Governments


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Book reviews for "Governments" sorted by average review score:

Ufos Are Real: Extraterrestrial Encounters Documented by the U.S. Government
Published in Paperback by SPI Books (July, 1997)
Author: Clifford E. Stone
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UFOs Are Real, and this Book Shows you the Proof
I found Sgt. Stone's book a masterpiece. It proves to me that the US Government is aware of UFOs, Actively engaged in learning more about UFOs, and is actively hiding these truths from us the people and the US Congress. Having read the book, and having heard Sgt. Stone on many radio programs, I was so impressed that I went to his home and interviewed him. His personal story is even more intriguing. His research is so great because he was there. He was part of the secret for many years. He knew where to look for proof of the TRUTH. UFOs Are Real.

UFOs are Real and this book proves the Goverment lies to us.
I found Sgt. Stone's book a masterpiece. It proves to me that the US Government is aware of UFOs, Actively engaged in learning more about UFOs, and is actively hiding these truths from us the people and the US Congress. Having read the book, and having heard Sgt. Stone on many radio programs, I was so impressed that I went to his home and interviewed him. His personal story is even more intriguing. His research is so great because he was there. He was part of the secret for many years. He knew where to look for proof of the TRUTH. UFOs Are Real.

Good resource material
Good for background information. If you want a good fiction book about UFOs that might as well be real check out AREA 51 by Robert Doherty.


Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews
Published in Hardcover by Lyle Stuart Hardcover (May, 1987)
Author: Meir, Rabbi Kahane
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Words of Wisdom from a True Visionary
Rabbi Kahane was a true visionary, thoroughly imbued with an unshakeable love for the Jewish people, the Land of Israel, the G-D of Israel, and the Torah.

He was hated for many simply because his no frills and brutal honesty hit too close to home.
In this work Kahane outlines what needs to be done to save Israel and the Jewish people. He rebukes the leftist establishment that claims to represent Jewry, as well as successive Israeli governments. Kahane points out that only a total removal of the Arabs form Israel can stop them from perpetrating genocide against the Jewish people.

Indeed the Arabs have been consumed by the drive to annihilate all the Jews living in the Land of Israel for over 80 years, and have been engaging in killings against the Jewish people in the Jewish homeland since 1920, when they embarked on pogroms in the Old City of Jerusalem against the Jews living there, followed by pogroms against Jews in Israel, in 1921, 1929 and 1936-1939.

Today they vehemently reject any accommodation with the Jewish State, and it is clear that the recent war against Israel by the 'Palestinians' is simply another drive for genocide of the Israeli people.

In this book, Kahane rebukes that leftist, Marxist, secular humanist, 'progressive' leftwing Jews who prevent Israel from doing what is needed to prevent the Arabs from realizing their dreams of genocide, and also for secularizing the Israeli youth leading them to be lost and rootless.
He provides a moving expose of the situation of millions of Sephardic Jews (Jews from North Africa and the Middle East), whose Jewish culture was in some cases brutally removed from them by the leftist Marxist establishment who laid claim to leadership of Israel (the same ones who bend over backwards to accommodate the bloodthirsty Arabs) , and how this community with it's rich culture and history suffers from so much poverty, and how too many young Sephardic Jews have fallen into the cruel trap of drugs, crime and prostitution, the tragic victims of the secular, leftist establishment.

His aim was to save the Jewish people from physical genocide by their enemies, (such as the Arabs and their backers whose aim is genocide of the Israeli people) as well as those elites in Israel who are robbing young Jews of their traditions, pride and religion, and of their true Zionism. These elites are so concerned with making Israel a western humanist democracy that they forget about Israel rich Jewish soul , and about true Zionism , which could truly make Israel strong!

We need to seriously listen to what this great sage said. So much of what he has predicted is now happening.

G-D Bless Israel Forever!
G-D Bless the Children of Israel!

Painfully Honest
This book is an expose' of the hypocrisy that defines individuals and organizations that supposedly represent the Jewish communities of the world. Kahane, in his hallmark straighforwrd approach, uncovers with glaring clarity what should have been seen for decades.

