon campaign's effort to spy on those running the Democrat campaign. The Liddy / "Silent Coup" (a book promoting this view from 1991) view is that it was John Dean trying to protect his then girlfriend by trying to get information linking her to a call-girl ring the DNC used to entertain.
There is interesting evidence presented in this appendix. You will need to judge for yourself. I did find it interesting that the bug recovered for the spying did not function and when made to function was on the wrong frequency. It is also interesting that a key carried by one of the burglars (unknown to Liddy) fit the woman's desk who purportedly had the photos and information of the call-girl ring.
However, this book is not principally about Watergate. It is a series of seven essays that express Liddy's views on important aspects of how life in America has changed during his lifetime. While he notes that the Civil War changed certain aspects of the various States to the Union, Liddy traces most the deleterious changes to rise of the Progressive movement during the time of Woodrow Wilson.
The first essay recounts the loss of various freedoms that were still a part of our culture during his childhood. The second chapter focuses on the importance of guns to our founding and our freedoms and argues forcefully against the reinterpretations of the second amendment. He recounts how gun control has been used against the populations of various countries and how crime has risen in the UK since gun ownership was seriously curtailed there.
The third essay on education is my favorite. I agree with everything he says in this essay and commend it to everyone. He notes correctly what education is, what is for, and why it is essential in retaining our freedoms. The erosion of our educational system has been a key factor in the loss of our freedoms because the population is not correctly educated about what our freedoms are and why they are inalienable.
In the fourth essay he takes apart the foolish and manipulative tenets of the current enviro crowd. It is an enjoyable and sharp retort to what is uncritically peddled in our media. The fifth essay is on the erosion for support of our military. Liddy explains how we have weakened our military with notions of limited war and made ourselves more vulnerable. The sixth essay is on the differences between men and women.
The seventh essay asks if we as individuals and as a people will merely survive or prevail. His notion of prevailing is actually quite inspiring. Since even cheaters can "win" he focuses on prevailing - of being victorious with one's principles in tact. It is a good essay.
Liddy's writing style is efficient, crisp, clear, and passionate. He doesn't pull punches (would you expect him to?) and is easy to read while being quite informative.
I enjoyed the book very much. If all you know about Liddy is some vague connection to Watergate, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by this book. I also recommend his first book, "Will" that recounts his role in Watergate quite clearly.
Book Description
The Cuban missile crisis was the most dangerous confrontation of the Cold War and the most perilous moment in human history. Sheldon M. Stern, longtime historian at the John F. Kennedy Library, here presents a comprehensive narrative account of the secret ExComm meetings, making the inside story of the missile crisis completely understandable to general readers for the first time. The author's narrative version of these discussions is entirely new; it provides readers with a running commentary on the issues and options discussed and enables them, as never before, to follow specific themes and the role of individual participants. The narrative highlights key moments of stress, doubt, decision, and resolution—and even humor— and makes the meetings comprehensible both to readers who lived through the crisis and to those too young to remember the Cold War. Stern demonstrates that JFK, a seasoned Cold Warrior who bore some of the responsibility for precipitating the crisis, consistently steered policy makers away from an apocalyptic nuclear conflict, which he called, with stark eloquence, “the final failure.”
Customer Reviews:
WHEN OUR MORAL, POLITICAL, MILITARY, DIPLOMATIC, PRESIDENTIAL & ELECTED LEADERSHIP STRUGGLED FOR WAYS TO KEEP US OUT OF WAR.......2007-08-28
This book may be the most readable (for being a narrative) account of those challenging days when our great and elected President brought us back from the brink of nuclear war and possible annihilation as a nation, as a people, as a species.
Thus this thick book may further serve as a solid introduction to the primary sources of that time, from Tuesday, October 16th through Monday, October 29th, 1962, now 45 years ago. We must have a national celebration and commemoration of the President who kept us OUT of war and the world from bloodshed. Read this book to learn how and why.
Sheldon Stern is an academic professional historian who took early retirement to write this book as the EXComm tapes became declassified. He therefore places these tapes within their historical context, fully presenting their background, as well as providing a learned and helpful running commentary throughout his presentation of the transcript. He also provides a technical analysis of the transcript, including its reliability and validity, and the peer-review process by which it was developed. For instance he provides an interesting analysis of alternative interpretations of some points in the tape, and thereby the alternative political implications, and also reflects upon the technical quality of the recordings.
