Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior

Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior
Average customer rating:

Excellent!

Great!

book review

Good book, but needs a step back?

Great book, explains the challenges an SF canidate must endure.

Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior
Dick Couch
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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LEADERSHIP AND TRAINING FOR THE FIGHT: A FEW THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP AND TRAINING FROM A FORMER SPECIAL OPERATIONS SOLDIER

ASIN: 0307339386
Release Date: 2007-03-06

Book Description

IN combating terror, America can no longer depend on its conventional military superiority and the use of sophisticated technology. We are fighting guerrilla wars, against insurgents hidden in remote regions, often deep among the local population. In battles such as these, squadrons of billion-dollar bombers and naval fleets mean much less than on-the-ground intelligence and the ability to organize local forces. That’s why, more than ever before, we need men like those of the Army Special Forces—the legendary Green Berets.
In Chosen Soldier, Dick Couch—a former Navy SEAL widely admired for his books about SEAL training and operations—offers an unprecedented view of the training of the Army Special Forces warrior. Each year, several thousand enlisted men and several hundred officers volunteer for Special Forces training; less than a quarter of those who apply will complete the course. Chosen Soldier spells out in fascinating detail the arduous regimen these men undergo—the demanding selection process and grueling field exercises, the high-level technical training and intensive language courses, and the simulated battle problems that test everything from how well they gather operational intelligence to their skills at negotiating with volatile, often hostile, local leaders.
Green Berets are expected to be deadly in combat, yes, but their responsibilities go far beyond those of other Special Operations fighters; they’re taught to operate in foreign cultures, often behind enemy lines; to recruit, train, and lead local forces; to gather intelligence in hostile territory; to forge bonds across languages and cultures. They must not only be experts in such fields as explosives, communications, engineering, and field medicine, but also be able to teach those skills to others. Each and every Green Beret must function as tactical combat leader, negotiator, teacher, drill sergeant, and diplomat.
These tasks require more than just physical prowess; they require a unique mix of character, intelligence, language skills, and—most of all—adaptability. It’s no wonder that the Green Berets’ training regimen is known as the hardest in the world. Drawing on his unprecedented access to the closed world of Army Special Forces training, Dick Couch paints a vivid, intimate portrait of these extraordinary men and the process that forges America’s smartest, most versatile, and most valuable fighting force.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!.......2007-09-20

Very well written and hard to put down. An excellent insight into SF traing from beginning to end. I've seen many books on the subject of SF traing but none as complete as this one. WOW, brings back a lot of memories! This is a MUST READ for anyone thinking of going SF.
Great job Mr. Couch!

Great!.......2007-08-31

This book is great! Of course, I am partial since it is from my son's training and all those with him. I believe anyone interested in finding out just what a special type of man it takes to become a Green Beret, you will thoroughly enjoy it. Throughout this book the author made it possible for me to go through each part of his training and feel even more proud of not only him, but all the men that would dedicate themselves to such unbelievable physical and mental training, dedication, and tasks to learn and become one of the strongest, smartest, educated and trained special forces for our country and for our freedom.

book review.......2007-08-23

One of the most interesting books about soldiers I've ever read - it certainly sheds quite a different light on SF training and the quality of our people.

Good book, but needs a step back?.......2007-08-14

No question Couch does a great job explaining the incredible training and selection of SF soldiers. He knows the ground and covers it well. But, the role of SF seems to have changed, and could be viewed with some thoughtful questions. Has the SF mission been changed and more emphasis placed on their being small scale Ranger units or substitute CIA para-military units? Has the Blackwater thought process taken over? The SF I knew was "the best and the brightest". True warriors who knew that sometimes having to shoot it out was the first sign of a failed mission. I'd love to see Couch explore what the role of these heros has evolved into.

Great book, explains the challenges an SF canidate must endure........2007-08-05

Overall great read! As an american soldier with a significant time in service,both stateside and overseas, I found this book to be very informative and motivating. It shares with the reader all phases that an SF canidate must endure to earn the sacred Special Forces tab and be able to call himself a special operator. I have been considering a life in SF and I think this book might have pushed me over the edge and motivated me enough to try out. As I said before, great read and very well written.

Specialist M
US Army

Average customer rating:

Technical accuracy escapes them.
Essential read for any web-based application developer
Good Overall Coverage and Plenty Technical Details
Weak Information
To know the enemy

Security Warrior
Cyrus Peikari , and Anton Chuvakin
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0596005458

Book Description

When it comes to network security, many users and administrators are running scared, and justifiably so. The sophistication of attacks against computer systems increases with each new Internet worm. What's the worst an attacker can do to you? You'd better find out, right? That's what Security Warrior teaches you. Based on the principle that the only way to defend yourself is to understand your attacker in depth, Security Warrior reveals how your systems can be attacked. Covering everything from reverse engineering to SQL attacks, and including topics like social engineering, antiforensics, and common attacks against UNIX and Windows systems, this book teaches you to know your enemy and how to be prepared to do battle. Security Warrior places particular emphasis on reverse engineering. RE is a fundamental skill for the administrator, who must be aware of all kinds of malware that can be installed on his machines -- trojaned binaries, "spyware" that looks innocuous but that sends private data back to its creator, and more. This is the only book to discuss reverse engineering for Linux or Windows CE. It's also the only book that shows you how SQL injection works, enabling you to inspect your database and web applications for vulnerability. Security Warrior is the most comprehensive and up-to-date book covering the art of computer war: attacks against computer systems and their defenses. It's often scary, and never comforting. If you're on the front lines, defending your site against attackers, you need this book. On your shelf--and in your hands.

Customer Reviews:

Technical accuracy escapes them........2007-07-27

This book contains some okay level of steering, but that's about it. The technical accuracy I see exhibited here can only be rivaled by your grandma explaining Windows system internals. It doesn't end at just the author's confusion of C and C++ (classic "strcpy() and other C++ functions" babble); the very explanation of why a program crashes, or how an attack works, or how variables and buffers get created is flat wrong.

I had to stop reading this in the buffer overflow chapter. Highlights include the flawed interpretation of the error message from when bigmac() returned (it returned to non-mapped memory, the book says it read past the end of a string); the horrible explanation of how buffers work (buffers are not simple variables, and variables do not allocate multiple chunks of memory for themselves as explained); and the incorrect description of the return-to-text attack (returned to existing code, but the book says it's run code you injected onto the stack). After reading a stream of these such inaccuracies, I stopped looking for something that actually came out right.

The buffer overflow chapter can easily be replaced with Hacking: The Art of Exploitation. Read that instead. It's also got better networking and WEP attack explanations.

Essential read for any web-based application developer.......2006-04-01

This book is outstanding and an essential read for anyone doing web-based application development.

It is very eye-opening to the current state of web security.

Good Overall Coverage and Plenty Technical Details.......2005-06-08

Security Warrior has good overall coverage and plenty technical details for people like me who are interested in the technical details.

Weak Information.......2005-04-07

This book should be titled "General Security Buzzwords 101 For The High Level User." The information in it just misses the information that one would be looking for in a technical environment.

To know the enemy.......2005-02-28

Security Warrior comes with the subject "Know Your Enemy" written across the top of the cover. In those three words, Peikari and Chuvakin give you the reason to read the book. O'Reilly's books are usually of the highest caliber, and happy to say this is shown in Security Warrior. The book is aimed at the security administrator, or the hard core computer person. While much of the book, and of security writing in general, is directed at UNIX systems there is a decent coverage of the Windows environment, which given its track record is in much more need of security warriors.

What the authors do is to give you the why and how of attacks and various threats, showing you some of the tools that can be used in these actions against you. The reader can then take these tools and turn them against the attackers, finding vulnerabilities first, and using other tools to counteract attacks and minimize damage. The first part looks at attacks at software, showing how reverse engineering can find out a lot more than might be planned as to how the program works. Things can get rather technical here but it's a great introduction to the mechanics of reverse engineering software and shows how someone could go looking for vulnerabilities, and finding out maybe not all the hows of the program, at least potential entry points in the software's operation.

