Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America's Security [Hardcover]

Joel Mowbray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

This book aims to tap into the growing disgust that conservatives and others have for the State Department by exposing the mixed allegiances, hidden agendas, and outright un-Americanism that exists there.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Joel Mowbray is a tenacious reporter who knows how to penetrate Foggy Bottom doublespeak. In this book, he skillfully dissects -- Michael Isikoff

What Joel Mowbray uncovers about the State Department is truly shocking. He has performed a unique and invaluable service in -- Sean Hannity

From the Inside Flap

WHOSE SIDE ARE THEY ON?

Diplomacy is one thing. But giving aid and comfort to the enemy is quite another. Yet that is exactly what our very own State Department is doing--coddling brutal dictators, covering up gaping holes in our nation's safety net, and appeasing regimes that actively sponsor terrorists around the world. In this global war on terrorism, the US State Department has proven itself to be one of our biggest obstacles to victory.

In Dangerous Diplomacy, investigative reporter Joel Mowbray exposes teh hidden agendas, mixed allegiances, and outright anti-Americanism that has infected the US State Department. Relying on exhaustive interviews with State Department personnel and extensive research into State's publications, procedures, and recent history, Mowbray reveals an astounding pattern of shortsighted and misguided policies, compounded by an ingrained resistance to self-criticism and corruption.

In Dangerous Diplomacy you'll learn:
*How State's obsession with global "stability" has led it to support bloodthirsty dictators (including many who would rejoice at the demise of the United States)
*State's herculean efforts to cover up the lax visa policies that allowed the September 11 hijackers to enter the US legally--while keeping those policies in place as long as possible
*States arms-for-tyrants program--and how it very nearly succeeded in providing Saddam Hussein's Iraq with nuclear capabilities
*The State/Saudi alliance: Why State bends over backwards to keep the Saudis happy despite the kingdom's clear support for global terrorism
*How American parents whose children have been kidnapped by foreign nationals have been ignored, deserted, and betrayed by the embassies and officials who are supposed to protect Americans
*State's strange and long-standing fondness for brutal, radical Islamic regimes
*How State's entrenched culture makes refore of the organization virtually impossible
*How State concealed information about North Korea's nuclear program
*The Iranian democracy movement: Why it soldiers on with no help from the State Department
*The sorry record of how State not only has declined to discipline incompetent and corrupt immigration officials who let terrorists and other criminals into the US, but rewarded them
*How State has actually fought against families victimized by evil regimes who are trying to recover damages

Mowbray documents a State Department in dire need of reform--revealing here for the first time just how far State has strayed from its intended role as the primary agent of US interests abroad.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895261103
• ISBN-13: 978-0895261106
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,500,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Amazing, October 1, 2003

By 

"allens27" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America's Security (Hardcover)

I thought I'd hate this book, I'm not a conservative (would actually classify myself as more of a liberal) and I generally don't like political books, but I couldn't put it down. It's not sensationalistic or tabloidy, just good, hard-nosed reporting. From how the State Department supported the Taliban to how it gave $10,000 bonuses for "outstanding performance" to the executives in charge of giving visas to the 9/11 terrorists, Dangerous Diplomacy makes me afraid of my own government. And in case you don't believe Mowbray, there is a documents section at the end filled with classified memos that prove, in black-and-white, that the State Department has its own agenda.

44 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I had no idea, September 27, 2003

By 

Jonathan Garthwaite (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America's Security (Hardcover)

Mowbray tells the tale of a government department woefully out-of-control. One amazing chapter details Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State, Charles Shultz testing the loyalties of Foreign Service operatives. All to often they would be more interested in helping their host country than serving the interests of the United States.

Mowbray was briefly detained by the State Department last year. That detainment certainly spurred the reporter to dig deeper into the problems at State. I bet they wish they could go back and undo that mistake.

If you've been following the war on terrorism, you owe it to yourself to read this book and find out if the entire government is united in that goal or not. I definitely recommend this book.

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Need To Know In the Global War on Terror, September 24, 2003

By 

reader (Wollaston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America's Security (Hardcover)

A hard-hitting eye-opener that documents our State Department's Arabist elite's us versus them orientation (no, no, it's not the pro-America us against the terrorists and their supporters you might expect in a time of war!). Given the large number of State Department heroes who lost their lives in service to America, the Arabist's attitude is baffling. Hard to come away from the book with a good feeling about State's current crop of a virtually unaccountable putative elite.