Customer Reviews

A nation betrayed

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

 

 

A bonified American Hero discusses what it was like in Vietnam from a Special Forces perspective and 4 tours of duty. Lt.Col. Bo Gritz exhibits selflessness and a strong sense of duty and patriotism not heard of frequently enough. How many would pass up promotion to Colonel and a cushy job to go on a mission for our government to seek out evidence of our POW's in extremely dangerous conditions. Following is information which is shocking, documentation of CIA drug dealing and effective bypassing of our congress and constitutional form of government. If interested, you may also enjoy Alfred McCoy's book "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" or the PBS documentary "Guns, Drugs and the CIA". Following this is an all too often seen tactic, when government officials are faced with charges and loads of supporting evidence, instead of answering the charges and evidence, go after the person who makes the charges, malign his character and his motivations, make false allegations, destroy evidence, and when all else fails, threaten with with jail or worse. This book, although a sad indictment on some in our government and issues involving our POW's, there is hope as long as there are true patriot's who will stand up for what is right.


Review by jakkkke, not "a customer", not sure how that happened.

James "Bo" Gritz gives an interesting look into everything from special forces life in vietnam, to the assasination of Kennedy and CIA drug runnning. Bo offers a lot of names and evidence which appear to back up his claims, even naming George Bush (then vice president) as being aware of (and not interested in stopping) the CIA's involvement with drug and gun running. He also exposes the connection between the drug trade and our POW's left behind in Vietnam; and the efforts by our own government to stop him from bringing home live POW's. Bo's patriatism is obvious in his book, despite the attacks he receives from many people due to his claims. An excellant book and a must read. If even half of the things are true that Bo claims, America is in trouble.

I bought this book back in 1989 under the title "A Nation Betrayed". If it is correct that these two books are the same, I would like to comment. I have read the book several times, and referred it to many friends. I was serving in the Army during this time period when Mr. Gritz was trying to recover MIA's and POW's. My military mission was closely related to his travels and although I cannot talk about that much, I do wish to confirm the fact that he was truly out there trying to find answers for us. This I know for certain. My stay in the military was cut short by the treatment he received during his trip and upon returning to the United States. I got disillusioned by the US' quick reversal on his mission. I could not believe that we could actually send him there, ask him to put his life on the line to get information, and then abandon him. I got out of the military after my term was up feeling like we let down a soldier. Although I have never seen or spoken to him this man, he, at the time represented hope to a lot of people. I had much respect for his determination. I have read about him more recently and although I do not agree with his current views about complete segregation, racial discrimination, homophobia and anti-government movements, I do believe that he had good intentions in the beginning and was not treated fairly by our government. The book is a good read, and for the most part believable.

In this autobiography, James "Bo" Gritz writes
of his career in Special Forces during the 1960s
and 1970s, his private searches for POW's in
southeast Asia during the 1980s, and his
subsequent charges of government coverup of
the POW issue. As a result of the latter, and
of his discovery of CIA involvement in the
southeast Asian drug trade, he broke with
the conservative Special Operations circles
and formed alliances with dissident groups
on both ends of the political spectrum. Gritz
also touches on many other alleged conspiracies here.
This book is a must for anyone researching
such 1980s scandals as Iran-Contra as well as the
POW-MIA controversy and CIA drug involvement.
However, the book is long-winded, and worse,
Gritz has made some truly unsavory political alliances
with racist far-right figures - something
sure to diminish his credibility in many circles.

Be honest Mr and Mrs America, we are in
trouble as a Civilization. But rather than
blame certain ethnic groups, here is a man
who lived through and saw the real hidden
hand, Gov't corruption and here is his
story. Lt. Col. (rt.) James Gordon Bo Gritz
IS a real warrior, Hollywood types from Sly
Stallone (Rambo trio of movies), Dave Carr-
adine [in Behind Enemy Lines, later renamed
'P.O.W.-The Escape'], Gene Hackman in 'Un-
common Valor', and of course the closest match
yet, Chuck Norris (he and Gritz are both sixth
degree black belts) in the 'Missing In Action'
films, are not better than this book, or Bo's
follow-up efforts, 'Called To Serve', 'Shadows
On The Wall' or 'My Brother's Keeper'. This
book should be on the shelf of every Ameri-
can out there. There are even some Christian,
Patriot, Revisionist groups out there that
still have Bo Gritz audio tapes, that some-
body with the wherewithall should transfer to
CDs! Highly influential and recommended. Sorry,
Texe Marrs, you are wrogn about Bo and need to
back off!