Then it is on to OS and network security, with the focus on UNIX and some Windows Systems. The authors give some practical examples to explain what goes into attacks you commonly hear about - SQL Injection and Overflow attacks - but may not have seen demonstrated with examples. Many of the chapters and sections that are written about could and do fill whole books, but the authors do a very good job of balancing going beyond the surface of the topic without going too deeply down the technical details and examples to overwhelm or bore the reader. This is not a light, breeze through book, but a technical reference guide. It's one that I can see returning to again and again to help brush up understanding of certain topics as they are needed. This book is a very good starting point for overviewing the ideas as well as the mechanics of security attacks and to help you learn how to repulse them and become the security warrior. Know thy enemy is the necessity of the modern world.

Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

Average customer rating:

An Academic Review of the topic....
Excellent book.
Not an academic review
A Solid General Guide to PMCs and PSCs, But...
A must read!

Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)
P.W. Singer
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Contract Warriors

ASIN: 0801489156

Book Description

As violence spreads in Iraq, many have been stunned by the extensive roles that private firms now are playing in the fighting. In seeking to understand exactly what was going on, ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN, The Economist, Fox News, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, PBS, USA Today, and the Washington Post all turn to one source: Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry.

Named among the year's top five books in international affairs by the Gelber Prize, P.W. Singer's groundbreaking book from Cornell University Press explores one of the most interesting, but little understood developments in modern warfare. Over the last decade, a global trade in hired military services has emerged. Known as "privatized military firms" (PMFs), these businesses range from small consulting firms, who sell the advice of retired generals, to transnational corporations that lease out wings of fighter jets or battalions of commandos. Such firms number in the hundreds. They have an estimated annual revenue of over $100 billion. And, they presently fill military roles in over fifty countries, including in Afghanistan and Iraq. From recent events in Iraq, where some 15,000 private military contractors work on behalf of the coalition, including the four men brutally killed in an ambush in Fallujah earlier this year, to Latin America, where three American private military contractors have been held captive by Colombian rebels for the last 16 months, to Sub-Saharan Africa, where private military personnel earlier this year were arrested as part of an alleged coup plot in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea, these firms appear in the world's hotspots and headlines again and again. Yet, until Corporate Warriors, no book has opened up this powerful new industry to the public eye.

Now released in paperback, Corporate Warriors provides the first comprehensive analysis of the private military industry. The book traces the firms' historic roots in the mercenary outfits of the past and the more recent underlying causes that led to their emergence at the end of the Cold War. In a series of detailed company portraits, Singer then describes how the industry operated and the three sectors within the industry: how military provider firms, like Executive Outcomes, a South African company made up of ex-Apartheid fighters, offer front-line combat services; how military consulting firms, like MPRI, a Virginia-based firm staffed by U.S. Army veterans, provide strategic and military training expertise for clients around the world; and, finally, how military support firms, like Vice President Cheney's former Halliburton-Brown & Root, carry out multi-billion dollar military logistics and maintenance services, including running the U.S. military's supply train in Iraq.! In fact, the book's portrait of how exactly Halliburton got into the lucrative, but now controversial, military support business has served as a resource for investors, reporters, congressional investigators, and soldiers alike.

Singer then explores the many implications of this industry, ranging from their impact on military operations to their possible roles in international peacekeeping. He analyzes how the hopes for economy and efficiency duel with the risks that come from outsourcing the most essential of government functions, that of national security and soldiers' welfare. The privatization of military services allows startling new capabilities and efficiencies in the way that war is carried out. However, as demonstrated in Iraq, the mix of the profit motive with the fog of war raises a series of troubling questions -for international affairs, for ethics, for management, for civil-military relations, for international law, for human rights, and, ultimately, for democracy. In other words, when it comes to military responsibilities, private companies' good may not always be to the public good.

Corporate Warriors is a hard-hitting analysis that provides a fascinating first look inside this exciting, but potentially dangerous new industry. Its research has been featured by every single major news outlet in the United States and covered by media over 20 different countries.

Easily accessible to general readers, the book provides a critical but balanced look at the businesses behind the headlines. With the continued expansion and growth of this industry in the coming years, Corporate Warriors will be the essential sourcebook for understanding how the private military industry works and how governments must respond. As one reviewer describes, "Many fine volumes about U.S. foreign policy and world events have been published in recent months. This one is something special. Corporate Warriors might just be a paradigm shift. It may change the way people look at history and analyze current events…a must-read…"

Customer Reviews:

An Academic Review of the topic...........2007-09-27

This book provides an academic view of the topic (i.e., dry and sterile). Coming from an academic press (Cornell) and an academic, however, this not a surprise. The author starts with a history of the private sector in warfare during the medieval ages up to the current period, with emphasis on trend towards increasing state control (i.e., de-privitization) over time with increasing re-privatization. The later is in regard particularly to the U.S. and its overstretched (probably temporarily) forces. This is, in the author's opinion, is cause of large increase in recent expansion of privitization in the U.S. The author then discusses various aspects, mostly negative, regarding this privitization (i.e., legal status of private "troops", reliability in case of large scale combat and increase of the danger they face, etc.).

The book has two weaknesses. The first is that it does not cover the benefits of this privitazation in sufficient detail. Especially financial savings and, more importantly, the private sector filling the void in Iraq due to lack of long-term permanent U.S. public sector troops. The author needs to address the question of how else the U.S. would be able to cope without this strategy (i.e., draft?). No discussion here. Also, some perspective on other nations' attempts at privitization would be useful for purposes of perspective and comparison with U.S. How much are they privitizing vis-a-vis the U.S. and how has it affected their combat effectiveness/cost of operations. For these reasons the book receives four stars instead of five. Nevertheless, provides a good primer on the subject. Especially considering the fact that most other books have been written by journalists from a sensationalist point of view.

Excellent book........2007-07-15

Singer's research is flawless. His writing is well organized and incisive with very astute observations. He approaches the subject with an objective understanding(he uses the term "mercenary" sparingly and only to describe actual mercenaries) of how this newly formed industry is organized and how it will affect our (United States) ability to implement foreign policy. His tip of the spear taxonomy explains the industry better than any other I have read in my own research on the topic. This book has set a great standard for academic writings on PMFs and will survive as reference source for many years to come.

Not an academic review.......2007-01-15

Corporate Warriors was in general a very boring book. Yes it was acurate and informative but was very dry. Singer seemed too biased against PMCs. I was also dissapointed to find out Singer has never been to Iraq himself to see PMCs at work there. When one writes a book with bias and with such depth I would like for them to have immersed themselves in the topic rather than write an academic report on PMCs. Sorry for the negative attitude but was dissapointed by the book.

A Solid General Guide to PMCs and PSCs, But..........2006-12-12

The title of this work is misleading. Singer has written an excellent guide to the recent history of PMCs (private military companies, such as Tim Spicer's Sandline) and PSCs (such as Blackwater), but has failed to distinguish between the two in a way made concrete for the uninformed reader. The result is that the fine line between hunting down Angolan rebels and guarding glorified haircuts like Paul Bremer has been blurred.

Sometimes this line is difficult to distinguish, but it is there. The fact that many of the PSC firms themselves sport members of past PMCs (many a South African and Rhodesian is back in action) has further blurred the situation, but you can be assured that their mandate is different. While the PSCs currently operating in Iraq and Afghanistan do their fair share of enemy engagement, they do so from a position of defense rather than from a position of offense. They are playing primarily a security role. They are not, by and large, performing paramilitary tasks at the bequest of dictators, corporations, or the State Department.

The author understands the difference, and does indeed attempt to make the distinction, the title itself tends to muddle the roles.

