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
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  48 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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| • | ISBN13: 9781596986039 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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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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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 48
 EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK January 20, 2010
Z. Ojakli (Falls Church, VA)
160 out of 196 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)
133 out of 167 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
113 out of 142 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)
77 out of 97 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.
Gitmo Myths: examined, exposed, exploded January 27, 2010
John E. Drury (Washington, DC United States)
51 out of 65 found this review helpful
Any Regnery published book with dust jacket endorsements by Cheney and Rumsfeld will be ignored, or ridiculed, by the Times and the WashPo with their wish of a quick exit to the overstock bins at Books A Million. Publishing and readership of unapologetic Obama books has however changed; books by Bernie Goldberg, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck are block busters. Marc Thiessen's book should follow the same path. The issues raised in his book are far more important to the issues of the day. Thiessen writes an intelligent, fact based examination of the Guantanamo mess. He shows a creative supple mind, his writing style is clear and direct, his arguments piercing, the questions raised very serious. He explores the main terrorists, their capture, their jailing, the techniques of enhanced interrogation, the rules and regulations of enhanced interrogations, their attorneys and the financial and legal support received from the left. His support for the CIA is clear and it comes with no apologies while at the same time being inferentially critical of the FBI especially one publicity seeking agent. His critique of the Obama Administration and its policies is surgical and damning. "Courting Disaster" is timely. While the introduction is dated in January 2010, it appears the book went to press before the Christmas flight to Detroit. Thiessen writes at the end about three incidents of terrorism in September, 2009 (which should have ignited the warnings signs) and this being the worst time to dismantle our defenses. Then, he writes - all but prophetically - that "[i]t may be that even with our defenses lowered, the terrorists will fail to carry out the next attack." Northwest Flight 253 at Christmas, 2009, is the disaster he warned us about.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 48
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