James Bamford wrote the book “A Pretext for War”, in 2004. The topic of this book is that it explains the systematic weakness that led to the ignorance or misinterpreted evidence of the pending terrorist attack on 9/11. The authors thesis is clearly stated on the title of the book “9/11, Iraq, and The Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies.” After reading this book, Bamford does explain everything he said in his thesis. I will talk about how the author organized his book, the style of his book, and about the author himself. Bamford organizes his book, “A Pretext for War”, in three different parts: Destruction, Detection, and Deception. In the first part “Destruction”, he talks about the events leading up to the attack on the World …show more content…
He talks about the confusion in the national government after the first plane struck the World Trade Center. Bamford says that in this crisis, they should have activated entire nuclear command structure, but during the attack, many of our nation’s leaders knew just as much as what was on the news. Bamford says, “The President of the United States knew less than the tens of millions of other people in every part of the country who were watching the attack as it unfolded.” Bamford adds that the news was the best source of information because all of the national intelligence agencies were busy emptying out its buildings and running for cover. Throughout the first part, he still just describes in gruesome detail of everything that is happening during the attack. Some of the details Bamford says is, “ ‘There’s body parts all over the place,’ said one officer, ‘I’ve got dozens of bodies, people are just jumping from the top of the building onto…in front of One World Trade…bodies are just coming out of the sky,’ said another …show more content…
Navy. I think Bamford is bias over the situations of the CIA, NSA, and other intelligence agencies. I think Bamford does not like the way all of the intelligence agencies are running their organizations. I believe the author is bias in this book because Bamford mainly focuses on the problems of these different agencies and not on what these agencies have helped us. The reason I believe he wrote this book was because he spent three years in the navy and knew many thing everyday people did not. Therefore, he wanted to share all the things he knew about with
I found this book to be a rather interesting read. I enjoyed how Levathes researched this book and wrote it to try to explain about this specific period of time and how it is very non-fiction.
Guilford, CT: Dushkin/ McGraw-Hill, 1997. Chiatkin, Anton. A. Treason in America. Washington DC: Executive Intelligence. Review, a review of the book, Divine, Breen, Frederickson, and Williams. America Past and Present.
September 11, 2001 marked a tragic day in the history of the United States; a terrorist attack had left the country shaken. It did not take long to determine those who were behind the attack and a call for retribution swept through the nation. Citizens in a wave of patriotism signed up for military service and the United States found resounding international support for their efforts in the war on terror. Little opposition was raised at the removal of the Taliban regime and there was much support for bringing Osama Bin Laden and the leaders of al-Qaeda to justice. Approval abroad diminished approximately a year and a half later when Afghanistan became a stepping stone to the administration’s larger ambition, the invasion of Iraq. The administration would invent several stories and in some cases remain silent of the truth where would prove positive for the Iraqi invasion. It seems they were willing to say anything to promote the largely unpopular and unnecessary war they were resolved on engaging in.
I found the book to be easy, exciting reading because the story line was very realistic and easily relatable. This book flowed for me to a point when, at times, it was difficult to put down. Several scenes pleasantly caught me off guard and some were extremely hilarious, namely, the visit to Martha Oldcrow. I found myself really fond of the char...
?Espionage.? 2000-2004. The War to End All Wars. Michael Duffy. Original Material. Primary Documents Online.
My overall opinion of this book is good I really liked it and recommend it to anyone. It is a good book to read and it keep you interested throughout the whole book.
This is my personal reflection about this book. First and foremost, I would like to say that this book is very thick and long to read. There are about nineteen chapters and 278 pages altogether. As a slow reader, it is a quite hard for me to finish reading it within time. It took me weeks to finish reading it as a whole. Furthermore, it is written in English version. My English is just in average so sometimes I need to refer to dictionary for certain words. Sometimes I use google translate and ask my friends to explain the meaning of certain terms.
Prados, John. Safe for Democracy The Secret Wars of the CIA. Chicago, IL: Ivan R Dee, Publisher, 2006.
25.Griffin, David Ray The New Pearl Harbor Revisited: 9/11, the Cover-Up, and the Exposé 2008, Olive Branch Press
... the ending of the book seemed too abrupt to me, and could be improved by making that a little smoother. It seemed like he was rushing to finish the book toward the end of the book, and quickly wrapped up the story at the end, I think that could be improved, but still nicely written.
I personally would not recommend this book. I did like some parts but I disliked it more than I liked it and unless someone is very passionate about this subject I wouldn’t tell them to read it because they would probably find it boring or it would be hard for them to understand certain parts like it was for me.
Traister, Bryce. "Terrorism Before The Letter: Benito Cereno And The 9/11 Commission Report." Canadian Review Of American Studies 43.1 (2013): 23-47.MasterFILE Elite. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
... Sept. 11th, 2001, terrorist attack on theWorld Trade Center and the unreliability of U.S. intelligence onWeapons of mass Destruction in Iraq have been a focus of intense scrutiny in the U.S. in 2004 particularly in the context of the 9/11 Commision , the continuing armed resistance against U.S. occupation of Iraq, and the widely perceived need for systematic review of the respective roles of the CIA, FBI and the Defense Intelligence Agency. On July 9th, 2004 the Senate report of Pre-war Intelligenceon Iraq of the Senate Intelligence Committe stated that the CIA described the danger presented by Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq in an unreasonable way, largely unsupported by the available intelligence. In a briefing held Sept 15th, 2001 George Tenet presented the Worldwide Attack Matrix, a "top-secret" document describing covert CIA anti-terror operations in 80 countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The actions, underway or being recommended, would range from "routine propaganda to lethal covert action in preparation for military attacks". The plans, if carried out, "would give the CIA the broadest and most lethal authority in its history".
Wright, Lawrence. (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Random House.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and believe it to be one of the best books I have ever read. It was extremely well written and challenging for me to understand at times. It conveys that dark side of human ambition very well, and it has given me much to think about.