A must read!.......2006-10-10

A must read for anyone interested in the private security industry and the new future of war!
I served in the Kosovo region and the information about that region was 100% accurate. The US militray can no longer function without the assistance of private contractors and thier vast companies.
Cpl Dombrowski
578th Engineer BN

Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias: The Warriors of Contemporary Combat

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Insurgents, Terrorists and Militias
Operational Level Analysis of Traditional Cultures
Tribes and Clans vs Superpowers
How do you win if you have different definitions for "victory"?
Academia Only Goes So Far

Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias: The Warriors of Contemporary Combat
Richard H. Shultz , and Andrea J. Dew
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0231129823

Book Description

Since the end of the Cold War, conventional militaries and their political leaders have confronted a new, brutal type of warfare in which non-state armed groups use asymmetrical tactics to successfully fight larger, technologically superior forces. In order to prevent future bloodshed and political chaos, it is crucial to understand how these unconventional armed groups think and to adapt to their methods of combat.

In Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias, Richard H. Shultz Jr. and Andrea J. Dew investigate the history and politics of modern asymmetrical warfare. By focusing on four specific hotbeds of instability-Somalia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, and Iraq-Shultz and Dew conduct a careful analysis of tribal culture and the value of clan associations. They examine why these "traditional" or "tribal" warriors fight, how they recruit, where they find sanctuary, and what is behind their strategy. Traveling across two centuries and several continents, Shultz and Dew examine the doctrinal, tactical, and strategic advantages and consider the historical, cultural, and anthropological factors behind the motivation and success of the warriors of contemporary combat.

In their provocative argument, Shultz and Dew propose that war in the post-Cold War era cannot be waged through traditional Western methods of combat, especially when friendly states and outside organizations like al-Qaeda serve as powerful allies to the enemy. Thoroughly researched and highly readable, Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias examines how non-state armies fight, identifies the patterns and trends of their combat, and recommends how conventional militaries can defeat these irregular yet highly effective organizations.

Customer Reviews:

Insurgents, Terrorists and Militias.......2007-07-29

I was excited when I saw the title, thinking that it was a timely work on an important subject. I was sorely disappointed. I am surprised at some of the people who are listed on the back cover who recommend the book; faced with the alternative explanation, I will accept that they actually did not read the book through.

The book is tremendously redundant throughout, wasting many pages to reiterate what was said a few pages previously. There was very poor quality control throughout the book as well; many misspellings and sentences which appeared to be pasted together from disparate attempts and not word-smithed.

The authors do not achieve their own stated goal, to provide a set of principles which could be applied to conflicts transcending time and space to enable understanding of potential enemies and operational environments. They fail miserably at this. Their analyses at the end of each chapter serve only to regurgitate what was said in the rest of the chapter, sometimes less concisely. The authors also enjoy throwing around the current most popular misused term in U.S. military circles: Asymmetric Warfare. They use this frequently and in many different contexts, often contradicting their own usage of the term. They never lay out exactly what this means to them or how it is defined by any other institution. It is used by the authors as a catch all phrase to explain strategy, tactics or anything which does not include exact force parity on the battlefield.

The authors have completely ignored the massive amount of work done through the previous century on Guerrilla Warfare. This is perhaps their most egregious mistake. They seem to believe that because their subjects of discussion are from tribal societies that their "asymmetrical warfare" is somehow unique in history. They continuously demonstrate their lack of understanding of even the most basic of tactics and strategies, or even the principles of warfare.

The chapters outlining the four areas which they profess to analyze and illuminate their "principles" do provide some basic understanding of these four areas (Somalia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq). However, even this seeming contribution is fraught with errors and popular misconceptions pulled from the press, many which are just wrong and could have been corrected in this book if a little research had been done from original sources. Their section on Iraq degenerates into a regurgitation of press reports, perpetuating myths and illuminating nothing; they do not seem to be aware of what is going on there. And in Afghanistan they claim that the Pashto were not incorporated into the campaign to eliminate the Taliban or in the government. Do they not realize that President Karzai is Pashto? It was the defection of the Pashto which made the Taliban crumble so rapidly.

Overall, this book contributes nothing to understanding, and actually confuses, the issue of how to fight non-nation state actors. The authors provide no original research and no unique understanding. The book was a miserable failure. And it could have been so good. I gave it one star because the is no zero star rating.

For a really useful tool to understand this subject read "Insurgency and Terrorism: From Revolution to Apocalypse" by Bard E. Oneill. For a very thorough and concise book on Jihadist ideology read "Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror" by Mary Habeck.

Operational Level Analysis of Traditional Cultures.......2007-03-30

Insurgents, Terrorists and Militias by Richard Shultz and Andrea Dew is a solid introductory text that aims to guide current Intelligence Analysts with a framework to assess current and potential adversaries to US Forces worldwide. The operational framework they propose is specifically designed to analyze unconventional and guerrilla forces rather than the traditional military assessments that were designed and created for use in a conventional war (with the Soviet Union). Six questions are used to create their framework:

1) What is their concept of warfare?
2) Organization and Command and Control?
3) What are the Areas of Operations?
4) What are the Types and Targets of Operations?
5) Constraints and Limitations to the use of force?
6) The influence of outside actors?

The authors then explore four historical and contemporary case studies on how this framework would have assisted policy makers. The case studies are Somalia, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq. Over all the best case study is Iraq, due to the level of detail that the authors give- they describe the different `types' of insurgency and their historical basis, which impressed me. The worst is Afghanistan, where too much history is given too little type, and in the end we are left without much substance on the current operating environment there. I found the Chechnyan and Somali studies interesting and relevant, and the bibliography provides a guide to further and more detailed reading.

Overall, a great deal of emphasis is placed on the tribe, clan and religious structure and history of the societies. This is a relevant and worthy addition that many intelligence professionals can benefit from. Because these features are defining aspects of traditional cultures, they should hold an equivalent status in our analysis of them.

My only disappointment stems from the fact that because of their operational focus, many intelligence professionals in fields `closer to the ground' will find that their ideas, while interesting and worth keeping in mind, are not extremely helpful to the tactical level of intelligence analysis. For instance, although they explain why a Former Regime Element in Iraq has different motives for fighting than an Islamist in Iraq, this is not much use to a smaller, more specific area than say, Baghdad. To the intelligence professional concerned with the Bay'a, Al-Amel or Saydiyah Muhallahs within Baghdad, the most useful questions revolve around types and emplacement techniques of IEDs, and how these may be related to the structure and orientation of a specific insurgent group or cell; how, when, and where, do sectarian groups operate . . . These questions are of the most immediate concern, and will likely have the most substantive effect once the answers are found.

That being said, this book was a very interesting read, and a valuable one.

Tribes and Clans vs Superpowers.......2007-03-24

Using four case studies of conflict, Somalia, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq, the authors highlight the differences between conventional warfare with clearly established front lines and unconventional warfare there the is no front and engagements are hit-and-run surprise attacks with battlefields in the streets of a cities.

Until the times of these conflicts, American and Russian troops were trained to fight along the lines established by Alexander the Great and Napoleon, where divisions fought divisions, and one battle could have a decisive result. But in these conflicts the authors point out that the attackers often numbered less than 50 and before the defenders could organize their divisions to repulse the attack, the attackers, wearing the cloths of the locals, would melt into the population. No one was there for the division to fight.

The Red Army's experiences in Chechnya are cited as an example of tribal tactics. The Chechens would allow a column of Russian tanks to penetrate deep into the narrow, winding streets of their ancient cities. They would attack and disable the lead tank with a barrage of hand held rockets and then do the same to the last tank in the column. With the column of tanks unable to move forward or backward, the Chechens would pick off the remaining tanks before the Russian air force arrived.

