Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack |  | Author: Marc A. Thiessen
Publisher: Regnery Press
Category: Book
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Rating:  88 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 376
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.7
ISBN: 1596986034
Dewey Decimal Number: 327.1273
EAN: 9781596986039
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Product Description
White House speechwriter Marc Thiessen was locked in a secure room and given access to the most sensitive intelligence when he was tasked to write President George W. Bush’s 2006 speech explaining the CIA’s interrogation program and why Congress should authorize it. Few know more about these CIA operations than Thiessen, and in his new book, Courting Disaster, he documents just how effective the CIA’s interrogations were in foiling attacks on America, penetrating al-Qaeda’s high command, and providing our military with actionable intelligence. Thiessen also shows how reckless President Obama has been in shutting down the CIA’s program and releasing secret documents that have aided our enemies. Courting Disaster proves:
How the CIA program thwarted specific deadly attacks against the U.S.
Why “enhanced interrogation” was not torture by any reasonable legal or moral standard
How the information gained by “enhanced interrogation” could not have been acquired any other way
How President Obama’s actions since taking office have left America much more vulnerable to attack
In chilling detail, Thiessen reveals how close the terrorists came to striking again, how intelligence gained from “enhanced interrogation” repeatedly stymied their plots, and how President Obama’s dismantling of this CIA program is inviting disaster for America.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 88
 You should read this book. April 1, 2010
Daimion
16 out of 20 found this review helpful
This is a very powerful book. It left me with a profound gratitude for all the President Bush and our government did to combat terrorism and protect this country in the aftermath of September 11th. It also left me deeply saddened that we had gotten to a point in this country where this book could even be written. So much of what has been declassified and discontinued should never have been taken off the table in our fight against terrorism - but it was; and Thiessen does his best to set the record straight on what has happened and where we are headed.
Thiessen has compiled a meticulously researched defense of the interrogation policies of the Bush administration, and the subsequent changes that the Obama administration has put into place. As a speech writer for Bush, Thieseen has first hand knowledge and a unique view on many of the events he describes in the book. I understand that the subject of this book is highly political, highly emotional, and very personal to many people. I'm not going to take a large amount of space to try and lay out all of the arguments in the book. I'll simply say this for myself - I do not believe that what the U.S. has done over the past 8 years is torture. I do not believe that the U.S. has lost its moral standing in the world. I do believe that what did was necessary, appropriate, and that it saved American lives. Lastly, I do believe that some of what the Obama administration is doing today is making this country less safe.
I give this book five stars. Regardless of your political leanings, you owe it to yourself to read this book, and read it with an open mind. Look at the facts and make up your own decisions. But whatever you decide, take a moment to be thankful that we have not suffered another major terrorist attack on US soil since September 11th - and ask yourself - why not?
President Bush himself summed it up best during a 2007 speech:
In this new war, the enemy conspires in secret - and often the only source of information on what the terrorists are planning is the terrorists themselves. So we established a program at the Central Intelligence Agency to question key terrorist leaders and the operatives captured in the war on terror. This program has produced critical intelligence that has helped us stop a number of attacks - including a plot to strike the U.S. Marine camp in Djibouti, a planned attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi, a plot to hijack a passenger plane and fly it into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, California, [and] a plot to fly passenger planes into Heathrow Airport and buildings into downtown London. Despite the record of success, and despite the fact that our professionals use lawful techniques, the CIA program has come under renewed criticism in recent weeks. Those who oppose this vital tool in the war on terror need to answer a simple question: Which of the attacks I have just described would they prefer we had not stopped?
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK January 20, 2010
Z. Ojakli (Falls Church, VA)
189 out of 258 found this review helpful
"Courting Disaster" begins with a note from the author: "You should not be reading this book. I should not have been able to write it." Thiessen examines all the classified info leaked "drip by drip" over the years by government officials and the info the Obama Administration put out in the public domain last year. Really good read. Great insight into the other side of this debate-- namely that, there are many committed public servants in the CIA and other government agencies that are doing all they can to protect us from another 9/11. I wondered when someone would speak up for those that don't generally speak up in their own defense. This book is the answer: well-written; well-researched; riveting read.
a superb insider's account January 20, 2010
Peter F. Schweizer (Tallahassee, Florida United States)
146 out of 206 found this review helpful
It's time to stop listening to the pundits talk about interrogation and "torture" and listen to those who actually have saved lives by extracting information from terrorist detainees. We should have gratitude for what these people have done. They have saved thousands of American lives. Thiessen shows how silly and totally off the mark claims are about torture and what really goes on in the interrogation program. Highly recommended.
You'll Want to Write a Thank You Note January 20, 2010
K. Sullivan
121 out of 172 found this review helpful
It is no accident that we haven't been attacked since 9/11...and after reading Thiessen's book, you'll want to write a thank you note to the dedicated members of the CIA - and others - who have helped keep us safe. And you might want to write Thiessen a thank-you as well for a story well told and a job well done.
Why the Christmas bombing occurred. January 23, 2010
Phillytom (Philadelphia)
85 out of 122 found this review helpful
In the first 20 pages of this book, Marc Thiessen lays out how President Obama, just 48 hours after being in office, significantly damaged the ability of the United States to gather and evaluate actionable intelligence. In the coming months, Attorney General Holder took a series of significant actions that further weakened the CIA and seriously undermined the capabilities of the agency. The information presented by Mr. Thiessen is based on first-hand interviews with numerous members of the Bush administration, and explains in detail how information was gathered and how specific attacks here and abroad were averted in the years follwing 9/11.
Many of the half-truths put forth by Mr. Holder and the main stream media during the middle of 2009 are refuted, in detail. After reading this book, it is easy to see how the Christmas Day bombing attempt caught the United States completely by surprise. The relevations by the members of the Obama administration before Congressional committees during the week of January 21, 2010 effectively support the premise that the current administration is totally unprepared to deal with captured terrorists. In less than a year President Obama and AG Holder effectively eliminated the CIA's ability to deal with captured terrorists, and replaced it with a program under the control of the FBI that was, and is, totally unprepared to deal with events similar to those of Christmas Day.
This book is a "must-read" for anyone who cares about the security of our nation, and wants to know why the policies of the previous administration were effective in keeping us safe.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 88
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