Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander ReviewThe bottom line in this book is quite clear: US forces on the ground, consisting of fully integrated clandestine case officers, special operations teams, and selected allied operations officers, were able to find Bin Laden's final lair and track him as he escaped over the course of several days toward the Waziristan sanctuary in Pakistan. Also clear is the reluctance of CIA managers to press the President to order the military to insert a Ranger battalion capable of blocking that escape, and the reluctance of the "all or nothing" US generals to commit troops "behind the lines."
The book would normally lose one star for failing to be current with the varied sources pertinent to the story, including Sy Hersh's excellent story on how Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld gave the Pakistani's an air corridor with which they evacuated close to 3,000 Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders over the course of one night. I believe the author of this book when he says that Bin Laden was not among those so evacuated--Bin Laden's style would be to distrust a Pakistani offer of air evacuation, and to want to lead his men directly over ground to sanctuary.
Before detailing my extensive notes on this book, let me just note that it cannot be fully appreciated if you cannot read between the lines (for myself, as a former clandestine case officer, this is perhaps easier, but I find the whining about redaction from some reviewers to be naive--the redacted sections are veils, to be sure, but helpful in being shown). This book is also best appreciated if you have first read Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History; Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 and The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB as well as the book by the author's predecessor in field command, First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan I have reviewed all those books--if you don't want to buy and read them, at least read the reviews as preparation for a full appreciation of this book. If you can find it, a used copy of The Black Tulip: A Novel of War in Afghanistan is both fun read and provides atmosphere.
A few points really jump out at me and make my fly-leaf notes:
1) The author takes a reasonable shot at "First In" by pointing out that he led a team into the area in 2000 to deliver radio intercept training to the Northern Alliance.
2) He carefully documents that George Tenet's "declaration of war" was meaningless, and not backed up by either resources or management commitment. Tenet was a world-class posturer obsessed with pandering to the President and unwilling to actually lead the operators. The author provides what may be one of the best and most factual accounts of Directorate of Operations petty politics, backstabbing, and minor jealousies. The author specifically slams the Latin America Division Chief for being a chickens--t who ordered his officers to NOT volunteer after 9/11 even if they had relevant languages and experiences, and he accuses both Tenet and Jim Pavitt, then the nominal head of the Directorate of Operations (nominal because I never considered him to actually be competent) of panicking after 9/11 and as the Counter-Terrorism Center (CTC) leadership pushed the envelope and did the right things. My impressions of Cofer Black and other CTC leaders jumped up several notches on the basis of this book, and for that alone it is very worthwhile.
3) The most important strategic observation made in this book is the author's documented denouncement of George Tenet's poor judgment in closing stations in Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, and Tajikistan, among others, leaving CIA blind and without localized resources in the most critical years leading up to and following 9/11. The author demonstrates that he is more than just a case officer with a superb quote on page 312 in which he not only calls for a global clandestine presence, but recognizes the value of having a national cadre of "trained experts who speak the languages and show sensitivity to native cultures" and also calls for a dramatic increase in "student, cultural, and scientific exchanges" with other societies. In this context, while glossing over the CIA's general lack of languages, he noted that the Special Forces people sent to help him had no languages skills at all (relevant to this battle).
4) The author and CTC leadership get huge face with me for having the brains to go out and recruit native language speakers without college degrees, giving them the GS-13 and GS-14 grades normally reserved for PhDs. I absolutely admire the author for taking on the CIA's personnel bureaucracy and telling them in essence, "the college degree can come later, right now we need the languages and the Muslim attributes." Absolutely spot on, this is the kind of inspired *leadership* we need in clandestine operations.
5) A few minor notes that add to the scholarship in the area of clandestine intelligence and counter-terrorism:
a) CIA relied on Northern Alliance helicopters instead of having its own capable of providing more reliable transport. This was fixed later, but the bottom line is that both CIA and the US military are completely lacking in not having a squadron of mixed aircraft (helos, VSTOL, and gunships) optimized for high altitude operations (10,000 feet to 18,000 feet).
b) Clean fuel was the major safety hazard--this taught me that one of our first priorities needs to be setting up a Forward Area Refueling Point (FARP) and having a trained fuel master responsible for ensuring clean fuel is available to all of our clandestine and special operations flights in and out of denied areas.
c) The author slams Tenet and Deutch (and David Cohen) for putting intelligence analysts in charge of stations overseas. An analyst is no more capable of managing clandestine operations than a ballerina is of coaching a football team.
d) The author documents that the Nairobi Embassy bombing was tipped in advance, but the informant was blown off (as were the two who told FBI about 9/11 in advance).
e) The author knows that our compartmentation rules are stupid, and shared *everything* with his military counterparts in the field. This worked.
In Afghanistan, for this campaign, unlike in Somalia or Iraq, the clandestine service worked as advertised. Wish that it were so for the rest of the world.Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander Overview

