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The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack
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The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack |
Author: Ronald Kessler
Published: 2007-11-13 |
List price: $26.95
Our price: $17.79
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As of: December 02nd, 2008 04:02:09 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Very Interesting, but strong bias hurts credibility
There is a lot of interesting material in Kessler's book. I enjoyed the look inside the government's counterterrorism efforts, and the interviews and data from FBI and CIA agents/officers provide a great perspective on how things have unfolded over the past six or eight years.
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br /However, I was shocked at how clearly biased Kessler's work is. You expect any writer/journalist will have a bias, but Kessler is almost non-stop in his unmitigated praise of Mueller/Tenet/Bush and he misses no opportunity to take shots at Clinton, Freeh, and the "media elite." This is not to say that his opinions are wrong or misguided, it's just hard to swallow the idea that Mueller/Bush/et. al. have been 100% right and effective in everything they've done while nearly all failures are attributable to "liberals" and "the media."
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br /Kessler defends every policy and action of the current administration without any critique at all. Everything from Homeland Security to the Patriot Act to the outing of Valerie Plame, is discussed and supported without question or critical analysis. It's as though the book was written strictly from notes provided by the White House Press Secretary.
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br /Another area of concern is Kessler's use of statistics. He is happy to quote statistics printed in the NY Times or Washington Post and then tear them apart as misleading or representative of "liberal media bias." That's fine - statistics are a dangerous tool, so hearing multiple interpretations of them is always valuable. However, Kessler then goes on to cite his own sweeping statistics (e.g. FBI "terrorist" arrests in recent years) in support of his views but does not explain or analyze them in any critical manner.
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br /Don't get me wrong, I like the book, and it is refreshing to get a perspective on these issues from a source other than politicians and their spokesmen. It just makes me question the otherwise sensible-sounding data and conclusions in the book given the authors uncompromising bias. Kessler often comes across less like a journalist / investigative writer and more like a political hack / windbag like Limbaugh or Franken.
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 Excellent evaluation of counterterrorism efforts
Kessler takes the reader into the world of counterterrorism and paints a realistic picture of today's world. I learned a lot about the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the National Counterterrorism Center.
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br /The book contains the good, the bad, and the ugly of the evolution of the U.S.'s effort to counter Islamic terrorism.
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br /The bad begins on page 12 when Robert Muller gave Bob Dies a list of software he would require upon becoming Director of the FBI--Microsoft Office for example. Dies informed him that none of it would work on the FBI's current (ancient) computers. It seems the current director, Louis Freeh did not like computers and never used them. This is but one example of what had gone wrong in the 1990s. The FBI was unable to process information and could not communicate with each other or other agencies.
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br /The ugly is "the wall" created by Richard Scruggs in a 1995 memo. Instead of realizing Scruggs was an ill-informed idiot, Deputy AG Jamie Gorelick and the AG, Janet Reno approved Scruggs memo.
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br /The remainder of the book is devoted to the good, how things have improved. The wall has been torn down and the CIA, FBI and other agencies are communicating.
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br /Before making any type of judgment on how well, or how poorly, the U.S. is doing in combating terrorism, read this book.
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br /FBI Special Agent Piro's eight months interview with Saddam Hussain is work the price of the book. Saddam confirmed that he had fooled his generals, Iran, and the West into thinking he had WMDs. He did not think the U.S. would invade, and his fear was Iran. Should be ours too.
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br /Lee Boyland author of two techno-thrillers dealing with current events: Behold, an Ashen Horse and The Rings of Allah.
The Terrorist Watch
Wake up America! This book is a must read. It reveals the truth about what the press does not want us to know.
 Absurdly Biased
"The Terrorist Watch" reads like a recruiting brochure - oversimplified and biased hype. Example I - attributing the FBI's computer backwardness entirely to former Director Louis Freeh, ignoring the fact that Attorney General Ashcroft heatedly refused requests by Mueller (Freeh's replacement) for funds to improve computer systems and anti-terrorism efforts. Example II - asserting the U.S. has won in Afghanistan, and ignoring how blunders allowed bin Laden to escape into Pakistan.
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br /Another problem is sometimes muddled statements - eg. whether the "20th hijacker" was Zacarias Moussauoi (taking flight lessons in Eagan, Minnesota) or al-Qahtani (refused entry in Orlando after providing vague answers to immigration questions).
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br /As for the claim "rolling up more than 5,000 terrorists worldwide since 9/11," that's non-credible given the almost non-existent resulting convictions. Nor is it supported by the confirmed fact (per U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) that an estimated 75 percent of 3 million applicants for immigrant benefits - green cards, work visas, and a host of other documents - at a major federal processing center were not screened through the U.S. terrorism watch list over the past four years.
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br /Then there's the periodic reports of failed airport security checks, unchecked materials shipped via airplanes, and ocean-borne cargoes; terrorists' names not added to the "Do Not Fly List," and infants and government critics who are listed.
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br /Finally, Kessler is also totally oblivious to the unsupportable costs of U.S. terrorism efforts. Bin Laden's weakening of the American economy means he's winning the "War on Terror" even if there's never another attack on the U.S.
Look out -- lots of hype and fear mongering
After watching Kessler on Book Span TV, I immediately browsed the book at Borders and thought it was just part of the neo-con propaganda machine. More fear mongering and complaints about the so-called liberal obstructionists. I take issue with his statement that some FBI or CIA agent might compromise their work because they fear lawsuits; they should fear more for not doing their jobs and should be able to get the necessary approvals to charge ahead. What is a democracy without safeguards!
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br /As for the recommendations, it's the usual suspects - Woosey Woolsey et al. It would have been simpler to say that Joseph Goebbels approved it; that would have summarized it best. I don't think a NewsMax hack like this adds to the intelligence debate that the nation is currently engaged in.
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