A hard, honest and gripping look at the truth
This masterpiece takes a hard look at the demons that possesses the State of Israel, Zionism, and Word Jewry. Rabbi Kahane intelectually exposes the lies and fraud of the establishment that lays claim to the representation of Jews and Israel. Hard questions posed to them such as 'do the Arab citizens of Israel, under the current form of western democracy have the legal right under a majority to peacefully remove Jews from power by way of vote? And if so, does that not contradict the true ideals of Zionism (the right for Jews to establish a homeland in Israel)?' Is Israel a Jewish state or a state of Jews? Indeed, those contradictions as well as the the gripping tragedy of a bankrupt ideal which is secular Zionism which has caused urban strife, intermarriage, crime and worst of all..self hatred v.s. religious Zionism based on the everlasting, authentic ideals of the Torah are exposed to the max. It goes to the root of the problem and once exposed, he offers his soloution. Once the reader gets a clear insight to the tragic truth, and understands that the answers to these questions pose a direct threat to the power of the armchair establishment of Israel and American/World Jewry, then he understands why Rabbi Kahane was consistantly slandered and unjustifiably banned. Undoubtably the most misunderstood man of our time. This is a must read book for anyone who wishes to learn the truth and distinguish the lies.


Vaccination: The Issues of Our Times
Published in Paperback by Mothering Magazine (October, 1997)
Author: Peggy O'Mara
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an eye opener
I recommend this book to every parent and parent to be as well as health care professionals, especially pediatricians. It is an eye opener about the issue of vaccinations. The presentation of the issue is very well rounded. It provides sections on:

1. the childhood diseases against which the routine vaccinations are given 2. the opinions of the health care professionals on the vaccinations themselves 3. the experiences of parents with vaccinations 4. guidelines on how to gather information about vaccination exemptions and alternative "treatments".

I strongly recommend it. All parents owe to get informed about vaccinations. God the Almighty entrusted our children to us and we need to care for them with knowledge, and pray for the best.

Reasoned voice in the emotional debate
Most of the articles I read on vaccination are very emotional - they are either pro or against it. They make the decision making process of a new parent even harder. This book has a reasoned, less combative tone. It presents opinions as well as information from both side of the debate. I found it educational and helpful.

great book but some of the pages are upside down...
My wife and I have a 14 day old daughter(an absolute angel!!)and we are interested in vaccination issues so we ordered this book. We were really enjoying it until we got toward the back of it and noticed that 20 pages are upside down and that those upside down pages are THE same 20 pages that precede the upside down section!! Hope that wasn't too confusing?! In other words, we not only have upside down pages but we are missing 20 pages!! This is a MAJOR error from either the publisher or the printer. So, we will have to hold off final judgement of this book until amazon ships us a new copy that actually has the missing 20 pages in it!


Warrior Rule in Japan
Published in Hardcover by Cambridge University Press (29 September, 1995)
Author: Marius Jansen
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Wow what a price!
Don't be shocked of the thickness of the book. I still have my (paperback) copy from '95,and flipped when I saw the price on Amazon.Com. Exellent book,and very deep and thorough information on (Sengoku Jidai era) 16th century Japanese history. This book is for the serious history student,and I mean money no object. Book talks about the military government of Kamakura, Muromachi, and Edo Bakufu's.

Serious book on Institutional History of Bakufu (Shogunate)
Warrior rule in Japan is a compilation of essays by well-known authors on history of Japan: Jeffrey P. Mass, Ishii Susumi, John Whitney Hall and Harold Bolitho. This is a serious academic book on history of institutional development of Bakufu (the warrior government, or, as it is widely known, the Shogunate) in Japan from the times of Minamoto Yoritomo through Tokugawa Bakufu). In contrast to books by, for example Steven Turnbull, who wrote extensively on military strategies, tactics, campaigns and concentrated among other things on personalities of samurai leaders, this author goes into the in-depth analysis of the development of Bakufu as an institution and describes governance of Japanese society, gives some insight into economic and judicial powers of its branches.

"Warrior rule" is a serious reading for a serious scholar. Due to abundance of Japanese terms, it is not easy to read. However, without getting an exposure to the subject of this book, it is not possible to understand, what really stood behind many military campaigns and moves famous people of those turbulent times and feel the atmosphere of samurai age. The life of famous daimyo was not 100 per cent war, but also administration, politics, influence, economics, rituals, law and justice.

In addition, Harold Bolitho provides a general outline of the concept of Han, or local government, or the government of a daimyo, his area of administration and source of power and structure of loyalties. One learns here concepts of local samurai, fudai (or hereditary retainers, although this concept is quite described by other authors as well), shugo, jito and other concepts necessary to learn history of this legendary age.

