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Marc A. Thiessen

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Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack Hardcover – January 18, 2010

by Marc A. Thiessen (Author)

210

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White House speechwriter Marc Thiessen was locked in a secure room and given access to the most sensitive intelligence when he was tasked to write President George W. Bush’s 2006 speech explaining the CIA’s interrogation program and why Congress should authorize it. Few know more about these CIA operations than Thiessen, and in his new book, Courting Disaster, he documents just how effective the CIA’s interrogations were in foiling attacks on America, penetrating al-Qaeda’s high command, and providing our military with actionable intelligence. Thiessen also shows how reckless President Obama has been in shutting down the CIA’s program and releasing secret documents that have aided our enemies. Courting Disaster proves:

How the CIA program thwarted specific deadly attacks against the U.S.
Why enhanced interrogation” was not torture by any reasonable legal or moral standard
How the information gained by enhanced interrogation” could not have been acquired any other way
How President Obama’s actions since taking office have left America much more vulnerable to attack

In chilling detail, Thiessen reveals how close the terrorists came to striking again, how intelligence gained from enhanced interrogation” repeatedly stymied their plots, and how President Obama’s dismantling of this CIA program is inviting disaster for America.

Print length

376 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Regnery Publishing
Publication date

January 18, 2010
Dimensions

6.25 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

9781596986039
ISBN-13

978-1596986039
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Waterboarding Al Qaeda Leaders Prevented Terrorist Attacks and Saved Thousands of Lives

Now Barack Obama Wants to Prosecute The Men and Women Who Kept Us Safe

Marc Thiessen knows more than almost anyone outside the CIA about what went on at CIA black sites” and at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As chief speechwriter for President Bush, he was given unprecedented access to some of the most sensitive intelligence our government possessed on al Qaeda terrorists. He has since spent countless hours interviewing the men and women involved in the interrogations at every levelfrom Vice President Dick Cheney to the interrogators themselves. What he reveals is a shocking, thoroughly documented account of just how close we came to suffering follow-on 9/11 attacks, how so-called enhanced interrogation techniques” (including waterboarding) were directly responsible for unearthing the actionable intelligence that foiled them, and the extraordinary measures the Bush administration took to stay well within the bounds of what was not only legally but morally right.

Courting Disaster shows how America’s dedicated intelligence professionals went head-to-head with the world’s most dangerous terrorists, and wononly to have Barack Obama expose America’s secrets to the enemy, endorse smears against our intelligence officers, and put them at risk of prosecution for defending our country. In Courting Disaster, Thiessen reveals:

Why enhanced interrogation techniques” did not qualify as torture by any objective standard
Specific terrorist plots foiled by the CIA, based on information that came from enhanced interrogation”ranging from attacks against Los Angeles and London to the breaking up of an al Qaeda cell that was developing anthrax for terrorist attacks inside the United States
New evidence that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi knew about and approved CIA waterboarding
The real stories of abuse at Guantanamonot of the detainees by the guards, but of the guards by the detainees, and how released detainees have returned to the jihad
How the Obama administration is giving captured terrorists more legal rights than are granted to legitimate prisoners of warand denying our intelligence officers tools that police officers use everyday to question common criminals
How information released by Barack Obama has aided our enemies and put America at greater risk of another terrorist attack

From the Back Cover

Praise for Courting Disaster

"Marc Thiessen knows, in ways that few others do, just how effective, heroic, and morally justified were the interrogators who kept this nation safe after 9/11. If you want to know what really happened behind the scenes at the CIA interrogation sites or at Guantanamo Bay, you simply must read this book. It reveals how we foiled potentially devastating terrorist plots, and how the current administration is putting us at terrible risk by its misplaced liberal grandstanding."
?Dick Cheney, former Vice President of the United States