All together, the book provides an excellent summary of the events encountered by the superpowers when they fought in Somalia, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq. But the main point of the book is, with a little study of the culture and practices of Tribes and Clans in these areas, the U.S. (and the Russians) would have anticipated how the insurgents and militants would respond to invasion - and how and where they would fight.

The authors argue that what transpired in all four cases could have be predicted and countered.

How do you win if you have different definitions for "victory"?.......2007-02-21

Insurgents, Terrorists, And Militias: The Warriors of Contemporary Combat is a very useful contribution to the growing body of literature of modern conflict. While the subtitle of the book suggests a tempo-centric view of the Now, the book's purpose is really to demonstrate the value of anthropological analysis of the irregular warriors we are facing today. Unlike "modern" states who might employ irregular tactics, the authors look at the societal and cultural interactions specific in warrior societies, or "martial races" (a term indifferent to ethnicity), and their resulting organizing principles. This is done to satisfy Sun Tzu's admonition to "Know the enemy" which we do not. The absence of this knowledge, in simple terms, means we not only don't know or understand why or how the enemy fights but we don't even know how defeat or subordination, perhaps a better word, is defined by the enemy or conforms to their belief system. Afterall, both victory and defeat must be acknowledged by all sides.

In 2004, Major General Robert Scales went before the House Armed Services committee and recounted a conversation he had with a commander from the Third Infantry Division (then) recently returned from Iraq. Scales had asked about the improved situational awareness worked during the march to Baghdad. The response foretold the future, as well as described the past: "I knew where every enemy tank was dug in on the outskirts of Tallil. Only problem was my soldiers had to fight fanatics charging on foot or in pickups and firing AK 47s and RPGs. I had perfect situational awareness. What I lacked was cultural awareness. Great technical intelligence....wrong enemy." This book not only helps lay the ground work to identify the enemy, but also makes us look at their motivation from a different angle.

The authors, Richard H. Shultz and Andrea J. Dew, lay out the framework and goals of the book at the very beginning. This book is not out tactics or even strategy, but "operational art", the middle ground between Strategy (big "S") and Tactics (big "T"). Using case studies of Somali, Chechnya, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the authors demonstrate their theories through both recent and historical encounters. Some of their analysis is interesting as elements of previous success were clearly not understood and led to later failures.

The authors submit the following framework, all explicitly or implicitly found in Sun Tzu's 33 paragraphs on Offensive Strategy (which includes the advice to Know the Enemy and Know Yourself), as a means of better understanding the questions how and why that are critical to success.

1. What is the concept of warfare?
2. What is the Organization and Command and Control?
3. What are the Areas of Operations?
4. What are the Types and Targets of Operations?
5. Are there any Constraints and Limitations to the use of force?
6. Do they receive support and assistance from Outside Actors? If so, who are these Actors and in what form does the help come?

These are seemingly basic questions that go unasked, let alone answered.

In addressing American operational art, the combination of time and tempo (popular example: "Shock and Awe"), the authors don't make specific prescriptives but suggest incorporating new (to us) understandings of how the enemy organizes and operates. Shultz and Dew show that OODA loops don't matter when the invaded don't see war as "organized violence" requiring "paper, forms, and documents", don't mirror our hierarchy, and have different priorities. The behavior of the enemy is far different from modern Western principles and thus has different levers and pressures points for manipulation. Our focus on whether or not the engine of insurgency is religious or socio-political may ignore the underlying realities of the why and how in specific instances. Like in the West, religion may be a Gramscian distraction and our focus on it blinds us to the levers and pressure points necessary for successful operations.

The case studies note strong martial traditions and historical features that checked internecine violence. In Somali, for example, the authors show how these mechanisms were purposely broken to intentionally foster internal conflict, leading the path to disintegration of the state. They also show how our tactics empowered our target instead of breaking his support system. The enemy in Afghanistan and elsewhere know how their people organize and exploit it while we doom ourselves by imposing our own organizing and motivating principles on them. With parallels to the motivators of modern suicide terrorism, the authors look at warrior traditions and legacies, as opposed to cultural and social structures to reframe the perception of our Other.

Modern, West-centric theories such as "Fourth Generation Warfare" look at conflict with the "Gap" countries as a new way of warfare when the reality is quite the opposite. Likewise, simplifying insurgencies as monolithic or based in religion potentially blind us from opportunities to co-op and disaggregate and even to know how to define victory.

The authors are critical of both the US intelligence services and its endemic mirroring and of the shortcomings or military analysis. A case in point on the latter is the example of the USMC case study of Chechnya that looks at Russian failures in the 1994-1996 war and the study's absence of any analysis of the Chechens themselves.

Insurgents, Terrorists, And Militias does a good job demonstrating the value of knowing the enemy and showing how we don't. More importantly, it shows that our lack of understanding is counterproductive and fuels the engine of opposition. This should be on any counterinsurgency and irregular warfare reading list, as well as readings on the Gap. Be prepared to scribble in the margins as you read.

Academia Only Goes So Far.......2007-01-21

As a former Marine who has had experience in dealing with unconventional operations and counter-insurgency warfare, I agree with fellow Marine, D.A. Leonard "devintvi", below. The book does make some valid points, specifically that US leaders do need to understand the enemy before jumping into the odd quagmire that may seem feasible at the time. In recent history, both the US and Britain have been involved in unconventional warfare at least since the 1950s - for the US, we can go back to 1920s Haiti, Guatamala, Nicaragua, the Philippines, etc. However, even after all that experience with unconventional warfare, our leaders, planners and policy-makers still don't seem to have learned any lessons on the simple fact that I was taught in Boot Camp: "KNOW YOUR ENEMY."

That said, however, simply reading or "researching" what other writers and academics have said about unconventional warfare, or playing "game theory" about clans, cults, cells, or whatever, can only give an academic so much information. There is considerable difference between theory and practice, so for a valid analysis on current aspects of asymetric warfare, the analyst/academic needs to get out of their ivory tower and view the game up close and personal. At least do the research a basic combat journalist does when he or she is imbedded with a unit conducting such operations.

Simply arguing the same old liberal (read academic) saw that the government is inept in the current war, something with which I agree, just doesn't wash in and of itself. There needs to be more indepth analysis to make the argument, which has been going on for generations, more valid. For example, how many actual terrorists, insurgents, guerrillas, clan members, etc., have the authors interviewed? Evern been to Gitmo?

When discussing terrorists, insurgents, etc. in the current context, unlike previous, possibly more logical foe, it might also be feasible to identify the current Islamic combatants, not as mere clan members, but as the religious fanatics they are, who are actually willing to die for their rabid beliefs and, in doing so, hope to help anihilate the West.

Overall, an interesting, but ACADEMIC, view of the issue of the modern warfare we face. Certainly some useful information, but also "game theory" that doesn't really help the Grunt in the field who is dealing with a hopped up fanatic with explosives and an automatic weapon. I guess the book's attraction will depend from what side of the fence the reader is actually looking.

The Way of the Warrior-Trader: The Financial Risk-Taker's Guide to Samurai Courage, Confidence and Discipline

Average customer rating:

Waste of money and time
Review of the Way of the Warrior Trader
It's about the way you think
I Live by the precepts within this book
Beware of superbookdeals seller

The Way of the Warrior-Trader: The Financial Risk-Taker's Guide to Samurai Courage, Confidence and Discipline
Richard D. McCall
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0786311630

Amazon.com

Dr. Richard McCall, a psychologist who teaches martial arts principles to professionals, turns his attention exclusively to the fiscal battlefield in The Way of the Warrior-Trader: The Financial Risk- Taker's Guide to Samurai Courage, Confidence and Discipline. Likening today's high-performance traders to Japan's legendary samurai, he combines personal anecdotes with success stories to show why the mind is the most important weapon in both arsenals--and how it can best be used in battle.