A great thorough Sengoku Jidai book
This is a great alternative for those who wants to get the extensive "The Cambridge History of Japan Vol.3" Most of the contents were culled from the later. I find this book very helpful, and concise. It offers alot of good information of the Kamakura Bakufu and the invasion of the Mongols. Plus it's priced moderately. A must for students of the Sengoku Jidai.


We Won't Go Back: Making the Case for Affirmative Action
Published in Hardcover by Houghton Mifflin Co (May, 1997)
Authors: Charles R., Iii Lawrence and Mari J. Matsuda
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Very enlightening!
I really can't understand why this book has come out in paperback edition, so that more people might read it. I read it when it first came out and made me do a lot of thinking not just about affirmative action, but more about just how does any society go about providing ways to bring about real opportunities for various groups of people to access to good education and employment in the midst of adverse social, economic, and political conditions.

The author's chapter "On Meritocracy" was especially insightful. It talks about the need for a "community-based" definition of qualified, rather than an elitist-based definition. This means that when we talk about a community-based definition, we're not looking at just a person's educational credentials, but her ability to contribute to the community in which she will be working. Does her background or experience with that community mean more than her scores on educational tests or her access to priviledged edcuation.

In this regard, the authors write that, "Historically, the demand for affirmative action came from communities with unmet needs. Ghettos, left without basic services because of white flight, needed doctors, lawyers, merchants, and teachers who were unafraid to serve there. Ethnic communities found that, without community-based scholars, their history, their culture was ignored or misinterpreted by outsiders..." Without affirmative action, what we get are people who qualified based on certain instutional credentials, but they lack real talent or history with the communities they serve.

It's really too bad that affirmative action debate has subsided, for it really helps us to grapple with how we build an equitable society where people are not held back because of their lack of previlege or because their racial, economic, or social background.

Thoughtful responses to right-wing criticisms
I am a second-year student at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. I read the book because I was looking for solid responses to the usual arguments against affirmative action -- and I definitely found such responses in this excellently written book. As I read a book, I collect in a computer file quotes or passages that I wish to remember. I must have transcribed nearly one-third of this book. The authors present strong, fair-minded arguments to support the return to affirmative action.

One of their main theses, and a unique perspective, is to redefine merit from merely a test score to a myriad of qualities -- qualities that insure a successful and productive person and also that benefit all of society. The authors also point out that without affirmative action for women and minorities, we are still operating under the status quo affirmative action -- affirmative action for white males.

This book is a must-read for all progressive people who sincerely believe in a return to affirmative action. We must now make our voices heard!

Fairly good on A.A., though hardly as unusual as they claim
This book is certainly of interest for its individual stories, and I remain committed to supporting A.A. Unfortunately, the two authors are rather chillingly smug; is it so remarkable that an African-American and an Asian-American who have both benefitted from A.A. are both in favor of it? However, as an Indian-American, I have seen serious problems which A.A. presents to Asian-Americans, which economically and educationally priviledged white and Asian-American women pay lip service to but do not confront directly. As a feminist I found most of this book compelling. Nevertheless, they should not be so glib in speaking of 'women and minorities' in that manner because it feeds the stereotyping conducted by conservative critics of the Left's position on A.A. At some point we, as women of all races, have to confront the genuine problems of classism within the ranks of feminism, especially the priviledged feminist elite. Prop 209 could have been defeated in California, were it not for middleclass white women pre empting the much more urgent protests conducted by minorities. 'Women and minorities' is a useful phrase, particularly when addressing political unfairness. But Affirmative Action should *never* be an excuse for the feminist elite (especially academic feminists, who hardly speak for all of us!) to use discrimination as a soap box for their own interests. White women as well as Asian-American women, are well represented as students in most of prestigious academia; it is in teaching jobs that there are still problems of representation. This is ultimately a somewhat sanctimonious book, and is obviously only going to please people who already share their views; it won't convert a soul, and so I can't help wondering why they would risk diluting the field (there are a lot of books coming out of the debate over A.A.) in this manner.