All in all, this is an excellent presentation of those courageous days in every aspect, and probably their best general presentation, comprehensive while accessible to the general reader. Certainly it will present a purpose for further study of other historical documents from that crucial period in which our President kept us out of war, which he termed the "final failure," and recalls to our hearts a time of great, serious, intent, decisive, moral, experienced, humane, elected, wise and intelligent leadership concerned for the safety and well-being of all people, sadly lacking since.
The REAL insider story of the Missiles of October..........2004-04-16
This is the book, I'd wager, that everyone thought they were getting when they purchased "The Kennedy Tapes" (Zelikow and May, 1997 Harvard Press). After struggling through that seminal work, the need for a narrative form of this compelling side of the Missile Crisis was palpable...fortunately, retired JFK Library historian Sheldon Stern also saw the need and completed what was clearly a passionate "life's work" with "Averting the Final Failure". Stern takes years of study and scrutinization of the White House tapes that eavesdropped on the EXCOMM (Executive Committee of the National Security Council) as they advised and debated the day-to-day issues associated with the Crisis and turned a complex story into an amazingly lucid and cogent narrative that should become THE source for White House activities during the Crisis.
Newly declassified and available, Stern has added immensly to the growing amount of literature/transcripts of these profound tapes. The difference here is that Stern is clearly the one who has spent the most time and study on these tapes and, coupled with his surprisingly apt story-telling capability, has developed an authoritative work that defines the "who? what? where? when? and how?" of the Kennedy advisor "inner-workings". Time and again, Stern destroys myths and legends as his narrative describes each meeting and the theme that each one invoked. He interprets each discussion and adds his own attempt at tone and voice inflection to give not only the content of the discussion, but the "atmosphere" as well. The result is almost as good as hearing the tapes themselves...giving the true feel for what these "Best and Brightest" advisors went through.
The story of course has been told time and again...Soviet leader Nikita Khrushev surreptitiously installs nuclear capable missiles and the associated warheads in Communist ally Cuba and this subversion is discovered with American U2 spy plane photography. The subsequent actions taken by the U.S. government are fortunately recorded on a complex White House taping system by President John Kennedy, thus providing an invaluable insight into this provocative period in the Cold War. Unfortunately, these recordings leave much to be desired in terms of quality and many have attempted to transcibe them into a useful tool for historians. The "Kennedy Tapes" book attempted to publish the full transcriptions, but this work was so disjointed that it tended to confuse more than educate. Stern, having initially supported this effort by Zelikow and May, becomes more and more dismayed with the quality of this transcribing work and decides to offer his own interpretation of the tapes and the Crisis. Having spent many years analyzing them (long before they were declassified) he provides an amazing insight and scholarship, while clearing up many "unclear" voice transcriptions.
Taking all this information and recognizing that just another publication of transcripts would not be useful, he decides on a version that describes these actions on the tapes in narrative form. He clears up the collateral chatter and keeps a thematic focus on the narrative and comes up with a wonderfully clear and concise coverage of this event. More than just an interpretation of tapes, Stern also accompanies the narrative with a surprisingly readable summary of events and, happily, a destruction of many of the afore mentioned myths that have survived throughout the years. Well known Crisis stories such as Robert Kennedy's "hawkish" anti-Communist stance, the deception and negotiations of the agreement to extract nuclear missiles from Turkey as a trade for extraction of the missiles from Cuba and the continued iintransigence of Fidel Castro and the Cuban government are denounced here by Stern...offering a new and embellished perspective on the Crisis. Kenndy's "free-wheeling" meeting style is amazingly supported by the tapes and stand in stark contrast to the popular theme presented in such movies as "The Missiles of October" and "Thirteen Days"...an example being JFK's response to the shooting down of an American U2 spy plane at the height of the Crisis on October 27th...the movie version has JFK and the EXCOMM loudly debating retaliatory responses when in reality JFK's calm and measured response was: "...this is an escalation by them isn't it?" and the meeting went on.