Book Description

Trading is war, an ongoing battle against other traders to get to profitable positions first, seize profits and move on to the next battle. The Way of the Warrior Trader applies time-honored precepts of the samurai discipline to modern trading, showing the reader ways to use centuries-old methods for victory in today's trading markets. The Way of the Warrior Trader: Provides a six step action plan for trading; Explains how to recover psychologically from a loss; Describes how to overcome the deep-seated psychological barriers to effective trading.

Customer Reviews:

Waste of money and time.......2007-09-18

Dont get trapped by the title.Its total waste of time and money.I agree with the ideas which author was trying to convey which i interpreted based on my own trading experience.Unfortunately very poor in presenting his ideas.May be author should stick to martial art which he is good at and leave the trading warriors to decide and do what is good for them.

Review of the Way of the Warrior Trader.......2007-03-09

This is a good book. Its a little out there, but if you keep an open mind, it can open up many new possibilities for you. It is easy to read and his stories are quite entertaining and poignant. If you are one on the lucky people to purchase this, you are in for quite a treat.

It's about the way you think.......2007-01-27

Dr. McCall's book is about developing a warrior mindset. The Way of the Warrior Trader is mostly written for "professional risk takers". However, you don't have to be trading options or stocks to gain from this book.

Warrior trader or warrior homemaker, it doesn't matter. The main takeaway from this book that you can develop the courage, confidence and discipline to master any area of your life or goals that you may have set.

Also, to answer one of the harsh critics below--Dr. McCall does not try to dupe anyone or take their money with nefarious intent.

I attended a several day workshop that Dr. McCall gave on Warrior Trading. We simulated trading and quick decision making at the craps tables in Tunica, Mississippi. My wife and I gained much insight into our personalities and money styles. When the workshop was completed I had not spent a dime on food and lodging. Dr. McCall did not ask for any money from us or hit us up for any additional money for ongoing training.

Straight up guy and straight up advice in the book.

I Live by the precepts within this book.......2006-09-26

These lessons, presented by Dr McCall, in his perennial best seller The "Way of the Warrior Trader" have been marketed to, widely accepted and utilized successfully by market players trading a wide variety of financial instruments. Also by championship level marshal artists, casino gamblers as well as poker players like me. Simply stated these ancient Marshall lessons hold the keys to unlocking the untold potential held within us all and will guide us toward developing, will power, a fighting spirit that is designed to win, and a unbelievably strong yet calm inner being.

This spirit, known as "Heijoshin kore michi" or "a calm every day spirit" is one every successful player knows he must attain to win consistently in any arena of financial risk taking. One who has attained such a spirit is briefly described as such. "Even if he looks to death in the eye, he must remain the same and act directly: confidently, calmly and imperturbably outward, wide awake and attentively inward."

Following these lessons and doing the exercises therein will increase your ability to choose and correctly use the skills you have already developed with confidence and clarity. It will also be helpful in increasing your ability to use these skills optimally. Especially while dealing with contingencies and the stress that results as they come into play ... These lessons and exercises will also drastically reduce the learning curve normally associated with developing new skills.

In as much this program will work for any task whether it is transitioning from poker proficiency to greatness or trading profitably and constantly in the markets. In fact it will work for any challenging endeavor whatsoever. It does so through a method for defining, maintaining and focusing clearly on the goals and sub goals that exist on your road to success.

If you find yourself switching from failed system to failing system isnt it about time you quit working to find a new system and start working on finding a new real core that lies at the heart of every trading system, That is the individual executing it?

This Book directs you on how to start doing exactly that.

Beware of superbookdeals seller.......2006-06-19

If you want to buy the book, go ahead, just be careful of superbookdeals, they take your money but don't deliver and don't answer emails. Caveat Emptor.

A Shadow in the City: Confessions of an Undercover Drug Warrior

Average customer rating:

haunting true story of u/c narcotics officer
It ain't a pretty world
A Shadow in the City:Confessions of an Undercover Drug Warrior
In Dubious Battle
Winning the Battles on Drugs, Not Affecting the War

A Shadow in the City: Confessions of an Undercover Drug Warrior
Charles Bowden
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0151011834

Book Description

Joey O'Shay is not the real name of the narcotics agent in an unnamed city in the center of the country. But Joey O'Shay exists. The nearly three hundred drug busts he has orchestrated over more than two decades are real, too; if the drug war were a declared war, O'Shay would have a Silver Star.

With nerves and mastery worthy of his subject, Charles Bowden follows O'Shay as he sets in motion his latest conquest, a $50 million heroin deal that originates in Colombia and has federal agents sitting at attention from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., to New York City. As it unfolds, O'Shay reveals the unerring instinct and ceaseless vigilance that have led him through minefields and brought down kingpins. But now they have led him to a place where it isn't so clear who the heroes are or what the fight has been for. And still the warrior fights on, in a murky and unforgiving landscape readers will not be able to forget.

Customer Reviews:

haunting true story of u/c narcotics officer .......2006-12-27

As he did in Down by the River, Charles Bowden takes the reader deep into the shadow world that is the war on drugs. This book reads like a well crafted literary mystery novel - think Graham Greene or Scott Turow -except it's true. If you read both River and Shadow, you'll get some idea of the personal toll the drug war takes on the cops and their families, and also wonder how they can go out and fight this evil day after day and year after year. Especially since the street agents are the ones who pay the biggest price, while the "suits" play the career game. Joey O'Shea could be the model for Sonny Crockett in Miami Vice.

It ain't a pretty world .......2006-03-29

I'm an unabashed Bowden fan -- I'd read his grocery list if he published it. This isn't his best book (that honor would lie, in my mind, with either "Blood Orchid" or "Down by the River") and he does things a little differently here, such as using more traditional storytelling devices, such as suspense. That said, I read it straight through, hanging on every word. This is a dark and depressing book -- the kind that made me question not only what kind of world we live in, but also what I even know about the world today. Throughout his entire career, Bowden has worked hard, finding characters such as Joey O'Shay, the undercover drug "warrior" in this book -- and I get the impression that he devours their insanity, insecurities and internal demons and can only try and purge that burden by writing books that the rest of us will then wonder about long after we've finished reading them. There are two main reasons to read this book: One, because it's really good. And two, because smart journalists and great writers such as Bowden are a rarity and deserve to be supported whenever they share their thoughts and experiences with the rest of us.

A Shadow in the City:Confessions of an Undercover Drug Warrior.......2005-09-20

In the beginning chapters I judged the style as a bit aloof. It does not take long, however for Charles Bowden's wordcraft and narrative style to hook you into the surreal life Joey O'Shay leads.
A Lone Efficient Wolf, down a long hall....in an office, deep inside the belly of the DEA. The Eagle Scout agents will not even walk past his door. It does ones spirit good to know they are not all twisted right wing suits.
I highly recommend this book for those who think they lead a strange life. O'Shay lives in a dimension all his own, and one largely of his own careful making.
I hope he allows us more when he retires.

In Dubious Battle.......2005-08-03

In January of 1935, shortly before Steinbeck sent off his manuscript of "In Dubious Battle," he wrote, "But man hates something in himself. He has been able to defeat every natural obstacle but himself he cannot win over unless he kills every individual. And this self-hate which goes so closely in hand with self-love is what I wrote about. This books is brutal. I wanted to be merely a recording consciousness, judging nothing, simply putting down the thing. I think it has the thrust, almost crazy, that mobs have." What does this have to do with Bowden's latest book? Everything and nothing.
He is a poet trapped in a journalist's psyche, and this is no more evident than the opening of this book. I think the same could be said of Steinbeck who approached the world scientifically through metaphor. I would have enjoyed this, a conversation amongst Bowden, Abbey, Ricketts, Steinbeck, hell, throw in Joe Campbell.

Buy this book and learn about the animal within us all. An animal that purrs while ripping the flesh of a gazelle.