Wedge: From Pearl Harbor to 9/11--How the Secret War between the FBI and CIA Has Endangered National Security
Published in Paperback by Touchstone Books (06 November, 2002)
Author: Mark Riebling
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Pogo Lives at FBI--We Are Our Own Worst Enemies


Although I know the CIA better than I do the FBI, I have spent time in the past ten years with law enforcement officers from over 40 countries including the US, and the bottom line is that the FBI bureaucracy (Supervisory Special Agents and the politically-motivated upper tiers of FBI management) are a worse threat to US security than individual terrorist groups, for the simple reason that as long as the FBI leadership remains in denial, in secret, and ineffective, the entirety of our homeland defense is incapacitated.

The earlier version of this book focused on the decades of historical enmity between CIA and FBI--in the early years, Edgar J. Hoover was clearly to blame for a culture of hostility between the two agencies and between the FBI and military intelligence--in one instance he actually suppressed early knowledge of Japanese intentions on Pearl Harbor obtained from a German agent tasked to fulfill their targeting requirements.

In later years the CIA took on more responsibility for shutting out the FBI, consistently refusing to brief them in to either internal counterintelligence failures, or foreign operations with a strong domestic counterintelligence matter.

What the author has done in the aftermath of 9-11 is update the book and make it even more relevant to every citizen and every elected official and every bureaucrat. The earlier edition made me very angry about how the senior FBI bureaucracy can sacrifice the national interest at the altar of its own selfish agenda of self-preservation and aggrandizement--from Special Agent Rowley to Special Agent Robert Wright, the FBI leadership consistently spends more time censoring and punishing its own people for honesty, than it does chasing terrorists. This new improved edition should make every citizen, every voter angry, and they should instruct their elected representatives that the time has come for a National Security Act that finally reforms national foreign intelligence, military intelligence, and law enforcement intelligence, and in passing, creates the homeland security intelligence act to create a federated system of state and local intelligence and counterintelligence cadres that operate under the jurisdiction of governors and mayors rather than the federal government.

Pogo had it right: we have met the enemy and he is us.

Secret History with a Definite Point of View
This is an audacious, exhaustive, highly original book. I think it's fair to say that Riebling is somewhat biased toward the CIA and against the FBI, although perhaps not without some very good reasons (for instance, FBI diretcor J. Edgar Hoover clearly didn't understand counterintelligence; also, the FBI refused to do intelligence analysis).

Riebling also takes a somewhat revisionist approach to the Cold War, implying in many places that the secret measures taken againt communist sympathizers by our government weren't that extreme, and noting that they were in fact more modest than those taken by Jefferson, Madison, et. al. against suspected British sympathizers in the early decades of the Republic.

There's a besetting contrarian current or draft in this work, which sometimes Riebling rides to great heights of interpretation (e.g., on KGB deception ops), but which sometimes blows him into dead-ends where the key data is still classified.

The book is rich in detail. There is tradecraft detail here one finds nowhere else -- e.g., Nazi spies' use of butterfly trays to smuggle microdots; the story of Project WALNUT, CIA's first foray into the computerization of its records; a fistfight between FBI agents and CIA officers over custody of a Soviet defector in a Washington, DC restaurant.

There are long stretches where one feels riveted as in the best spy novels. The material on Ian Fleming and the influence of the "James Bond" ethos is especially well done.

Expertly handled too is the vast amount of original mateiral on the colorful and controversial CIA spycatcher James Jesus Angleton, whose approach is explained with patience and precision. Riebling clearly had access to many who worked closely with Angleton, including FBI liaison officer Sam Papich, and as a result there is a sureness of touch where other writers have played false notes.

Overall, despite some disagreements with Riebling's interpretations, I found this book educating and entertaining. It's the only history of our intelligence community I know of which traces our current problems to our past ones. And unlike most other books in the field, it does NOT devolve into nonsenical claims that the U.S. is in imminent danger of becoming a police state simply because it must sometimes use secret weapons against ruthless foes.

EYE-OPENING
I found the World War II and the Cold War parts of this book pretty fascinating, and maybe the most enjoyable to read. The portrayal of Hoover is very nuanced and fair. The Epilogue about 9/11 is sobering and hits on some themes that I haven't read anywhere else. America was left virtually defensless, Riebling argues, because of the Clinton administration's fateful decision to elevate the FBI over the CIA -- to pursue a law enforcement approach to what had traditionally been intelligence problems. He shows how the Aldrich Ames spy case left CIA bureaucratically paralyzed, and how the FBI, under Louis Freeh, exploited the chance to become America's premier national security power. He traces the numerous interagency foul-ups which led inexorably to our national unpreparedneness for 9/11. He shows how the FBI's suspicion of a mole in CIA -- who turned out to be the FBI's own Hanssen -- sowed distrust which discouarged the sharing of information. This linking of 9/11 failures to the damage wrought by Hanssen and Ames is one of the most important labyrinths explored by Riebling, and I have the feeling that a whole book could be written about this aspect alone.


