The Terror Presidency
924149
A shocking and frightening book.  Should not happen here in USA.  Seller is great, quick send off and great service. Thanks.
2353000
This book has some writing and editing flaws, but it is a good read nevertheless. It is probably prophetic as to the thinly disguised Obama administration and its disregard of the constitution and heavy handed tactics. The danger that an Obama-like administration poses to our democracy is real and frightening, and this book tells it like it could be,
2901940
This book is a great read incorporating a terrorism theme. One could imagine these events actually taking place today. Highly recommend this book.
127371
A very interesting tour of the worst places in the world.

Regarding the decline of the CIA, I found it not unlike the the stories of corporations like GM, Sony, and Microsoft that grew massive and lost then lost the "eye of the tiger", opening themselves up to being taken by surprise by an underestimated force.

Regarding terror, Baer's work in the Middle East through the 80s and 90s put the 9/11 attacks in perspective as an escalation of a rising tide of Islamic fundamentalist violence.

I was particularly shocked at Iran's role in fostering international terror. It seemed that plot after terrorist plot led back to Iranian intelligence services, to the extent that Saddam's desperate dictatorship of Iraq seemed almost benign by comparison. The brief history of Iranian involvement in terrorism that is contained in this book affected how I think about current events regarding Iran.
3933974
A thrilling read!  This book is very pertinent to what is going on in the world today.  The characters must not issue a threat to the public to avoid alerting the terrorists, which makes one ponder what could be going on in our world unbeknownst to us.  It also makes you think twice about our water supply and other ways terrorists can carry out their evil.  Though fiction, it is a very true to life, sitting on the edge of your seat, kind of book.
2987058
Using a narrative form like a suspense novel, Suskind uses close sources to the White House and CIA to recreate the events before and after 9/11. What's chilling is that it becomes apparent early in the book that our adversaries are not only El Qaeda but our own "notables," Bush, Cheney, and others whose focus is not so much on El Qaeda and its terror links to the Saudis but a war on Iraq that has no connection to our war on terror. We see Bush's indifference to CIA terrorist warnings in August of 2001 as he's vacationing in his Texas home; we see the CIA being pressured to write documents showing that Iraq is a threat deserving of attack, we see a President who acts like an obedient child under the orders of Cheney and Rumsfeld, we see a cabal of neoconservatives creating an "academic" but not realistic "pre-emptive" war against the Middle East.

This is a terrifying read as we watch helplessly as our country goes down the wrong path. Even more chilling are the scenes when we see good loyal American servants, the "invisibles," sacrificing all they have to save our country and seeing their efforts impeded by this current administration.

The book's most dramatic indictment against the Bush administration comes from the CIA itself when we learn that Bin Laden, after a long hiatus, re-appears, just days before the 2004 Presidential Election, to give a chilling video speech in which he mocks Bush and the United States. The CIA interprets Bin Laden's performance as way to "assist the President's reelection." We can infer then that Bin Laden knows that Bush's missteps help El Qaeda's cause and as such it's in El Qaeda's best interest to keep Bush in power. We can further conclude then that it is in our best interests, as Americans, NOT to have a political leader of Bush's ilk. What a devastating condemnation.
979710
Finally it makes sense WHY the POTUS is soooooo evil!!  Praying that darkness will come to light and he will be seen for the demon he is!!!
828239
The attempted (or maybe successful) assassination of the U.S. Vice President just as he is elected President has an inter-agency task force cramming to find out who is behind it and to stop the same terrorist group from disrupting an upcoming international conference.  There are plots within plots, and our hero Uzi, leader of the task force, at times suspects almost everyone involved.  Lots of insider information here for those who like the operational details, and seems authentic to me.  A spellbinding book full of action.
1744625
Scott Mann's study of violent religious-based extremism, Game Changers, has morphed as the terrorist threat evolved yet again from terrorism to what Mann has described in media interviews as "horrorism."  Much like a dying snake that still strikes out at anything within range of its lethal fangs, dying terrorist groups lash out at the most innocent among us as they fail.  Failing Palestinian-based terror groups that started the use of terror as a political strategy turned to attacking Israeli children in their schools and pizza shops as they collapsed and the West is seeing similar behavior in the terror groups that were spawned by Zawahiri's EIJ and Bin Laden's al-Qa'ida as they also began to collapse.  ISIS is a direct and unfortunate descendant of al-Qa'ida as the recovering criminal, Zarqawi, and al-Baghdadi went their own way in the most vicious manner imaginable.  And, predictably, as ISIS collapses into their death throes the most evil among them follow the Palestinian terrorist pattern by attacking the most innocent among us, our children and youth.  Christmas celebrations were attacked, young people in a Florida night club were trapped and slowly murdered, and even little girls at an Ariana Grande concert were attacked in their dying spasm of horrorism.  As their strategy and tactics change, Scott Mann has necessarily added modifications to his excellent book that should be read by the largest possible audience.
3773960
Ghost is a memoir by one of the founding agents of the Counterterrorism Division of the Diplomatic Security Service, part of the U.S. Department of State. Author Fred Burton reveals the sinister realities of the global counterterrorism game in a very serious, readable, unpretentious way. The book is devoid of the ego-tripping and grandstanding that a lot of these memoirs suffer from (i.e. books like "Jawbreaker" etc.).