Winning the Battles on Drugs, Not Affecting the War.......2005-07-28

One definition of insanity is that a person keeps doing the same thing over and over even after he knows that it won't work. I have met people like Joey O'Shay who have such a deep seated drive to wipe out the drug business that they almost couldn't function doing anything else. Popeye Doyle of French Connection fame was one.

I've also seen them reach the point where perhaps they have been shot a time or two, perhaps they have looked at all the drugs that the French Connection stopped from comming into the country ($32,000,000) doesn't mean that drugs are any harder to get. (In fact police tell me that the drugs on the street are of higher quality and lower price than ever before.) Then like Joey O'Shay they begin to question the futility of our never ending war on drugs. And somewhere along there Mr. O'Shay you'd better find a way to leave this life behind.

I do not profess to know the answer to the drug problem, but, Guys, this isn't working.

As you might guess, in this book Joey O'Shay is a cop on the undercover drug beat. He's being very successful, but the people he puts away are replaced immediately. He's involved with another huge drug deal. He's having a problem understanding that winning the battles he is fighting isn't winning the war.

Warrior Trading: Inside the Mind of an Elite Currency Trader (Wiley Trading)

Average customer rating:

Disappointed! Overstretched on one single theme & with little substance
balance
Pride goeth before the fall

Warrior Trading: Inside the Mind of an Elite Currency Trader (Wiley Trading)
Clifford Bennett
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471772240

Book Description

In Warrior Trading, Clifford Bennett, one of today's leading currency forecasters, outlines a path to trading success by highlighting the characteristics, the knowledge and skills, and the psychological state of mind required to be a true warrior trader. You'll be introduced to some fresh and unique perspectives regarding the markets, by looking at fundamental and technical analysis, as well as discovering how best to trade within the markets as an individual. Most importantly, you'll learn how to take advantage of those moments when the perceptions of most traders (the herd) are at odds with the underlying reality-moments when fear, greed, and other emotions wreak havoc on the ordinary trader's ability to operate objectively.

Divided into three comprehensive parts, Warrior Trading will show you how to develop the focus, attitude, and mental discipline of a top trader so that you can make the most out of your time in the markets.

Download Description

Today's global financial markets are every bit as vicious psychologically, and sometimes even physically, as the battles the great warriors throughout history have faced. Just as the warriors of old rode out to battle with the confidence and knowledge to conquer new lands and foes, so do the warriors of the market who thrive on the battleground of the trading floor. In Warrior Trading, Clifford Bennett, one of today's leading currency forecasters, outlines a path to trading success by highlighting the characteristics, the knowledge and skills, and the psychological state of mind required to be a true warrior trader. You'll be introduced to some fresh and unique perspectives regarding the markets, by looking at fundamental and technical analysis, as well as discovering how best to trade within the markets as an individual. Most importantly, you'll learn how to take advantage of those moments when the perceptions of most traders (the herd) are at odds with the underlying reality-moments when fear, greed, and other emotions wreak havoc on the ordinary trader's ability to operate objectively. Divided into three comprehensive parts, Warrior Trading will show you how to develop the focus, attitude, and mental discipline of a top trader so that you can make the most out of your time in the markets.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointed! Overstretched on one single theme & with little substance.......2006-12-21

It's a tough task to write a review for this book. Except it's strong emphasis against herb/consensus investing (but the author didnt tell the way to do contrarian investing at all), I really cant write a summary of what I had learnt from it as I normally did for my other reviews because there's little substance at all. I dont query how elite a FX trader the author is. However, as a trading book lover and a pro trader, I am obliged to warn potential buyers of the bad writing and presentation skill, repetitiveness of one same well acknowledged message and simply uselessness of it. I seldom rate a trading book one star, but this one well deserves it.

p.s. In case you really want to read something really "warrior trading" relevant, I would like to recommend "Way of Warrior Trader: The Financial Risk-Taker's Guide to Samurai Courage, Confidence and Discipline by Richard D. McCall". For those who want to acquire the mind of a successful trader, I suggest "Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude by Mark Douglas".

balance.......2006-09-26

"I have just read Warrior Trading.Im actually reading it again .Loved it .Just my kind of philosophy." A K Johannesburg

"I have just finished reading "Warrior Trading" and in the process or re-reading it again." GM Honolulu, Hawaii.

"Enjoyed your book on Warrior Trading, I found it very inspiring. Best regards," R Smith Australia

"I have just finished reading your book 'Warrior Trading' for the third time yesterday " DT UK

Some people love it, some don't, not many in-between! In this book I have simply tried to convey how it really is out there in the market, and how the creation of consensus views come about from an insiders point of view. It is different to other books because it does not suggest there are three easy steps to being a big winner as many do, but suggests trading is a personal journey about developing your own style. I provide real market approaches that actually work and insights as to how many of the top traders actually think and operate. The really big traders do not share their approach as they are not mainstream. If you want to get a handle on how markets really work then read my book. It will help and support your success. I have had e-mails from all over the world from people saying they have found my book to be the best on trading they have ever read, and they now have a unique perspective they have found advantageous in their trading. Some people have not liked the book, but then maybe they were looking for a simplistic three point plan, which in fact does not exist. You can win with a knowledgeable approach that is your own. Warrior Trading is a big help in this regard. May the markets be fair to you, even kind, CB

Pride goeth before the fall.......2006-09-08

A waste of money and, worse, a waste of my time. An arrogant, cliche-ridden, and self-promoting text. I hope he doesn't talk to his wife like this. Try Boris Schlossberg's book instead.

Average customer rating:

Great Intro to Military/Industrial Stranglehold
Great Book, Very Interesting
A great militiary book
War, Incorporated
Eisenhower Warned: Beware of the Military-Industrial Complex

Private Warriors
Ken Silverstein , and Daniel Burton-Rose
Manufacturer: Verso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Contract Warriors

ASIN: 1859847560
Release Date: 2000-07-27

Amazon.com

Journalist Ken Silverstein delivers a broadside against the modern military-industrial complex in Private Warriors. In the post-cold-war world of rising defense budgets and arms proliferation, Silverstein finds plenty to worry about: "Former Defense Department officials serve as consultants to the arms industry, helping lobby for needless Cold War-era weapons systems and promoting greater arms sales to foreign regimes. Retired generals form private corporations that train the armies of foreign nations and encourage U.S. entanglements abroad. Arms dealers linked to U.S. intelligence agencies still trot the globe hawking their wares, sometimes in support of government operations, sometimes acting strictly as private businessmen. Intellectuals who gained their names by hyping the Soviet threat still counsel our political leaders. The advice they offered during the Cold War was of dubious value, and it has decidedly less merit today." Silverstein wisely populates his book with real-life characters such as German arms dealer Ernst Werner Glatt, Nixon- and Reagan-administration veteran Alexander Haig, and missile-defense advocate Frank Gaffney. He also has an eye for vivid anecdotes: the B-2 bomber, he notes, literally "costs more than its weight in gold." Silverstein's on-the-scene reporting includes visits to a weapons bazaar in Rio de Janeiro and a Soldier of Fortune convention in Las Vegas. At bottom, however, Private Warriors is a polemic rather than a piece of journalism; it aims to make a forceful argument against transplanting the mindset of a cold-war hawk into the security policies of the 21st century. Not everyone will be convinced--attitudes on this subject are famously inflexible--but Silverstein's portrait of the industry and people who profit from military buildups will give pause to all its readers. --John J. Miller

Book Description

Widely-researched and fast-paced, Private Warriors surveys the generals, gun-runners and national security staffers who were cast adrift at the end of the Cold War and who now operate in the private sector. In these pages we encounter Ernst Werner Glatt, a right-wing German who was for many years the Pentagon's preferred gun-runner; ex-Secretary of State Alexander Haig who now lobbies for China and assists in selling weapons to Turkey; and Frank Gaffney, an ex-Pentagon official who has grown rich by promoting the biggest boondoggle of them all, Star Wars. Today's private warriors have a direct financial interest in war and the connections to push for the maintenance of bloated military budgets.