Unclaimed Assets: Money the Government Owes You!
Published in Paperback by Nupa Publications (August, 1998)
Author: Mark Tofal
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Good book for those without internet access.
I found this book to be helpful in understanding how to find claims, but it was a bit of a hassel trying to get current links for online searches. I found a web site using GoTo's search engine that helped me to get started as a finder and has made it very easy to search for claims online. I would recommend the book for those without internet access and the web site for those with access.

Great resource
Really a terrific resource written by an acknowledged expert in the field.

This book provides a wealth of information of how to go about finding and claiming your share of the unclaimed billions of dollars held by government agencies and others. I used it successfully to locate funds owed a family member I never would have known about.

When used along with the author's Unclaimed Assets website, - it's really a great deal.

Unclaimed Assets: Money the Government Owes You
This book provides an indepth look into every state and their policy. It will tell you if you can look at the records via the courthouse or if they are currently not allowing anyone except the actual person claiming to money to search their records. Very well done with updated information.


Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life (Problems in American History)
Published in Paperback by Blackwell Publishers (February, 1999)
Author: Robert Buzzanco
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A Review of Vietnam
Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life, is very interesting and informative. It was definitely worth the time and the effort reading and working on it. Audiences of all backrounds should benefit from the information, including those of who lived during that time period. Many younger generation kids are oblivious to what actually happened during the Vietnam War, and should be educated about the historical importance of the war. The book itself helped the audience, especially those of who are of Vietnamese decent, understand how their ancestors survived and what they went through during the course of the war.

Review of Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life
Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life designates the aspects of the Vietnam War as well as the political and social movements of the American people during the 1960's. Dr. Buzzanco's main thesis that he is trying to convey is divided into two parts, the Vietnam War and the issues of the 1960's. His first theme on the Vietnam War subject is the United States after World War II tried to become the world leader during their foreign affairs in the Indochina region but failed. The second theme, which deals with the domestic problems in America during this time period, is how the people of the United States erupted into its domestic problems and how they are linked with the war in Vietnam. In the first half of the book, Buzzanco announces his thesis statement, letting the reader know that the first half was all the details of the war. Then he comes back in the second half of the book and describes what was happening at home on American soil. In essence, he has written two documentaries and combined them quite well. He has two points that he is trying to convey, broken up into two halves. Dr. Buzzanco did an astounding job in proving his points. He clearly and strongly showed examples that lead people to believe him. In every major point in both parts of his book, he used clear and precise examples to prove his words correct. He used all second hand information due to the fact that he was born too late to participate in the actual war. But his information was all very accurate and strong. He really did not use any points that criticized anything he was trying to convey in his book. But there could be some rival opinions on various subjects throughout the book. For example in the second part of the book, on page 202 he is trying to blame much of the domestic uprisings on Martin Luther King and the march on Washington. He claims that the march got the African-Americans to strongly disapprove of the war. But the march was more or less strictly on the civil rights issues, not on the war. He was, however, extremely successful at effectively using his sources in a convincing manner. Starting on page 104 and continuing, he shows how American foreign policy on the countries surrounding Vietnam essentially escalated the conflict even further. He does not however; use any examples of others that would give evidence that his points are not true or inaccurate. Some of his issues are controversial and he leads the reader to think that they are not. For example on page 68, he makes it clear to the reader that the war was inevitable even in the early 1960's under JFK's policy. But in reality much could have been done to prevent the conflict from escalating. More or less he is trying to convince the reader that his points are one sided and are not controversial. He seems biased on the fact that he offers nothing on the opposite side of him. All good writers usually give points to satisfy both for and against. All of his points, especially the first half of the book, help to prove his thesis. He pretty much uses strong logical reasoning and uses evidence to support that. Due to Dr. Buzzanco's education level and his astounding credibility and awards his information can be trustworthy. He uses strong examples to prove his thesis and also uses several other points throughout the book.

Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life-Review
Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life is an intelligent and informative look into the Vietnam War and how it influenced American life. This book helps you understand better the people, issues, problems, and times of the 1960's and early 1970's and how Vietnam influenced the people, issues, and the problems of that time.If you are not knowledgeable about the Vietnam War, this book explains in great detail the events leading up to the war and the repercussions of the war on Americans and American life and, it will make you understand and create your own opinions about the war.


War of Numbers: An Intelligence Memoir
Published in Hardcover by Steerforth Press (April, 1994)
Authors: Sam Adams and Col David Hackworth
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Interesting look at one man's struggle for integrity
I expected not to finish this book, given my previous lack of interest in Vietnam-War history, but I found that the story transcended its milieu and beyond that drew my interest to a key period of recent American history. I imagine that fans will counsel students of history and political science to read it, and they probably should as an interesting nuance from more high-level views provided by more famous luminaries like Westmoreland, McNamara, et al, but I found this fascinating from a different standpoint: how one individual struggled to keep his intellectual integrity in the face of massive institutional pressure not to. There are lots of melodramatic movies that seek to capture the situation more cleanly, but this book, in chronicling one man's true-life experience, did it better and with more resonance than any film I've seen. As a young person who works with "numbers" myself, I understand how frequently people try to manipulate them and use them as persuasive devices for major decisions.

One For Intelligence Analysts
War of Numbers is an essential book for intelligence analysts as well as students of the Vietnam War. Adams provides key insight to strategic policy failure. In order to fully appreciate Adam's contribution to the intelligence history of Vietnam, it is important to understand that wars are fought by nations in the pursuit of interests and that for Americans, the decision to go to war should address seven considerations: Problem Identification, Interests Assessment, Objective Identification (including End State Assessment), Strategic Self Appraisal, National Power Assessments of The Enemy, Strategy Development, and the Identification of Gaps between Policy and Means.
Adam's book addresses errors in the National Power Assessment phase which had a negative cascading effect in subsequent decision making. Flawed enemy strength calculations contributed to flawed strategy development which contributed to a gap between policy and means. When Adams identified the flaw, the Johnson Administration was too heavily committed to a war of attrition to tolerate public exposure of the gaps between policy and means. Strategically, telling the truth about the numbers of enemy forces would have required larger commitments of U.S. forces increasing the strain on public support for the war. The strength of Johnson's political will and McNamara's quantitative analysis approach to war deeply affected the way the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, counted the enemy (called, Order of Battle).
MACV kept three sets of books; The first set of OB was the official version sent to Washington. The second set belonged to the OB Analysts themselves, and the third set was a blend of the first two. The first set was an undercount to keep official Washington placated; the second set was the honest count but did not go anywhere, and the third set went to Westmoreland who kept it close hold.
Adams contribution to the intelligence discipline is his description of how he found the flaw in OB accounting and the political correctness that resisted him within the intelligence community. The key to his breakthrough was to have actually gone to Vietnam, worked the Order of Battle issues on the ground, understand the enemy from "the enemy's" perspective and then double check how U.S. reporting of enemy strength matched that of how the enemy was reporting his own strength. This is when Adams discovered that MACV was undercounting troop strength. He performed a validity and reliability check on MACV and found their procedures and results wanting. The technique he used is described in detail and serves as a lesson learned for today's OB analysts.
The second lesson is how Adams' persistence caused a rift between the CIA and MACV over the integrity of the OB counting. The CIA is evenhandedly portrayed in the book. Individual analysts who looked at the numbers invariably sided with Adams; those in responsive political positions and vulnerable to the political influence of the Johnson-McNamara Administration behave in the subtle manner normally associated with behind the scene politics. Adams illustrates how assessments were watered down, reports delayed, egos clashed in the briefing rooms, and all of the suppressive efforts were brought to bear to keep him muffled and how he countered them. Basically, his operating principle was that the truth should be allowed to surface and he describes how he created those opportunities; back channel copies of reports; boot leg copies of reports, analyst to analyst contacts (CIA to DIA, for example), as well as maintaining contact with the honest brokers at MACV.
This is an important book for students of Intelligence Analysis. It serves as a guide on how to double check the validity and reliability of Order of Battle data; it gives insight to how politics heavily filtered ground truth under the Johnson Administration, and it lets the world see that the CIA wasn't evil incarnate. Like every other agency in Washington, it simply surrendered to political pressure from the White House.

