current events

"George W. Bush is a liar. He has lied large and small, directly and by omission. He has mugged the truth-not merely in honest error, but deliberately, consistently, and repeatedly," David Corn; Washington editor for the Nation.

"All American presidents have lied, but George W. Bush has relentlessly abused the truth. In this scathing indictment of the president and his inner circle, Clarke, reveals and examines the deceptions at the heart of the Bush presidency. In a stunning work Clarke details and substantiates the many times the Bush administration has knowingly and intentionally misled the American public to advance its own interests and agenda, including:

* Brazenly mischaracterizing intelligence and resorting to deceptive arguments to whip up public support for war with Iraq.
* Misrepresenting the provisions and effects of the president's supersized tax cuts
* Offering misleading explanations- instead of telling the full truth - about the 9/11 attacks
* Lying about connections to corporate crooks
* Presenting deceptive and disingenuous claims to sell controversial policies on the environment, stem cell research, missile defense, Social Security, white-collar crime, abortion, energy, and other crucial issues
* Running a truth-defying, down-and-dirty campaign during the 2000 presidential contest and recount drama

* Presidential 'photo ops' like landing on a carrier, and saying 'I support our troops,' when in fact this administration has cut pay and allowances for service men and combatant soldiers. This president has not gone to a 'single' soldiers funeral and has cut substantial operating funds from the Veterans Administration.

This book is not a partisan whine-it is instead a carefully constructed, fact-based account that clearly denotes how Bush has relied on deception-from the campaign trail to the Oval Office-to win political and policy battles."
Baltimore Maryland

Suddenly, former intelligence analyst Richard Clarke who spent eight years on the White House National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism on the President's National Security Council finds himself in an unique position of pointing how both a Republican and Democrat administration has failed to protect the country. He witnessed how the Clinton administration and Bush administration really just felt as if nothing was really capable of penetrating the imaginative security of the USA borders. Each had other issues at hand and viewed Al-Qaeda as a bunch of rebel rousers that could only perform acts of terrorist in the Middle East. Saddam Hussein was a proven target and an easy sale to the national public. Bin Laden, at the time, was nothing more than a footnote from the mountains of Afghanistan with little threat against the USA other than bombing embassies in African nations.

True to character, this book points out how Mr. Rumsfeld wanted nothing more than to launch an attack against Iraq on 12 Sept, 2001. This ideological agenda of his was hammered into the American public through Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney as they started out blasting the "Axis of Evil" accusations in the State of the Union speech in 2002. Their bases of such was Saddam's use of nerve gas against his own population years earlier which demonstrated his cold-heartedness, and thus, his ability to be in cahoots with Al Qaeda. Add a dose of noncompliance of UN resolutions and you had a sure terrorist on your hand. That logic was the selling point of preparing the war drums.

The only thing that I really find hard to follow is how Mr. Clarke is able to provide us a simple, relatively inexpensive national security though means such as increasing the border patrol personnel and strengthening the infrastructure. If only fighting terrorist were so simple, the world would have conquered terrorism years ago. To indicate that the Bush administration has been overall unsuccessful in the fight against terrorism is not entirely true. All the foiled attempts that fade quickly from the spotlight are soon forgotten while 911 is constantly thrown in your face in the book.

Overall, the book offers us a clear view that neither political party is truly committed to national security and use events for their own benefits. Much more than fighting terrorism, this books silently is yelling that we need to seriously reform our political parties. I recommend it as good reading, but remember that this is an opinionated document and shouldn't be taken as the gospel for everything it says.

Mr. Clarke writes, "One shudders to think what additional errors [Bush] 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 . . . [and] deliver[ing] 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.