Customer Reviews:

Great Intro to Military/Industrial Stranglehold.......2007-02-23

This book brilliantly summarizes how the legacy of the Cold War, the self-sustaining military industrial complex Eisenhower warned us about, has thoroughly corrupted American politics and its foreign policy. The wretched results are too obvious in the wastelands of Iraq and Afghanistan. The author gives brief examples of how the US uses private contractors to do its dirty work (go see the movie "Lord of War" for a wonderful cinematic treatment) and how the revolving door between the Pentagon and the defense industry begs for the public interest to be violated. For a perfect example of a military-turned-entrepeneur pimp, read about Alexander "I'm in Charge Now" Haig's sweet deals. No American will read this book and not feel like they've been screwed over big time. The only drawback to this little gem is that it is pre-9/11. A subsequent new edition will doubtless be twice as thick with details of this criminal Bush administration's corrupt and malignant behavior.

Great Book, Very Interesting.......2002-08-07

This was a very interesting and eye opening book. The book is broken into chapters that look at different aspects of the current war / armaments industry. We get the full picture from arms dealers, armaments companies and their lobbyists to private mercenary companies. The author gives the arms dealers some extra mystery by introducing us to two of the more successful ones, both of which were ex-Nazis. We also get a who's who name run down of past government officials who are now employees or lobbyists for large arms manufactures. I now know where all the cold warriors go after they leave office.

The book really leaves the impression with the reader that the military arm of the government is running the rest of the country via the spending allocated to it via the budget. The author presented the reader with an armload of facts, and left the reader to make his own conclusions. This is not an anti military propaganda piece, but a good book with an incredible amount of information. One of the more shocking conclusions one takes from the book is the ongoing American policy of continual military mobilization. I guess this should not be that surprising given that it is a billion dollar business that has a vested interest in making sure the business keeps on coming it's way.

Overall the book was very good and interesting. It was easy to read and I got through it in only a few days. My only complaint is that there was no ending chapter, no wrap up - it just kinda ended. Other then that a great book.

A great militiary book.......2002-03-03

I thought this book was great.I think that Private Militiary
Compinies are the Futuer of warfare.I think America should train fomer Soviet countries against terrorism.I found this book very informative.It was great.

War, Incorporated.......2001-06-15

Ken Silverstein's "Private Warriors" is an excellent resource -- I wish we had more journalists like him, willing to delve deep into a story and present just the facts, and leave it to the reader to connect the dots. Silverstein doesn't preach: he just offers an incredible amount of information -- all but the most diehard reactionary will find it persuasive.

He names names, and provides an exhaustive account of the ongoing American policy of permanent military mobilization, which was conveniently masked during the Cold War but which continues to grow after the death of Soviet Communism.

The book is broken into six chapters, each exploring a different avenue of the war industry -- from ... arms dealers to private mercenary companies, to the cynical use of military consultants to evade public accountability and oversight and, of course, Star Wars (these days referred to as the Ballistic Missile Defense).

What I was struck with on reading this book is how cynical and amoral the participants are -- they may be flag-waving Americans, but the brotherhood of warmongers really transcends nationality, which is probably a sign of the changing times. It's frightening and infuriating when you see the level of corruption at work, here, and the incredible success achieved by these individuals, and the degree of networking they engage in to ensure that American policy remains firmly locked on a wartime footing.

The only drawbacks I saw in this book was there was so much information presented, it was a little hard to keep track of all of the players -- I would have liked to see some graphs or lists to illustrate some of the points Silverstein enumerated. Also, I thought there ought to be a concluding chapter to the book, to sort of wrap everything up.

Get this book if you want to get a sense of why the "peace dividend" was a short-lived concept (I recall it being talked about for about two weeks, after the collapse of the USSR); I recommend it as a gift for anybody who wants a sense of what's wrong in American policy, and also for anybody too enamored of the status quo.

Eisenhower Warned: Beware of the Military-Industrial Complex.......2000-11-15

Ken Silverstein's excellent book `Private Warriors' exposes the underside of that vile, despicable trade the making and marketing of implements to destroy wholesale-lives, properties, cities, countries--yes, civilization itself. WAR!

It is a megabillion dollar business and with big money at stake greed prevails and morality is easily compromised. Just imagine the size of the business. Start with a US defense budget for next year of $305 billion (that is $8,000 per second) and add what other countries around the world will spend.

The book consists of a preface and six chapters that explore six aspects of the business. Each chapter consists of areas that provide important connections in the mosaic of the military-industrial complex. Upon completion one gets an overall perspective of the whole messy business.

Early in the century munitions makers were known as "Merchants of Death" and dispatched agents and salesmen around the world to promote their business. To control this unconscionable activity governmental regulation was effected. With their strong influence over a period of time the merchants were able to gain acceptance. Now instead of restraining their activities governments actively promote the interests of the arms makers. And in spite of the regulations-where big money is involved--clandestine trading proliferates. According to Jane's Intelligence Review black market sales are about $1 to $2 billion dollars a year in bad years and five times as much in good years.

Among other services, arms brokers set up shell companies and offshore bank accounts and secure vital documents such as end user certificates stating which nation the goods are headed to. If all end user documents were legitimate Peru would have a bigger army than the United States. Most importantly, the brokers provide governments with `plausible deniability'.

Two brokers profiled in the book are former unrepentant Nazis. Their wealth from the business is enormous. They have close connections to our military and are held in high regard. Yet for the right price they do business with just about everyone, frequently dealing with both sides in a conflict. When the military wanted to compare a Soviet helicopter against an expensive anti-aircraft gun, a dealer was able to acquire the helicopter.

Formerly it was considered unconscionable to use the influence and knowledge obtained on a military job for personal enrichment. That prohibition no longer exists. Often the companies that officials regulate become the official's next employers.

Former government officials trade on their vast connections to procure contracts on behalf of defense firms and represent foreign governments desirous of expanding their military. Alexander Haig is a wheeler-dealer who has used his connections to open doors for corporations who seek foreign investment; and has represented such individuals as Sun Myong Moon and governments as China, Indonesia, etc.

With the end of the Cold War there was panic. Arms makers feared a significant reduction in their business. Employees in occupations connected with the military were threatened with a loss of jobs. What to do?

Consultants and think tanks provided the PR to convince the Congress and the public of the new dangers that confront us around the world and pressed for additional spending for defense and a nuclear buildup.

With the reduction of armed personnel, private mercenary firms came into existence. The firms absorbed former officers to create a staff with the proper experience and connections. They provide the military and police training for any allied government under contract. The firms provide many benefits: the legislature does not have to authorize sending our troops; if casualties occur there will be no popular backlash; and no spotlight is put on the human rights abuses of the recipient regime.

The sheer waste of our military budgets are exemplified by some of these choice nuggets in the book: According to a Brookings study, Pentagon spending from between 1948-1998 was $19 trillion dwarfing second place social security at $7.9 trillion! In 1999, dozens of M-60 and M-48 tanks were dumped off the Alabama coast to form artificial reefs! The world's second largest air force-after the Pentagon's-is mothballed in Arizona so that new aircraft can be delivered! As of 1998, four major defense firms-Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon-had more than 250 influence peddlers on their payrolls and the firms collective spending for lobbying that year topped $22 million! Trent Lott, providing pork for his state, added $1.5 billion to a defense appropriation bill for an assault ship the Pentagon did not even ask for!

After reading this book I realized how prescient President Eisenhower was when he delivered his farewell speech on leaving office. Some pertinent remarks were: `...we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence...by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist...we must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together...'

Read the book. Learn how the skullduggery of the warmongers have caused terror, death and destruction throughout the world. Learn how to satisfy their insatiable appetite for greater profits they have bamboozled us with fears of non-existent enemy threats. Our pusillanimous politicians rather than heeding Eisenhower's warnings outbid each other so that our defense outlays continually increase. Meanwhile our infrastructure deteriorates and the poor are relegated to hunger and homelessness.

