[.ca] Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror (ISBN 0743260457)

Why Our Counter-Terrorism Efforts Are Dangerous to You!:
Richard A. Clarke was at the center of U.S. counter-terrorism efforts for both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Before that, he worked on related issues in the White House for George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Prior to that he served in the department of defense for other presidents since 1973. His experience in those posts put him in the middle of every terrorist threat and incident over decades. As a result, he is able to tell you what's been going on with terrorism, counter-terrorism and foreign policy. It's not a pretty picture . . . and it's now heading in entirely the wrong direction. Unless that direction is changed, many more American lives will be lost to terrorists. Our current War on Terror, according to Mr. Clarke, should probably be called a "War to Encourage Terror against the United States." I highly recommend this book. You will find it of most value if you also read Bob Woodward's book, Plan of Attack, that details the background leading up into the Iraq war. If you are skeptical about the Iraq war, you should also read Michael Moore's Dude, Where's My Country and see Fahrenheit 9/11. Mr. Clarke outlines a series of continuing errors in our efforts to combat terrorism. 1. Ronald Reagan did not retaliate for the killing of 278 Marines in Lebanon, and his people traded arms for hostages in Iran-Contra. 2. George H.W. Bush did not retaliate for the Libyan murder of 259 passengers on Pan Am 103, had no official counter-terrorism effort, left Saddam Hussein in power after the Gulf War, and built up huge forces in Saudi Arabia that are still there. 3. Bill Clinton failed to get the CIA, the Pentagon and FBI to take terrorist threats seriously. 4. George W. Bush ignored al Qaeda despite warnings before 9/11, launched an attack on Iraq that strengthened the fundamentalist Islamic terrorist movement, and has not pursued al Qaeda with much vigor or talent. Instead, Mr. Bush takes credit for launching a war on terror that is actually counter-productive. The stories of incompetence, neglect, and self-serving actions in this book will make any patriotic American sick to his or her stomach. What's worse is that we have a less good position in pursuing terrorism now than we have been in many years, despite having spent enormous sums and lives to address the situation in ineffective ways. For example, local terrorism responders are fewer in number than they were before 9/11, and needed resources and training have been denied to them to pay for tax cuts and the war in Iraq. The part of the book that is most frightening is the description of the Bush White House after its election. They seemed to have been people who thought they were still in 1988 when the first George Bush became president. The ABM treaty was a much higher priority than terrorism, and everyone was spoiling to go to war with Iraq. 9/11 was a God-send to the hidden agenda of attacking Saddam Hussein. After the War on Terror was begun, the most talented and experienced people were driven from the effort and replaced with people who were loyalists to the current president. Resources were spent to pursue the Bush agenda rather than dealing with terrorism. For example, resources needed to fight al Qaeda and find Osama bin Laden were diverted to Iraq which has had no connection to terror aimed at the United States in decades. As a result, al Qaeda is stronger today than ever before. The book outlines what must be done. I came away with the impression that we will get four years of increased strengthening of al Qaeda if George W. Bush is re-elected this fall. Is that what should be the legacy of 9/11? I don't think so. Read this book before you decide who you want to vote for this fall.

Must read for an educated U.S. populace to save themselves:
Mr. Clarke writes, "One shudders to think what additional errors \oBush\c will make in the next four years to strengthen . . . al Qaeda . . . ." p. 290. I learned a great deal by reading this book. America is less secure today by invading Iraq -- "an oil-rich Arab country that posed no threat to us . . . \oand\c deliver\oing\c to al Queda the greatest recruitment propaganda imaginable and made it difficult for friendly Islamic governments to be seen working closely with us." p. 264. We've all been hood-winked by the Bush White house - a president I regrettably voted for. We've been diverted from eliminating al Queda by invading Iraq, we've ignored our vulnerabilities to terrorism at home, we should have been dealing with the ideological threat. We've stirred-up a hornet's nest in the Islamic world by stepping on that flimsey step ladder and batting the hell out of a nest of terrorists that did not exist in Iran. We owe a debt of gratitude to Richad Clarke and so many other people like John O'Neill, etc. This is a very engrossing book. Although there are a few writing hick-ups that I blame on poor editing, this is a book that as one reviewer said you should pass on to candidates in you community. I saw a little of the debate for Senator in Georgia and was absolutely mortified at the ignorance of the candidates -- my God, they can barely talk legibly. I'm a native Georgian, and I just wanted to cry while I screamed at the t.v. I turned it off for the sake of my high blood pressure. Asking questions, critically analyzing our politicians' decisionmaking is patriotic - I don't give a damn what Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, and especially Ashcroft say. Ashcroft who lost an election to a dead man. John, pursue your songwriting career. At least then we can turn you off man. Nobody who merely carries a bar card ought to be Atty Gen. READ CLARKE'S BOOK for your sake and the sake of our children.

Good place to start to learning about what has gone wrong:
I read this book after seeing Clinton interviewed on Fox. I'm not American and was looking for a place to learn about how the U.S. got into the mess they are in. The book starts with a riveting recount of 9/11 through Clarke's experience, then goes from his work with Reagan all the way through to after the Iraq war was started. I had limited knowledge on the topic before hand so I found the history lesson very interesting, but some parts got a little boring with all the specifics. Clarke's point of view is interesting and it's a fairly easy read. Don't take Clarke's recollection as the whole story, it is overwhelmingly pro Clinton. Clinton is given the free pass while Bush is held to the fire. Clarke has had an interesting career and I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a firsthand account of US vs. the Middle East in the last 30 years.

Definite account of counterterrorism the last 20 years:
How many Ex-Bush Administration officials have to come out with sobering memoirs that show Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld for who they are before all Americans wake up? At the time of this writing, Kerry and Bush are still neck and neck at about 45% in the polls! WTH? The most enjoyable part of this book is when Clarke proves how good at counterterrorism Clinton was. All of you who have been brainwashed by Limbaugh and Hannity might not appreciate that part of the book. By the way, Clinton did everything he could to get Usama. The Sudanese were ready to hand Bin Laden over, but those who know anything about the Sudanese know they are genocidal terrorists. Therefore, we could not negotiate with them. So what did Clinton do? He tried to bomb Bin Laden's convoy. But Usama escaped. You may not remember that because the right-wing was trying to impeach Clinton because he wouldn't cooperate with their bullsh*t "Contact With America". The Bush portion shocked everybody for some reason. "What? You mean he's doing a horrible job fighting terrorism? But I thought.." The reality is Bush looked tough with all those strong phrases like "smoke 'em out" and "bring 'em on" the latter being rather flippant and possibly endangering our troops. The bottom line: put your political ideology -left or right- on the shelf and read a nonpartison account of our efforts - good and bad - to eliminate our greatest threat after the fall of Communism.

A real page turner, well written and informative:
A well written account of this nation's war against terrorism though Richard Clarke's eyes. Richard's prose is clear, is good at explaining how things work in Washington and the White House and you will come away better informed. You may also, as I did, come away with a new appreciation for how Clinton handled terrorism. If you are a fan of President Bush then you will not like this book as it carefully explains the illogic of the war in Iraq in regards to terrorism and other issues.