I just finished Bo Gritz's 600 plus page tome, and don't know exactly what to think about it. In a way, it is two books in one. The first is the rather fanciful account of a long and, evidently, distinguished career in the Special Forces. This aspect of the book reads something like a Soldier of Fortune article on steroids. To appreciate this analogy, one must bear in mind that SOF articles are several pages long; and Bo's renderings in this manner go on for hundreds of pages. For my tastes, this was far too much. The aspect of the book that I found worthwhile was the author's description of some of the more sinister forces behind key political events in the history of American foreign policy. I happened to be reading this book at the same time as Fletcher Prouty's "The Secret Team". And many of the key facts relative to CIA involvement in American foreign policy are consistently reported by the two Colonels. In this, I must report, though, that Prouty's writing is much superior to that of Gritz, and more sensible as well.

In the final analysis, I am left wondering as to the character of Colonel Gritz. In the corpus of this book, he shares the unspeakable brutality of his Special Forces career. He further elaborates a very interesting factor in that he conflates the founding of the Special Forces with the Nazi influence in the intelligence community that resulted from Operation Paperclip. And he ties these bewildering aspects up with a professed Christianity that is truly Mormonism. There is, on the Internet, substantial evidence that Colonel Gritz was subject to CIA mind control regimens. And, in fact, this would tend to be consistent with the rather strange writing style and other unique aspects of this overly long book.

In summary, I would say that the book is worthwhile, particularly the chapter on "Profiles in Conspiracy". But the balance of what is reported in the corpus of the text needs to be validated against more credible sources.

Did the people who gave this book 1 and 2 stars even read the book? Their arguments are idiotic and at best, inaccurate. Col. Gritz did not 'announce to the world wide media' anything about the POW mission, he was betrayed by Chuck Patterson who sold the information about the secret mission to Robert Brown of SOF magazine who comprised the mission by printing it. That aside, the anonymous 'bo-bo show' comes across as not very intelligent in his review. The other reviewer states that there is NO SUCH TITLE as 'Vietnam's most decorated Green Beret commander' lol no kidding sherlock...did he think Gritz was implying that there WAS? He also states that Gritz says that he is the subject of the chapter 'The American Soldier' in Westmoreland's book, WHICH HE IS...Gritz was used as an example and the main focus of the chapter...try reading the book. The reviewer then tries to attack Col. Gritz's character for some reason...mentions that he is entering his fourth marriage - real relevant stuff there... Col. Gritz is a great man and a true patriot who risked his life to try and get our POW's back, despite the govt attempts to stop him...to attempt to trash his name for personal or political reasons is a pathetic example of the self-serving kind of men that Col. Gritz has fought against most of his post-war life...unlike Col. Gritz, the kind that will die with few mourners and no legacy.

Although Gritz's record in Vietnam seems to be accurate the titles he has given himself seem to be in doubt. For example, he claims to be "The" American Soldier in Gen. Westmoreland's Memoirs of the Vietnam war. Although, Gritz is mentioned in the such titled chapter Westmoreland has stated that said title isn't for Bo Gritz only but is a commentary on the American Soldier in general. Also, Gritz gives himself the title of "Vietnam's most decorated Green Beret Commander" yet when checking with the officials of that time period they state that no such title exists or was ever given to Gritz alone. Clint Eastwood may have said it best - "You're a legend in your own mind." Gritz's tie in with David Duke for a brief period during the presidential campaign of 1988 and his baptism into Pastor Pete Peters Identity Christian movement leaves one to wonder about Gritz's feelings about other races or backgrounds. To be fair Gritz is the father of two AmerAsian children. He is currently writing a new book regarding the future of this nation and recently entered into his fourth marriage.

I fully agree with this reader's "Credibility lacking." Anyone gifted with in the field of military intelligence would certianly not go out and announce to the world wide news media that they were going on a secret mission to SEA (South East Asia) to rescue POWs and MIAs. When I saw this on TV, years ago, I almost cried because it destroyed what our government was trying to do to get the POWs or MIAs back. Not all governements are perfect but the USA is the best. How easy it is for some like this showman Gritz to put down our country in so many people's mind. I suggest reading Susan Katz Keating's book "PRISONERS OF HOPE" to fully understand the tricks James Bo Gritz used to dash any hopes of ever retreiving any POWs and MIAs from SEA. A man that served with this fella in RVN 1967.