"Renditions. Enhanced interrogation. Waterboarding. Detentions. Guantanamo. Warrantless eavesdropping. These are not mere words or phrases. They re the Rorschach test of political discourse in today s America?and like ink blots, they evoke visceral reactions in place of reasoned discussion. Yet behind each of these words and phrases is a reality?a reality of great dangers, hard facts, tough decisions, and important lessons. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to confront these realities with knowledge and facts rather than rhetoric and headlines."
?General Michael Hayden, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

"It was only because of the unheralded efforts of CIA and military interrogators that many more Americans did not suffer the same fate my brother did on 9/11. They kept us safe?and for that they have been vilified, slandered, and threatened with prosecution. In this terrific and important book, Marc Thiessen comes to the defense of these courageous men and women. He explains, in stunning detail, how they protected us from danger, and how the good work they did is now being undone. This book deserves to be read by every American?and by our president."
?Debra Burlingam, sister of Charles ?Chic Burlingame, pilot of American Airlines flight 77, hijacked and crashed at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001

"The military men and women assigned to the task of detaining and questioning terrorists at Guantanamo Bay have served our country with honor and professionalism. They have been maligned and slandered as having ?undermined our country s highest ideals. In Courting Disaster, Marc Thiessen sets the record straight. He approaches the tough issues with energy and reason. This is a valuable book for anyone who wants to understand the truth?the critical truth that the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay defended our nation s ideals and principles, even as the terrorists who were kept from returning to the battlefield and reaching America s shores were intent on destroying them."
?Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1596986034
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Regnery Publishing; 1st American edition (January 18, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 376 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781596986039
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1596986039
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.55 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,956,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,109 in Terrorism (Books)
- #2,135 in United States Executive Government
- #2,295 in Political Intelligence

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Marc A. Thiessen

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Marc Thiessen is a New York Times bestselling author, a weekly columnist for The Washington Post, and appears several nights each week on Fox News' The Kelly File, one of the top rated prime time cable news shows in the country.

A member of the White House senior staff under President George W. Bush, Marc served as chief speechwriter to the president and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He is the author of Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack (Regnery 2010) and the co-author with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker of Unintimidated: A Governor’s Story and a Nation’s Challenge (Penguin 2013) -- a book columnist George Will declared a "nonfiction thriller." The Daily Telegraph named him one of the "100 most influential conservatives in America," and his Washington Post column is one of the paper's best-read, reaching some 2.5 million readers each year.

At the White House, Marc was the lead writer on the 2007 and 2008 State of the Union addresses, and worked closely with President Bush on hundreds of speeches, including remarks for his 2004 presidential campaign and televised addresses from the Oval Office. Over five years at the White House, Marc helped the President craft his public arguments on issues ranging from defense and national security, to energy, health care, taxes, trade, and economic policy.

Before coming to the White House, Marc served as Chief Speechwriter for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld from 2001 to 2004. He crafted all of Rumsfeld’s major speeches during his first three years in office, and traveled 250,000 miles around the world with Rumsfeld, including his first visits Afghanistan and Iraq.

Prior to joining the Bush Administration, Marc served as spokesman and senior policy advisor to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-NC) from 1995-2001. Marc was also press secretary for the 1994 Huffington for Senate campaign in California. He worked for former Congressman Vin Weber (R-MN) at the think tank Empower America, and at Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly (Burson Marsteller), the public affairs firm headed by Republican strategist Charlie Black.  

Marc is currently a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the co-founder of Oval Office Writers LLC, which provides speechwriting and communications services to leading charities, hedge funds, embassies, businesses and consulting firms. Marc is a graduate of Vassar College, and completed additional post-graduate studies at the Naval War College. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, Pamela, who works as legislative director for Sen. Rob Portman (R, OH). They have four children.