Burton gives you the point of view of a working professional field agent, dedicated and patriotic, doing work that Hollywood thinks is like Jack Bauer but really resembles that of an unusually committed and hard-core local cop or criminal investigator. Burton puts the lie to the idea that effective work against Al Qaeda et al. is anything other than good police work. If you think the military should be the first line of defense against AQ et al., read Burton for the fuller picture. To beat the terrorists, we need guys like Fred Burton too.

The book had a lot of things that were new to me, including:

* the theory that the airplane crash that killed Pakistani President Zia was a KGB hit -- the Soviet Union's "farewell kiss" to the mujahadin as the Red Army withdrew from Afghanistan in defeat.  Burton was the lead investigator on that case.

* how scary-close the world was to nuclear war after the Zia hit. Burton says that Pakistan, fearing Zia's death might be the first phase of an attack by India, put its recently deployed nuclear forces on high alert. The Indians did the same, and for a few days it was very touch and go, the worst international nuclear tension since the Cuban crisis.

* the real story of how Ramzi Yousef, the first World Trade Center bomber and Al Qaeda's first master of terror, was taken down. Burton played a key role in this first battle with Osama Bin Laden's true believers, directing Pakistani and U.S. agents on the ground.

* new, inside stuff on the Beirut hostage crisis, including the search for hostages William Buckley, David Jacobson, and Father Martin Jenco. (You really get the sense that Burton still weeps for them. You feel his frustration, and his rage.)

* how terrorists have occasionally been turned into effective double agents, used as spies in the battle with Hezbollah and other radical Muslim groups.

* how counter-surveillance programs employed by the DSS successfully uncovered terror attacks or assassination attempts before they actually took place. These programs, which Burton advocates today, saved many lives since the mid-nineties.

* Burton is rather funny in discussing how the State Department's details protecting international dignitaries often put Burton in the position of protecting foreign leaders suspected of mafia ties, terrorism, and other criminal activity.

All in all, Ghost gives a fresh, unusual perspective by a man who was in the trenches for a very long time and deserves our gratitude. The book is worth reading for its insights into the tradecraft of the working "terror cop."

Very readable, in its best parts a lot like a spy novel.
4273988
Good book but not a page burner. Let's see some more terrorist stuff. Also some stuff on how to take down a terrorist loving president.
967667
A sober but devastating critique of the Bush administration's failures in combatting/prosecuting/preventing terrorism.
3444620
Was This the Hope and Change America Voted For?
Socialized healthcare?
A foreign policy of abasement to our enemies--and hostility to our friends?
Bailouts upon bailouts?
"Stimulus spending" that's really pork-barrel spending on steroids?

American voters might have been nave when they went to the polls in 2008, but New York Times bestselling author David Limbaugh wasn't. He warned voters of what would be in store. Now he's back with more than a warning. A practicing lawyer, he has compiled the most comprehensive and devastating indictment of what is turning out to be the most destructive presidency in American history.

