Customer Reviews

The Praetorian Guard: The U.S. Role in the New World Order

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book explains the intricate, intense, and often unjustified involvement of the CIA in many parts of the world, through thousands of covert operations, which, according to the book and other sources, have ended the lifes of millions of people. It describes secret and obscure operations, some of which entailed the killing of people by the thousands at Angola, and others such as the one which overthrew the first democratic government in Guatemala, and the creation of the infamous "death squads" in that country and El Salvador, to murder civilians and seed terror among the people. All orchestrated by our CIA, apparently in the name of national interests. I will not say much about this, because I urge you to read the book, but many of these operations were bloody, bloody, bloody, and they were emphatically denied at official briefings to the Congress, which, needless to say, is a felony.

Stockwell goes deep, and he surely has bases to do it. He is the highest rank CIA official ever to go public. And even though this book has been censored, you still can get pretty much information from it. You will realize that most of the time, the CIA hasn't really had fair motives to carry out the operations. The real interests behind all of it are completely different from the picture that we get from the news and the official reports from our government. Reading this one will make you end up with a sad feeling after having been shown the bitterness of reality. It will make you wonder about which has been our true government, and you will want to ask if all our "liberties" and "freedoms" have been paid at the cost of millions of innocent children, women, and men from all over the world.

I knew John right about the time he wrote this book and also met his family. The reviewer who suggested that he might be part of a CIA program in writing this book is way, way off. This man has put himself (and his family) in a very scary position and he deserves a lot of credit for coming out with the truths he knows. I knew him and did some work for him for about a year and I also knew someone else that had known him for decades. John Stockwell deserves many kudos for his courage and integrity in coming out with what he knows. You can believe the book. I hope he will come out with more.

The Praetorian guard is so good it almost defies description. John Stockwell has finally answered the question of why elements in the U.S. Government would "want" to carry out some of the covert operations which seem to make no sense other than a desire for power or perhaps simple Sadism. Why for example would the government want to destabilize a small country, throw it into civil unrest, and have a corrupt dictator take over? What possible reason could there be for that? The answer is more down to earth, and for that reason more obscene than I had imagined. This book answered so many questions, and made certain actions by agencies in the government which seemed almost insane to me, finally make terrible sense.

While Mr. Stockwell does not write in the manner of a Noam Chomskey, citing historical precedents, etc., but his book is still a must read for anyone concerned about the damage that is about to be perpatrated upon us as a people. Mr. Stockwell's writing is closer to a thesis style and that's why I gave it 4 stars. This, however, does not minimize the importance of the information provided. This book should be read by all those concerned with our civil liberties, the ecology, and humanitarian issues. He even touches upon two items that failed during the Bush presidency, but appears to become a reality during the Chaney presidency: the raping of our social security, and the destruction of freedom as we know it today. Back in 1990, Mr. Stockwell inadvertantly warned about what bi-partison economists are saying today. That is, the social security fund WILL NOT be bankrupt as the American people are being told. It's just seen as an extra windfall for the elite. Once this is dismantled, we will be returned to the days working 12-to-16 hours per day, 6-to-7 days per week, no healthcare, and script to buy from the company store. Knowledge is power, do yourself a favor, get knowledgeable.

Published about a week before the groundwar began in Bosrah and Baghdad. John's father was a Lutheran Missionworker in Africa. I met him when I was sitting in on classes at URI. While I was on the Hopi part of the Navajo Reservation I called John and told him about students at Hopi High being heavily recruited right out of their junior year to join the CIA instead of college. They can join right away and be trained while they work. I thought for central America, like Panama or so. He thought Cuba or Peru. This book's written in a style I really admire.

I work with Mr. Stockwell, and he is one of the hardest working most upfront men I have ever met. He is truly an inspiration to all of us.

Great Read, it goes really fast. Really important to know the MO of our government in the past, it will really give you insight into how we operate and why things are happenning at the moment.
Must Read.

The Praetorian Guard purports to tell the secrets of what the US government is really doing in the world and why. The author is ex-CIA and uses his inside knowledge to tell stories of what goes on in the world-behind-the-scenes. And they are interesting stories, certainly. He especially dwells on what are in his views the evils of the Reagan and Bush (1st Bush) administrations. He does mention activities before the Reagan era, but his disgust and dislike of the politics of both Reagan and Bush make his writing into more of a rant against those two than against world destabilization. One gets the feeling that he would still be in favor of all the secret dealings in the world if only they favored his own political objectives. That may be completely wrong and Mr. Stockwell may indeed be against these activities in general, but if so he spent a little too much of his anger directly on Reagan and Bush. Not that they are blameless.
When I picked up this book, I expected something much more "scholarly" than what I got. Perhaps that is my fault. I expected more time to be spent on the Why's of all this covert activity. I expected more revelation as to the motivations and direction or these top policy makers. Instead I got stories. Certainly, some of the subject matter is supposed to be secret and undocumentable, but there was plenty of mention of activities which were and are documentable. Mr. Stockwell's credibility in the book would have been much improved if he had included documentation for those things where it was available.
The author makes the claim that the CIA has had many books published to favor their own agendas. I am left wondering if this book itself was written and published under the same program. The stories contained therein are certainly plausible, and I believe much of it. But as the author well knows, a little truth makes for the best lies. The reader is left wondering how much to believe, and I am sure will believe only what their previous political inclinations let them believe.
I am a bit baffled by the 5 stars reviews previously posted. Perhaps my hopes were too high when I began reading this book. It is interesting and worth a good read. It is written well enough to be read in a couple of days. It is not a five star book, however.