failure factory site:freerepublic.com
The Failure Factory:
How Unelected Bureaucrats, Liberal Democrats,
and Big Government Republicans
Are Undermining America's Security
and Leading Us to War
by Bill Gertz
Posted on 11/14/2008 5:00:23 AM PST by edpc
Having reviewed books for a quarter of a century, I have found that it is often possible to enjoy and recommend one even if I do not totally buy its conclusions. This is particularly true when it makes me think. In "The Failure Factory," Bill Gertz has produced such a work.
The thesis of the book is that liberals held over from the Clinton administration, big government Republicans, and liberal career bureaucrats have done much to undermine the Bush national security establishment. Mr. Gertz does an exhaustive job of making his case. It is impossible to outline the whole book in a 750-word review, but I have listed one example from each category.
In the category of career bureaucrats, Mr. Gertz recounts the story of a woman of Lebanese origin who was hired by the FBI bureaucracy without proper vetting. While it seems likely that political correctness was in play, the Arab woman, who did indeed have a skill in a language in demand, unfortunately turned out to be a Hezbollah spy. In what is a disturbing trend, she is not rotting behind bars for life. Mr. Gertz feels that there are too many non-warriors in the intelligence community hiring such people.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The Failure Factory reveals:
• The shocking, previously untold story of the partisan bureaucrats who completely undercut the U.S. position on Iran’s radical Islamist regime
• Barack Obama’s disastrous national security policies—and his stable of advisers who have already put America at risk
• The recent showdown in the Pentagon that laid bare the U.S. government’s ongoing failures to tackle the threat of Islamist extremism
• Flagrant cases of sabotage by top State Department officials that have emboldened dangerous states like Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Communist China
• Stunning new intelligence failures—including one that may have allowed a terrorist group to penetrate the FBI and CIA
• How even the Bush White House was overrun with Democrats and liberal Republicans
• The legions of “Clinton generals”—top military brass whose careers blossomed during the Clinton administration—who make the United States more vulnerable
• How Democrats are exploiting the antiwar movement for political gain, with little regard for the potentially devastating consequences
• How the defense secretary’s public defiance of official U.S. policy could have gotten him fired—but instead went unchallenged
Based on scores of exclusive interviews and displaying the groundbreaking reporting that has made Bill Gertz’s previous books smash bestsellers, The Failure Factory offers a chilling look at the threats to our national security that exist within our own government.
I have read most of the other Gertz books. I'd recommend them to anyone interested in national security matters. They're disappointing, in a sense, because many of his assessments have been dead on.
At last! “Not Bush’s Fault!”
Gertz is a great reporter
It sounds like what many of us suspected for the past 8 years has a basis in fact
Bush’s fault? For not purgig federal agencies when he came to power? Or is this massive internal 5th column of
America-haters and their butt kissing legions beyond the power of any President?
Yes he is. Rush had Bill on last week to talk about his new book. Rush said Bill Gertz is one of the last investigative reporters.
Journalism is (almost) dead. Thanx to Bill Gertz for keeping alive the memory of it.
The Washington Times is one of the few print media I read ...
if the “Censorship Doctrine” is imposed on us, keep it in mind
The Failure Factory is destroying a whole lot more than the Bush Administration.
It is well along along in destroying the exceptional United States and replacing it with a second or third world nation of yes men.
Political Correctness has replaced values (thanks, NEA) so that a nobody can wave his hands and utter empty vagueries (thanks evening news and morning newspaper) and be elected President of the United States.
At last! “Not Bush’s Fault!”
You might want to re-think that last statement. The ultimate premise of the book seems to be "Bush screwed the pooch with his idiot 'New Tone' policy".
You could look at it that way. If my neighbor borrows my car, gets drunk and smashes it up, is it my fault for trusting him with the car?
Yes, plenty of room to blame Bush for surrounding himself with the sort of people who surrounded Caesar at the end.
I am in the process of reading this book. “Liberal Fascists” was insightful, this book just makes me angry.
Bureaucrats should not be allowed to keep policy positions more than two years and they all should be dismissed after twenty. After that, they need to seek employment in the private sector, then, they might be more amenable to preserving the private sector.
“I am in the process of reading this book. “
Does he unravel Plamegate? I still wonder about the role of disgruntled CIA operatives in crafting forged documents used to cast doubt on the attempted yellowcake purchase.
failure factory site:freerepublic.com
The Failure Factory:
How Unelected Bureaucrats, Liberal Democrats,
and Big Government Republicans
Are Undermining America's Security
and Leading Us to War
by Bill Gertz
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