"Averting the Final Failure" comes 42 years following the denouement of the Missile Crisis and thouroughly ties together all loose ends associated with White House activities during those heady 13 days. This is an important and monumental addition to the vast amount of literature available on the Crisis and should be considered the first reference used by historians for the White House perspective of the Crisis...I would overwhelmingly recommend this work to anyone interested in those activities in October, 1962.
Very Readable!.......2004-04-04
While reading Sheldon Stern's book, I felt as if I were having a conversation with him. Relating the facts of that event in a manner and detail that made this reader want to know what came next was a gift! Detailed, yes; comprehensive, yes; accurate, no doubt!
History At It's Best.......2004-01-20
History has two definitions: a chronological record of significant past events, and a story. Sheldon Stern's story of the Cuban Missile Crisis is history (both definitions) at its best. The scholarly, time-consuming, and meticulous research that went into this work abounds throughout its pages. The author's willingness to challenge earlier historical works on the translation of the crisis's audiotapes makes this book a must for any student of JFK, his administration, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Because of the comprehensive nature of history, a reader might conclude that this is just another dry historical work. Far from it - this book reads like a Robert Ludlum novel. The reader is caught in the tension as the missiles are first discovered, held as the conflict escalates to an almost unbearable crisis, and released as the resolution unfolds. But this was no political thriller, it was real life. Mr. Stern has taught us all a great lesson of history: that real people make real decisions, that these decisions have consequences both foreseen and unforeseen, and that there could have been other choices made with different outcomes. Our world would be a much different place if JFK had listened to his advisors. I believe this book will become the classic study for the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Averting the Final Failure is a must read.
JFK's most crucial days.......2003-12-07
Stern has offered the most complete understanding of the Cuban missile crisis, and of Kennedy himself, in this the most intimate account of those October days, drawn directly from the taped deliberations. His reconstruction destroys the simplistic characterizations of JFK as a "cold warrior" and leaves the reader grateful for his handling of that showdown with the Soviets. I would consider this account more definitive than any other now available, or likely to be in the near future. This is essential reading.
Product Description
Glenn Greenwald was not a political man. Not liberal, not conservative. Politicians were all the same and it didnt matter which party was in power. Extremists on both ends canceled each other out, and the United States would essentially remain forever centrist. Or so he thought. Then came September 11, 2001. Greenwalds disinterest in politics was replaced by patriotism, and he supported the war in Afghanistan. He also gave President Bush the benefit of the doubt over his decision to invade Iraq. But, as he saw Americans and others being disappeared, jailed and tortured, without charges or legal representation, he began to worry. And when he learned his president had seized the power to spy on American citizens on American soil, without the oversight required by law, he could stand no more. At the heart of these actions, Greenwald saw unprecedented and extremist theories of presidential power, theories that flout the Constitution and make President Bush accountable to no one, and no law. How Would a Patriot Act? is one mans story of being galvanized into action to defend Americas founding principles, and a reasoned argument for what must be done. Greenwalds penetrating words should inspire a nation to defend the Constitution from a president who secretly bestowed upon himself the powers of a monarch. If we are to remain a constitutional republic, Greenwald writes, we cannot abide radical theories of executive power, which are transforming the very core of our national character, and moving us from democracy toward despotism. This is not hyperbole. This is the crisis all Americansliberals and conservatives--now face. In the spirit of the colonists who once mustered the strength to denounce a king, Greenwald invites us to consider: How would a patriot act today?
Customer Reviews:
Acurate and well researched!.......2007-10-03
Great book, very well researched and documented. Greenwald does a great job identifying the root causes of the Authoritarian Presidency.
Packed With Facts.......2007-10-02
Written by an apolitical person, this book chronicles a disgusting abuse of power. A must read for every American citizen...if we truly hope to regain all we have lost in the past seven years. To ignore what this administration has done would be a travesty.
We Owe This to Ourselves.......2007-09-13
This is a book for all those who believe that we must be behind our president 100%, for those who think criticism of the president is mindless bashing, for those who think that criticism of the same is a lack of patriotism, treason, and undermines our troops' morale. Because if you do believe these things, author, Glenn Greenwald will provide a new perspective on what it really means to be a patriot and how one would act. It is clear that he takes aim at George Bush and Richard Cheney, and those who support him.