Want to learn more information about Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr ReviewThis book, nearly 800 pages, analyzes in exhaustive detail Ken Starr's investigation as independent prosecutor of President Clinton.
Two things stand out about this book.
First, the colossal amount of research that went into it. Gormley interviewed not only all the major players in the events, including Starr, Clinton, and Monica Lewinsky, but also hosts of minor characters, relatives, attorneys, and the like. I have rarely read any book on any subject that interviewed so many different people in so much depth, many of them ordinarily difficult to find.
Gormley's extreme diligence pays off as he uncovers tragic but mesmerizing details that are not widely known. For example, he has a detailed account of Jim McDougal's death in solitary confinement including information based on his interviews with McDougal's prison psychologist. He also uncovered a report highly critical of the prosecutors' interrogation of Monica Lewinsky, which criticizes the prosecutors for continuing to question her after she had requested an attorney. What was particularly interesting is that the report was never released because, allegedly, its release would have violated the privacy, not of Lewinsky - but of her prosecutors! One of the most interesting features of this book is that while the FBI was devoting enormous investigative resources to the question of whether the president committed perjury in his Jones deposition, Clinton was sending missiles against al-Qaeda threats in Afghanistan. Some of the participants expressed exasperation that law enforcement did not consider anti-terrorism investigation a higher priority than the Jones deposition issues.
The second great thing about this book is that it's so clear and easy to read. Although it covers events over twenty years, innumerable legal proceedings and lawsuits, it's paced so that it's nearly impossible to put down. It's one thing to collect all this information, but the author also managed to have it tell an incredible tale: at times tragic, at times infuriating, at times laughable - but always fascinating.
Nevertheless, the book had a few weaknesses.
One omission generally was that the details of the legal arguments tended to be glossed over.
For example, there is no analysis of Clinton's arguments that he did not commit perjury in his testimony in the Paula Jones deposition, which are important to understand the merits of his defense. In general, the author sometimes appears to conflate similar terms for specific acts in ways the confuse the issue about perjury.
As the legal discussion, on page 172 the author describes a bill that would allow certain private litigants to sue sitting presidents as one that would "almost certainly have violated the U.S. Constitution's command against bills of attainder and ex post facto laws." This statement seems too strong. Ex post facto laws do not ordinarily circumscribe civil liability, and a bill as described could probably be drafted so as to withstand a bill of attainder challenge.
I would also have wanted to read a more detailed analysis of the legal arguments of Clinton v. Jones or Morrison v. Olson, the two key cases that led to the scandal. Interestingly, the author does include an interview with a Supreme Court justice defending the claim in Clinton v. Jones that allowing a private lawsuit against a sitting president would be unlikely to be distracting. Although the author suggests at one point that Justice Scalia supported the independent counsel, it would have been interesting to note that Scalia was the lone dissent in Morrison v. Olson, the case authorizing the law. Indeed, Scalia predicted, in his dissent in Morrison v. Olson, that the independent counsel law would gravely damage the republic because it violated the separation of powers.
The writing itself is excellent. It's clear, well-paced, and hard to put down. Still, there were some issues in the way of copy editing. On pages 88 and 554 the author misuses "bold-faced" in the phrases "bold-faced liar" and "bold-faced deception". Even if this unfortunate usage has been sanctioned by popularity, it's still better to use "bald-faced" instead. The author similarly misuses "fulsome" to mean "full" on pages 135 and 567 ("draft a more fulsome four-count complaint"; "Starr had taken in compiling a fulsome report.").
Some readers may find that portions of the book take a more supportive view of the independent counsel than the narrative suggests, but since the narrative contains the facts for the reader, the treatment cannot be said to be unfair.
In conclusion the book is well-written, well-researched and interesting. It's a superb example of journalism and an important contribution to the literature.The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr Overview

Want to learn more information about The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton ReviewIt is nearly impossible to think objectively about Bill Clinton, the man or his administration. In THE NATURAL, Joe Klein, the once-anonymous author of PRIMARY COLORS, gives us a concise, balanced history of the Clinton presidency. He provides a fair account of Bill Clinton: we are not spared his self-pity or the scale of his appetites and indulgences, but we also see the seriousness and vision he brought to the nation's leadership.
The Clinton administration had a rocky beginning, noted for its naïve political blunders. Remember Travelgate? How about the mere possibility of universal health care? The Clintons relied heavily on their friends, who were not always the wisest or most capable choices. One of the strengths of THE NATURAL is its portrayal of key relationships. We learn a lot about the former president through Mr. Klein's account of his complex marriage and Mrs. Clinton's formidable, imperfect influence. He also describes the similarities and differences between Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, who led the failed Republican revolution and masterminded one of the nastiest, most counter-productive political arenas in American history.
It is unfortunate that Bill Clinton's comprehensive understanding of economics will not be what history remembers about his presidency. Mr. Klein points out that balancing the budget was a tremendous gamble and the budget surplus Clinton left the next administration was unprecedented. His sound policies --- welfare reform, Internet commerce, the earned income tax credit --- provided a base for financial prosperity that we are unlikely to see again. One of the melancholy notes of the book is the sense of squandered talent and opportunity. What else might Bill Clinton have accomplished if he had not been so distracted?
Bill Clinton was under constant attack from the right wing and the scandal-hungry media. He fended off investigations into his avoidance of the draft during the Vietnam War, his use of marijuana, his finances, his extramarital affairs, his wife's law practice and not one of the fanatics determined to destroy him made the slightest impact until he lied under oath about his affair with a White House intern. Why did he give his assailants such a wealth of ammunition to use against him? How could such a smart man make such a stupid mistake? We may never know what he was thinking, but the disappointment and disillusionment of the president's staff and supporters practically soak through the page.
The strange thing about THE NATURAL is how distant the Clinton presidency seems. September 11, 2001 was a moment of such enormous import in American history that the overwrought peccadilloes Bill Clinton became known for now seem trivial. Bill Clinton never faced a challenge to the presidency like al-Qaeda's attacks; he made his own challenges. It will take a much longer, more in-depth book to really examine Bill Clinton's complicated character, but THE NATURAL captures his administration, a time that is simultaneously recent history and a long time ago.
--- Reviewed by Colleen QuinnThe Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton Overview

Want to learn more information about The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...