Limbaugh charges that this presidency is ambitiously unraveling the Constitution, actively rooting out American traditions and values, and most of all, committing crimes against American liberty. In Limbaugh's brilliant new book, he documents:

Obama's offenses against the rule of law (including the administration's blatant pursuit of race-based justice)Violations of the public trust (including Obama's Chicago-style bully boy tactics to protect and advance the administration's cronies)Abuses against the private sector (including how the Obama administration is removing any limits to federal power)Crimes against good governance (including Obama's mania for secrecy after getting elected on promises of transparency)Betrayals of the national interest (including the administration's gagging of honest discussion of the threat of radical Islam)And much, much more

If there was ever a must read--this is it. Crimes Against Liberty is a stunning tour de force--a detailed indictment against a president who is pursuing an agenda at odds with the Constitution and that is even more radical than most people realize.
2727524
That review from the person from Seattle is pathetic. These terrorists want to kill us. They don't care about common ground, they hate us just for being free, period. Its amazing even after 9/11 there are people that want to appease these people. Appeasement is weak, naive, and exactly what the terrorists want to hear. We need to confront terrorism and destroy it. It is the only way.
1604595
I have heard of Newt Gingrich, but never realized that he was a published author as well of some amazing fiction novels like Duplicity, his latest. Sometimes I believe that those that have an inside view of what goes on within our government offices offer us the best types of novels because there is so much to be gained by having first hand experience in those areas. In this political thriller, it could be the next headlines we read in the news today as terrorism within the Islamic groups continues to escalate unchecked as in the recent events in Paris and now San Bernardino.

In Duplicity, we have those same threats on the horizon as two separate storylines unfold. One is the upcoming presidential election between the current president of the United States, Sally Allworth, and upcoming candidate, Timothy Coldridge. Coldridge is hoping to utilize a new strategy to poke holes in the recent developments of disregarding issues in America with regards to the citizens concerns while highlighting the results of Allworth's stance on working more on international and foreign issues. His campaign is geared to promote a sense of nationalism into this election and show the voters that the current president is more focused on international issues than dealing with the concerns of citizens. It is just the goal a presidential candidate might need to sway the voters in the next election, bring troops home, help the homeless and veterans at home, deal with the concerns of the United States over issues abroad. It will take a boatload of work now that it appears that Coldridge has found the right type of bait to lure voters to the polls and elect him over Allworth.

Meanwhile the terrorist plots continue to unfold in all kinds of locations with ties to Islamic groups who are seeking the destruction of the United States and its foreign enemies abroad. As the political interests line up for the next election, Allworth decides to focus her campaign on how she is preventing threats from happening in America but attacking the issues on foreign soil first. She is advised by her staff to reopen an American embassy in Somalia, even though they know better than to actually staff it with any real leaders from America due to the recent Islamic threats in the city. However, if she can show that they are making a dent in terrorism, she may just sway the voters to accept her current political agenda. But like all great plans, this one winds up much like the Benghazi attacks and now our military is at risk and hostages are taken. Will America have learned nothing throughout its historical failings and shortcomings? The time is running out.

I received Duplicity by Newt Gingrich compliments of Center Street Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Groups for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation, aside from a free copy of this novel, in exchange for my honest opinion. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Like I stated before, insiders often have the best story lines because you don't know how much of it is true or not. I was especially impressed by how well emails are encoded with messages simply through the pixels in an image that to the ordinary eye would simply just be a photo embedded until it's passed through a series of coding software and the true message is revealed. I think this novel was well worth the time to read through it all and I only hope, this remains just a fictional story and never truly comes to fruition. I would rate this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.
4329904
Here the Pope is threatened by a  jihadist partnership with Mexican mafia.. (Had previously read The Insider Threat in which the Pope is threatened by jihadist use of USA "lost boys" recruited to deliver evil.)  Even the US President gets involved in managing the threats. Lots of ammunition. Lots of violence. Lots of secret forces including the Pope's and the President's. Throughout, however, the author explores values and decisions related to securing a better society.
598721
It was actually a very good read.  The only reason I didn't mark that I loved it was because it was scary.  The first book "Second Term" was so frighteningly close to what is happening today that I found myself even more angry at what's going on today.  This second book 'The Warning' has gone beyond what is happening today and projects what could easily become in the next few years if we keep running down this path.  The similarity to actual people is shockingly accurate and gives one pause to worry and be concerned for our country.