Warrior King: The Case for Impeaching George Bush
Average customer rating:

An Objective Look at a Very Plausible Idea

Confronting Constitutional Questions

Love the idea of impeachment, hated this book

Don't Remember King George of England? We'll Create Our Own

Regardless of Your Views On the War in Iraq, Read this Book

Warrior King: The Case for Impeaching George Bush
John C. Bonifaz , John Bonifaz , and Nation Books Thunder's Mouth
Manufacturer: Nation Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1560256060

Book Description

What happens when a president violates the U.S. Constitution, resulting in the deaths of thousands? In Warrior-King, public interest lawyer John Bonifaz argues passionately that Bush did just that when he launched a first-strike invasion of Iraq without a congressional declaration of war. The framers of the Constitution, he argues, wanted to ensure that our presidents would not be like European kings of old who could decide, on their own volition, to send their subjects into battle. Only the Congress can send this nation into war—George Bush is not a king. In February 2003 Bonifaz and a coalition of U.S. citizens, soldiers, and members of Congress sued the president and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, seeking to prevent an undeclared and illegal war. The courts heard the case on an expedited basis, but ruled that they were barred from deciding it on the grounds that it raised a “political question” to be addressed only by the political branches. It didn't matter that the president might trample on the Constitution—the judiciary would only stand on the sidelines and watch. Bonifaz argues that if we are to preserve our Constitution, we must now act: We must call for George Bush's impeachment.

Customer Reviews:

An Objective Look at a Very Plausible Idea.......2005-06-18

Certainly there have been no allegations of George W. Bush having an affair. However, what John Bonifaz is able to do in this explosive book, is detail a strong case for the impeachment and removal of Bush as President for real and tangible Constitutional issues. In fact, it makes the impeachment of Bill Clinton seem trivial and silly. There is no telling how many people have died as a result of the "illegal" war that President Bush started. The conservatives have always prided themslves on being strict constructionists, well, if that is the case, then Bonifaz is really on to something here.

Confronting Constitutional Questions.......2004-05-25

John Bonifaz was part of the legal process in seeking to impeach Bush, confronting critical constitutional issues in that process. In failing to meet the criteria established by elements of the international community, Bush bypass UN approval in his haste for war.

Bush stated the importance of going to war as what he and advisers termed a preemptive action, a necessity in the face of a clear and present danger from an aggressive enemy. In choosing to act on his own rather than allowing the UN weapons inspection team finish its work, and relying on a false claim that Iraq's Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, Bush threw open the distinct possibility of an impeachment action.

The U.S. is obligated to follow laws and processes to which it has committed itself, namely the UN Charter and the Geneva Accords, and to fail to do so means more than a violation of international law. Such an act is violative of the U.S. Constitution since a president is mandated to follow the laws to which the nation is committed. Bonifaz and fellow petitioners contend that this failure leaves Bush open to removal from office.

Richard Nixon resigned from office after being impeached and facing a Senate trial for removal. He was previously found guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors by the House of Representatives. A good case can be made that Bush, by rushing to war and not allowing inspections to be completed, violated the law and distorted the facts by insisting that that which had not been proven, namely that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, compelled him to go to war in the interest of American safety.

The more the issue has been studied the more compelling the evidence has become that Iraq under Saddam Hussein was only a shell of the military threat it formerly posed. Did Bush and his close advisers not know this? If so, by what rationale could it commit American troops to war?

Love the idea of impeachment, hated this book.......2004-05-10

Let me start by saying nobody would enjoy the idea of impeachment more than me. But, this book fails to come close to making the case.

The point of the book is Bush's actions were bad, he acted like a King, the Constitution was set up to avoid the abuses of a King, therefore war in Iraq was unconstitutional. Out of 155 pages, there was some material that could be cut and pasted together to get a few pages worth of sound bites. Those would be really good sound bites, but there is a big difference between sound bites and substance. And this book was nothing in terms of the latter.

From the view of partisanship, I have no problem with Bush is bad, his actions were bad, therefore let's declare this unconstitutional. But, from the view of the Constitution, we need more than that. There are books that make a far better case for impeachment. Books like Worse Than Watergate are among them. This one only makes the case that a bad argument makes a bad book, regardless of how good the title is.

I never imagined that a book with that kind of title would result a negative endorsement from me. But, that's how poor this one was.

And, just to show how all there is a little bit of sound bites, the title represents another one. There is no mention at all about impeachment in this book.

Don't Remember King George of England? We'll Create Our Own.......2004-02-04

Every American should read two thin books about Iraq: "The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq" by Christopher Scheer, Robert Scheer, and Lakshmi Chaudhry, and "Warrior King: the Case for Impeaching George W. Bush" by John Bonifaz with forward by Congressman John Conyers.

The first book exposes the lies that President Bush and members of his Administration knowingly told during the build-up to the war on Iraq, including the lies that are keeping US troops in Iraq today.

The second book addresses Bush's unconstitutional act of taking the US military to war without a declaration of war by Congress. A number of US soldiers and US Congress Members sued the President in a failed attempt to prevent this war, and this book lays out the case.

Regardless of Your Views On the War in Iraq, Read this Book.......2004-02-02

Regardless of your views about the War in Iraq, John Bonifaz's Warrior-King is a must read. Bonifaz presents a concise, compelling case for why Bush's and Congress's actions with respect to the War were so dangerous. Rather than focusing on the merits of the War itself, Bonifaz explains why the methods employed to bring our nation into War are so objectionable. He forces readers to take a step back and view our government's actions in a historical framework. After reading the book, readers will have a deeper understanding of the far-reaching implications of our government's actions.

Unlike other authors who solely provide written social commentary, Bonifaz is a man of action. Outraged by our government's behavior, amazingly Bonifaz organized a coalition of individuals - from Congressmen to soldiers to soldiers' parents - to bring a law suit against our President. Through Warrior-King, the reader has the unique opportunity to get an insider's perspective into the legal case waged against our President. All readers, including supporters of the War, will finish Bonifaz's book with an appreciation for the gravity of our most powerful leaders' actions leading up to the War.

Book Description

This is the outrageous story of how “Hawkeye” went from flying combat missions in Vietnam to smuggling dope by the boat and plane load into the U.S. from Colombia. His amusing reflections of his adventures and misadventures offer a vivid and accurate portrayal of the drug-smuggling world of the late 1960s and 1970s, with its colorful cast of war heroes, dealers, middlemen and addicts.

Customer Reviews:

Adventure & excitement in the post vietnam smuggling culture.......1999-12-20

Set back in the heyday of drug smuggling, before it became organized and much more deadly, Hawkeye's book is a must for anyone who just enjoys stories of action, adventure, humor and nail biting suspense. Part autobiographical and part how-to, Mr. Gross introduces you to a host of characters that Hollywood would salivate to weave a story around, from a hot headed, often times bizarre leader to a dentist with no teeth. The early chapters are a bit slow but neccessary to set the stage for post vietnam personalities. Once they got the planes in the air and the boats on the water, Gross delivers a definate page turner. Before heroin and coke turned smuggling into a dirty subject and a very deadly pastime, with crack-heads, drive-bys and the infiltration of drugs into our schools, there was a subculture of happy hippie marijuana smokers and the adventurous, sometimes half-crazy sugglers who brought the product in. Hawkeye makes great efforts to portray the smuggling life as, in short, quite fun, but full of misfits, misorganization and miracles, the miracles being any decent marijuana entering the country at all. A very fun week and a half of reading. Suspend your judgement on what laws they may have been breaking or what criminals they may have been and just enjoy the adventure of it all. Ranks right there with Jerry Kamstra's Weed. Well done, Mr. Gross.

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