Starting with a brief background on the FISA law, Greenwald explains how it came about, and how it has worked in a world of a Soviet threat through the present, until this president decided to bypass the law while telling Americans that he was abiding by it. He illustrates how he and Gonzalez were pedaling a pattern of deceit daily.
Next, there had to be some justification for such unilateral action. Enter, John Yoo, assistant attorney general in the Justice's Department's Office of Legal Counsel which "produces legal memoranda that, upon issuance, become the official position of the Justice Department and the entire executive branch." Yoo, a firm believer in the power of the president, wrote exactly what the White House wanted to read. According to Yoo-know-who, the president had the power to do whatever he wanted to do, without the consultation of congress or constraint by court. All this for the security of the United States. In other words, the President of the United States was now above the law, and the checks and balances were no longer in place with an executive that now assumed power over the other two. Bush was king, accountable to no one for his decisions or his actions.
Armed with a justification, Bush wasted no time in exercising it. He arrested American citizens by signing secret executive orders that deprived them of liberty, charges, counsel, trial, and even communication. He ruled that he could hold them indefinitely. He took it up a notch by doing this to an American citizen, in particular, Jose Padilla who was not only an American citizen arrested on American soil, but on "evidence" obtained by torture.
So important was torture to his policy that he threatened to veto an anti-torture bill introduced by Senator John McCain (R) of Arizona. When it passed overwhelmingly in the both houses of congress, the president went to Plan B where he added a signing statement that he would only apply the ban on torture in a manner consistent with his constitutional authority. With John Yoo telling him, his power as president could not be challenged, he could disregard the will of congress and the bill in its entirety. The bill specifically passed to control his use of torture was the same bill he declared he could ignore.
When the liberal and the widely denigrated New York Times exposed Bush's illegal eavesdropping AFTER the presidential election which was several months after the NY Times first learned about it, the administration defended its actions stating that the president's powers included "the right to use war powers against Americans on US soil," and "the right to use them even if Congress makes it a crime to do so, or the courts rule that doing so is illegal." How's that for being above the law?
And this is what began to generate a conservative backlash from those who were his ardent supporters. The rabidly supportive Supreme Court judge Antonin Scalia eviscerated the administration in an opinion on executive excesses. Other well-known conservatives such as congressman Bob Barr (R) of Georgia and George Will, journalist, have spoken out against the chief executive's flounting of the law and his disregard of our constitutional rights. Faced with growing opposition, Messrs. Bush and Cheney moved to Plan C.
While most of our famous leaders have instilled in us confidence and fearlessness, Bush and Cheney have gone in the opposite direction. Instead of telling us that terrorism is not our greatest threat, is not so great as being destroyed by the British empire before the nation can be born, by Naziism and imperialism, or by nuclear annihilation in a Cold War, we must remain in mortal fear (or terror) of terrorism, and put our trust in the wisdom and knowledge Big Brother Bush as the safest course for the American people. "Invoking the threat of terrorism and the president's proclaimed commitment to `protect' us from those threats in the administration's sole and all-purpose defense of its conduct." In addition to the fear tactic, Bush and Cheney accused their critics of "actually wanting to help the terrorists attack America." (Where have we heard that before?!) "The tacit assumption is that one can only oppose terrorism by endorsing whatever the administration wants."
Adding emphasis to this administration tactic, the author also quotes Senator Cornyn (R) of Texas, former judge who has doubled as dupe and dope for George Bush, and who is also known for more than one controversial and revealing gaffe when he added, "None of your civil liberties matter much after you're dead." Senator Pat Roberts (R) of Kansas has also said about the same thing. Greenwald allows the reader to connect the dots between these statements and that of Patrick Henry's famous, "Give me liberty or give me death!"
When Senator Rockefeller (D) of West Virginia attempted to initiate an investigation of Bush's warrantless eavesdropping early in 2006, the administration that always insisted it had nothing to hide and welcomed any investigation went into overdrive to quash it. In this they succeeded. Even though they threatened to prosecute the paper and its journalists, The NY Times ran the story that Rockefeller attempted to investigate and the government's reaction, but again, the story broke after the national election.
Greenwald asks us to put terrorism in perspective, that the United States has faced far greater threats in our history without sacrificing liberty for security, that "excess loyalty to an individual or party is the very antithesis of patriotism, as it places fealty to that individual or party over allegiance to the country, its interests, and its values."