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E. Baxter

Well researched and presented, hard to argue with

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2010

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The controversy that has overshadowed the debate on enhanced interrogations has blurred the lines between facts and hyperbole, truth and fancy. Thiessen's book goes along way to present the facts and let the record speak. He doesn't let the press decide what went on, he interviews the actual people who authorized and employed the techniques. The author here takes a multi-pronged approach to the justification of enhanced interrogation. The book opens with a dramatic fictionalization of what might have happened had the intelligence gathered from enhanced interrogations not been gathered. The information here is specific because the terrorists were specific in their planning. Thiessen proceeds to deliver a massive body blow to the idea that these interrogations were torture. The legal case for the techniques used is built solidly, showing prescedent, citing case law, recalling why al qaeda terrorists DO NOT qualify for Geneva Convention protections, and showing the disciplined restraint that the Bush administration used in determining what would be done and what would not. Many opposed to enhanced interrogations make the claim that the techniques the CIA used were straight from the nazis, imperialist japan, or the khmer rouge. Thiessen goes into the uncomfortable details of these tortures and the stark difference between the brutal treatments of history and the restrained techniques employed by the CIA become evident. In CIA custody no detainees were killed, maimed, or had any lasting physical or mental suffering.
Theissen makes the case that effective interrogation, sometimes using the tougher techniques, such as waterboarding, are not only necessary but morally mandatory. barack obama's specious opinion that we must keep the world's most dangerous people safe from even the appearance of harm while risking the lives of thousands of innocent civilians is in reality reprehensible and displays a moral cowardice to the world and our enemies. The book brings forth exhibit after exhibit of the CIA going to extraordinary lengths to ensure the safety of the detainees while getting dependable, actionable intelligence that has saved untold lives around the world. An astonishingly small number of terrorists were ever submitted to enhanced interrogation, only three were waterboarded, and only when nothing else worked. The details of the effectiveness of the intelligence streams by the reader one after another. Not only does Thiessen show that intelligence gathered from enhanced interrogation was extremely prolific, but that no other intelligence gathering source is as effective. By removing this capability, obama has hamstrung our nation's ability to defend itself by something akin to not fielding tanks in World War II.
I was also surprised by the level of detail the book goes into about the legal defense of these terrorists by firms volunteering pro bono work and filing habeas corpus cases on their behalf. The level of complicity of these lawyers is shocking. This alone would make this book a must read. I was pleased to find the book also had a postscript addressing the pending civilian trial of ksm which is very interesting.

The CIA enhanced interrogations were morally necessary, justified, and effective in saving lives and the men and women involved are heros who deserve our support rather than prosecution by a passing administration.

For those who ideologically disagree with this book, can they argue the facts? Are they willing to admit they've made a choice to risk the lives of American and allied citizens rather than make murderers uncomfortable for up to two weeks? Read this book and make an informed decision for yourself.

14 people found this helpful

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Daimion

You should read this book.

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2010

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This is a very powerful book. It left me with a profound gratitude for all the President Bush and our government did to combat terrorism and protect this country in the aftermath of September 11th. It also left me deeply saddened that we had gotten to a point in this country where this book could even be written. So much of what has been declassified and discontinued should never have been taken off the table in our fight against terrorism - but it was; and Thiessen does his best to set the record straight on what has happened and where we are headed.

Thiessen has compiled a meticulously researched defense of the interrogation policies of the Bush administration, and the subsequent changes that the Obama administration has put into place. As a speech writer for Bush, Thieseen has first hand knowledge and a unique view on many of the events he describes in the book. I understand that the subject of this book is highly political, highly emotional, and very personal to many people. I'm not going to take a large amount of space to try and lay out all of the arguments in the book. I'll simply say this for myself - I do not believe that what the U.S. has done over the past 8 years is torture. I do not believe that the U.S. has lost its moral standing in the world. I do believe that what did was necessary, appropriate, and that it saved American lives. Lastly, I do believe that some of what the Obama administration is doing today is making this country less safe.

I give this book five stars. Regardless of your political leanings, you owe it to yourself to read this book, and read it with an open mind. Look at the facts and make up your own decisions. But whatever you decide, take a moment to be thankful that we have not suffered another major terrorist attack on US soil since September 11th - and ask yourself - why not?

