Mini-Reviews #4…
#15: Henry Crumpton, The Art of Intelligence. 5+. It’s not often that I give anything above a 3 in one of my mini-reviews, but here it is! I saw Crumpton’s interview on CBS’s Sixty Minutes last May 13 and liked his story. I gave into temptation and bought his new book. Maybe I shouldn’t say any more than “Wow!” Like a good spy, Hank often seems apolitical, feeling motivated in one meeting with Dubya where the ex-president thumps him on the back and says, “Go get’em” but nobly trying to work with all the policy makers who come his way.
My interpretation of the Dubya encounter after 9/11 is different than Crumpton’s, by the way. Dubya and his neo-con friends, Cheney and Rumsfeld, had no idea about what happened or what to do to avenge 9/11. Readers will remember that the CIA took the blame for the fiasco with the WMDs in Iran. They also received much of the blame for the lack of intelligence nexus that led to 9/11 (I place most of that on the FBI).
If what Hank says is true here (he’s clearly a biased observer), the CIA not only knew what to do about avenging 9/11, they led the charge under Hank’s guidance. In particular, the Predator/special forces strategy involving a mix of CIA agents, special forces, and Afghan locals, led to a rout of al Qaeda and the Taliban and was the CIA’s invention. Under Mr. Obama, this same strategy finally killed OBL, Anwar al-Awlaki, and many other terrorists. It’s the only strategy that works in the 21st century counter-terrorism fight.
The portraits of Tenet and Rumsfeld and politicians in general are not flattering in this book (surprise, surprise!). The FBI is painted as the last agency you want to fight terrorism—they’re too preoccupied with the policing aspects of bringing the terrorist criminals to trial. There are many other insights to be gleaned from this book. If you want a different perspective than the neo-con spin from the Bush administration and a lot of insight into the spy game, this is required reading. It will go on my non-fiction bookshelf.
#16: Bill Brown, Thursday at Noon. 4. This an eBook re-issue or an eBook second edition, or whatever you call it. (I did the same thing with my sci-fi thriller Full Medical in preparation for the release of Evil Agenda.) I’ve reviewed some of Bill’s books for Bookpleasures—all excellent and worth reading. In many ways, this eBook is comparable to his Amongst My Enemies. It is historical fiction that is also a thriller—a very good, fast-paced, suspenseful thriller. In the style of Frederick Forsyth (The Odessa File comes to mind), the author shows how a Muslim fanatic and a group of Nazi’s came together because of their common hatred for Jews some time after Nassar comes to power. The heroes are a disgraced CIA agent and a nationalistic Egyptian cop. As with Forsyth, the reader is not quite sure where truth ends and fiction takes over. Highly entertaining and a recommended read.
#17: E. L. James, The Fifty Shades Trilogy. 0-. When I was a kid, I loved those old Heathkit packages where I could assemble all sorts of electronic equipment following simple instructions and well illustrated manuals. I built a shortwave receiver, a Q multiplier, hi-fi equipment—even my mother’s first color TV. Most of these were done in collaboration with my brother.
Here Ms. James has provided American housewives with manuals for projects to do in collaboration with their husbands (or their neighbors’ husbands?). Instead of a Q multiplier, they can make an S&M multiplier. The parts don’t come all nicely packaged—you buy them at a local store, a minor inconvenience when you consider the potential enjoyment. With the demise of Heathkit, it’s what I’d have to do now to build a Q multiplier—go to Radio Shack and pick out all the special toys I need for the experience.
Unfortunately, Ms. James’ manuals have no illustrations. Pity. I don’t know how those housewives can see whether things are wired right. Of course, I’m sure that all the illustrations would have been bad anyway—just fifty shades of grey.
[Note: There will be no post this Friday, but see tomorrow’s, “Mr. Obama, Mr. Liberal or Mr. Avenger?”]
In libris libertas….