This is review number 137 for me. It is also my longest because I was so taken with the message of this book. As the author emphasizes, it is our Bill of Rights that is our most cherished ideal. It is more powerful than the fear of terrorism, more important than being conservative or liberal or being a supporter or detractor of Bush and Cheney. No one is more important than our constitution. That document and the Federalist Papers are filled with that belief of those who wrote them, those who believed that just as people must be held to account for their actions, so should their magistrates.
We the people, not a president, are the stewards of our constitution and our legacy. It is up to us to claim it, protect it, and cherish it above any other. That is what this book explains, and that is why I recommend it highly. Please read this and "The Genius of Impeachment" by John Nichols and "Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush" by the Center for Constitutional Rights.
These are short books with powerful messages. They are about our responsibility as citizens, what being a patriot really means.
We owe this to ourselves.
Informative but depressing.......2007-04-17
Greenwald explains with clarity and precision the various ways the Bush administration has been abusing the power of the presidency. That's the informative part. The depressing part is the lack of interest this country's corporate media shows on the topic. A cynical person might believe that the corporate media are deliberately ignoring this subject because they support Bush's agenda. But of course, I am a stranger to cynicism.
Worse Than a Monday Morning Quarterback.......2007-04-13
After reading a copy of this borrowed from the library, I see why its price has been slashed to $5.40. This book is an excellent compilation of thoughts that are "in vogue". As such it has no value. There is nothing original in this book and it omits the relevant actions of previous presidents. Even Clinton trod on Americans' privacy rights (were any of you awake during ECHELON?). If Bush had ordered the internment of all Americans of Middle Eastern descent after 9/11 (yes, F. Roosevelt apparently did fear fear itself by interning everyone who had the wrong type of eyes), this whipper-snapper of an author (could have been any undergraduate trying to make points with his left-wing professor) could have something to stand on. There have been no attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11 and yet self-righteous tyros like this still complain.
Book Description
When Strategies of Containment was first published, the Soviet Union was still a superpower, Ronald Reagan was president of the United States, and the Berlin Wall was still standing. This updated edition of Gaddis' classic carries the history of containment through the end of the Cold War. Beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt's postwar plans, Gaddis provides a thorough critical analysis of George F. Kennan's original strategy of containment, NSC-68, The Eisenhower-Dulles "New Look," the Kennedy-Johnson "flexible response" strategy, the Nixon-Kissenger strategy of detente, and now a comprehensive assessment of how Reagan-- and Gorbechev-- completed the process of containment, thereby bringing the Cold War to an end. He concludes, provocatively, that Reagan more effectively than any other Cold War president drew upon the strengths of both approaches while avoiding their weaknesses. A must-read for anyone interested in Cold War history, grand strategy, and the origins of the post-Cold War world.
Customer Reviews:
A welcome scrutiny of history with the advantage of post-Cold War hindsight.......2005-11-07
Now in a revised edition, Strategies Of Containment: A Critical Appraisal Of American National Security Policy During The Cold War is a revised and expanded edition of Bancroft Prize winner and Cold War expert John Lewis Gaddis' classic on understanding the history of containment as a policy, its role in bringing the Cold War to an end, and its possible value or pitfalls in the future. Originally published during the Regan presidency when the Soviet Union was still a superpower, Strategies Of Containment includes a greatly expanded chapter on Reagan, Gorbachev, and the completion of containment, as well as a new epilogue. A welcome scrutiny of history with the advantage of post-Cold War hindsight.
A classic.......2004-04-14
This book is still useful even 20 years after publication. Gaddis view US policy toward the USSR as a pendulum that swings between"symmetrical" and "asymmetrical" approaches. The periods are split into: Kennan's original containment, NSC-68, Eisenhower's "New Look", JFK and Nixon's détente. There is a coda covering Carter, but it is less helpful.
The symmetrical approach confronts the USSR wherever the USSR chooses to probe. In this approach, wherever the Soviets seek to advance is, by their very actions, a US interest. In contrast, the asymmetrical view seeks to identify those areas that are inherently vital US interests and protect those.
The
Political
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989
Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
Someone Would Have Talked: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Conspiracy to Mislead History