President Bush himself summed it up best during a 2007 speech:

In this new war, the enemy conspires in secret - and often the only source of information on what the terrorists are planning is the terrorists themselves. So we established a program at the Central Intelligence Agency to question key terrorist leaders and the operatives captured in the war on terror. This program has produced critical intelligence that has helped us stop a number of attacks - including a plot to strike the U.S. Marine camp in Djibouti, a planned attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi, a plot to hijack a passenger plane and fly it into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, California, [and] a plot to fly passenger planes into Heathrow Airport and buildings into downtown London. Despite the record of success, and despite the fact that our professionals use lawful techniques, the CIA program has come under renewed criticism in recent weeks. Those who oppose this vital tool in the war on terror need to answer a simple question: Which of the attacks I have just described would they prefer we had not stopped?

75 people found this helpful

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Dr.Charles Dusenbury

"You Must Do This For The Other Brothers"

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2010

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The terrorist finally breaks and begins telling the agents all they want to know. Having held out from the integration techniques as long as he could, the terrorist now feels he has fulfilled the commitment to jihad and is released from his bond of resistance. With that he tells his interrogators that they must do this for the other prisoners so that they too can experience this "release". With that, he spews forth dates, names and addresses leading to the capture of many others and the disruption of numerous lethal plans.

The reader may find as I did that there are several times where Mr. Thiessen continues to cite example after example of basically the same point. Perhaps he did that by way of thorough documentation. The reader may find the thread of the story is enhanced by gliding over these redundancies.

I may not have chosen exactly the words Mr. Thiessen uses on the cover. I certainly don't feel the current administration is "inviting" the next attack. Indeed, I get the distinct impression there has been a very steep learning curve in the White House. The professionals in the CIA and other intelligence and defense organizations come across very professionally in this book. Having met several members of that community myself and having read "Courting Disaster", this reviewer gets the distinct feeling that the dedicated men and women sworn to defend and protect this nation will continue to find ways to do just that.

8 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Robert Nixon

This is an excellent expose on what is going on behind the4 scenes ...

Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is an excellent expose on what is going on behind the4 scenes and the danger that it has put the western world in. It predicts how Obama's obsession with political correctness is going to cost us both our freedom and our security.

Black Sheep

Well-written, interesting, persuasive

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2010

Verified Purchase

Courting Disaster is a very well-written book which raises interesting points and makes a persuasive defense of George Bush's terror policies.

The author points out that the "torture" used by the CIA, although unpleasant and intimidating, did not produce long-term damage, and in fact in most cases used mind-tricks to fool the subject into thinking it was much worse than it actually was. In particular, "waterboarding" has extensively been used by the US military to train their own people in interrogation resistance. The only problem with it was that it was too effective - most people were not able to resist it, and therefore it had limited value as a training method. The author also points out, that unlike pulling out fingernails with pliers, or pouring hot wax in noses, some people actually volunteer to be subjected to waterboarding a second time, to see if they can improve their resistance!

The author's discussion of the Geneva Convention and whether it applies to terrorist combatants is also very informative. This Convention was signed decades ago, and most people don't know that it was intended to provide special protection to combatants who followed certain rules of warfare. Terrorist combatants don't generally follow these rules, and should therefore not be protected on the same level as conventional combatants.

Finally, the author points out that Obama's policy of killing terrorist leaders (and often also their families in the process) is not only less ethically defensible than capturing them and getting information about planned actions, but it also significantly weakens intelligence gathering efforts and may well be "courting disaster".

Altogether, a very interesting read and helpful antidote to the hysteria that can accompany discussions of modern foreign policy.

5 people found this helpful

Peter Hillar

Information

Reviewed in Canada on May 1, 2019

Verified Purchase

Good value

Autolycus

A novel it ain't - but interesting stuff.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2015

Verified Purchase

As advertised and excellent bedtime reading...

DakotaDoug

Courting Disaster

Reviewed in Canada on April 6, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is April 6th and I still have not received the book, so..... for the record I can't logically rate the book, I'll wait for it's arrival...?
D Veale

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