Intelligence with integrity!
Adams' book is not so much a book about Vietnam as a chronical of what happens when intelligence units and agencies report what the commanders WANT to hear. The CIA and J2 of MACV in Adams' book become pawns in the politics of Vietnam. They ignored facts and basic tenents of intelligence reporting. The agencies feared reaction to the facts and its possible effect on public sentiment to US involvement. Because of that they purposely, according to Adams, reported and knowingly maintained false information.

Even more disturbing are Adams' insights into the CIA of the middle and late Sixties. Though deeply entrenched in war in Vietnam, they seemed to take an overall cavalier approach to the mission. Adams notes after Tet-1968 there were "considerably less than 6" CIA agent handlers in Vietnam who spoke vietnamese. These same case officers received a grand total of 2 hours orientation on Vietnam and their enemy prior to assignment.

This book is a MUST read for intelligence personnel, policy makers and anyone who wants to learn how, the hard way, not to run an intelligence organization.


"We Wrecked the Place": Contemplating an End to the Northern Irish Troubles
Published in Hardcover by Free Press (April, 1999)
Author: Jonathan Stevenson
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The Troubles--a collective term for the sectarian violence and near-ritual murder that has plagued Northern Ireland for the last quarter century--can be laid at the door of a small group of terrorists, republican and loyalist, whose influence far exceeds its number. Jonathan Stevenson, an American journalist, interviews more than 30 of these militants, many of whom admit the folly of armed struggle and express a desire for a peace that admits all sides. Whether that peace will come through the on-again, off-again truce now in effect in Northern Ireland remains to be seen, but Stevenson's book provides an important, close-up view of events in that unhappy place.
Average review score:

A must read for all Irish Americans
Stevenson does an outstanding job providing a backdrop to the current political and social culture of Ireland for the American reader. He describes Ireland's troubled history siting specific watershed events, rhetoric form all sides as well as the major laws that created the political climate the troubles stemmed from. This book is a quality read for anyone interested in understanding why Ireland is divided, and a must read for all Irish Americans.

Brilliant
This book is fantastic. Stevenson's understanding of Irish politics makes this book an invaluable addition to the scholar's bookshelf while keeping it accessible to readers who may be unfamiliar with the intricacies of Irish history.

The "Troubles", as seen by the trouble-makers
The heart of Mr Stevenson's book is the personal history, much of it told in their own words, of thirty-one Northern Ireland terrorists and ex-terrorists--fourteen republican, seventeen loyalist. Along the way Mr Stevenson fills in all the necessary details of recent history, and a good deal of more general historical and social matter. Mr Stevenson is an American who lived in Belfast 1993-1996. He has written a very good, very worthy book.

The first thing I want to know about a book on the Irish "Troubles" is: does the author make excuses for terrorism? Nobody who has seen terrorism at close hand can believe that it is a proper method in the pursuit of any goal, nor that unrepentant terrorists are fit people to govern any polity. In this respect Mr Stevenson is clean, his moral sense absolutely sound--an unusual thing among American writers on Ireland. While offering full coverage of the frequent nastiness and illegality of the British state's counter-terrorist actions, and of the cruel viciousness of "loyalist" terrorism, he knows--and shows--Sinn Fein/IRA for what it is: the last (it was also one of the first) of the European fascist parties. No matter who you are--Irish, British, republican, loyalist, Protestant, Catholic--if you disagree with Sinn Fein, they do not disagree politely back (except, of course, on American TV): they break your legs. Then they go and break your mother's legs. That is the reality behind Gerry Adams' unctuous smile. "Ah, but they're only trying to get back their lost land," murmur the apologists. This is like saying that Al Capone was only trying to make a living--an equally true statement. It's a question of METHOD.

Here are the actual trouble-makers of the Troubles. The broad picture Mr Stevenson assembles from his portraits is familiar to anyone who has followed the course of events; but it is told with an admirable objectivity and an appealing undercurrent of optimism--not only optimism for this poor tortured piece of land, but for the possibilities of individual human redemption. In spite of the occasional atrocities of 1996-7, Mr Stevenson believes that the real violence is over, and that the hard men of both sides are struggling to adapt to constitutional methods. I hope he is right


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