Tag: terrorism

Latest read: Legacy of Ashes – The History of the CIA

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date July 7, 2011
1 Comment on Latest read: Legacy of Ashes – The History of the CIA

Tim Weiner wrote an extraordinary book Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. He traced the origin back to World War II and movements by former Office of Strategic Services Officers to run the new agency in a post war world.
Legacy of Ashes - The History of the CIA Weiner’s research (over 50,000 documents and interviews with agents and over a dozen CIA Directors) is priceless. Legacy of Ashes won the 2007 National Book Award for non-fiction.

I cannot help but look back at sections of his book regarding the CIA’s role in Vietnam from 1954-1975. Weiner book helps indicate where the CIA is today as an organization, regarding their war on terror….also known as the ‘transnational anti-terrorism activities’ including implications of human rights abuses.

Weiner’s rich history of CIA’s vast amount of intelligence gathering required by Presidnets Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon is no surprise, however I was surprised by Weiner’s documentation regarding Kennedy’s distain for the agency and its Director former Air Force General Charles Cabell.

Tags american foreign policy, cia, cia directors, faulty intelligence, history, legacy of ashes the history of the cia, national book award, office of strategic services, pentagon, pentagon papers, priceless legacy, research, richard helms, secret invasion, terrorism, tim weiner, Vietnam War, war on terror

Education Globalization Reading

Latest read: The Cell

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date April 23, 2010

I finished reading The Cell: Inside The 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It and was a bit disappointed. Not due to the writing, but rather I also read Triple Cross: How bin Laden’s Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI–and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him just a couple of months ago and felt it was much more in depth.

Triple Cross critiques issues addressed as errors in the reporting by the authors John Miller and Michael Stone. Miller is a noted former investigative journalist with ABC News.
There was much attention drawn to The Cell for two reasons: The ABC movie The Path to 9/11 which was America’s first network movie behind the attack on 9/11 was based upon the book. Second, it was Miller’s famous 1998 interview with Osama bin Laden.

At that interview Miller learned bin Laden was well on his way to leading al-Qaeda‘s war on America. The only problem was it was too early for most law enforcement agencies to act upon.

The interview was interesting enough to see how Al was protecting bin Laden and Miller’s recollection of how 15 years old boys were shooting AK-47s next to his ears (as a way to intimidate him) repeatedly as bin Laden arrived for his interview.

Miller shared how he even initially met with bin Laden’s right hand man Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri. It was quite an interview for Miller and helped establish him as a strong source on terrorism for ABC even before the 9/11 attack.

Tags 9/11, abc news, ayman al zawahiri, bin laden, cia, fbi, intelligence, investigative journalist, john miller, law enforcement agencies, mohamed atta, muslim extremists, Reading, terrorism, triple cross

Education Reading

Latest read: One Day in September

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date January 5, 2010

After watching Steven Spielberg‘s Munich I wanted to learn more about the tragic events of the ’72 German Olympic Games. Simon Reeve’s book One Day in September: The Full Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli Revenge Operation “Wrath of God” is a sad and detailed overview of the events surrounding the massacre of 11 Israeli Olympic coaches and athletes.

The book includes a new epilogue by Reeve that mixes the ’72 Games with America’s 9/11 regarding the confrontation with terrorists. Speilberg focused his film upon a controversial book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team. A web search and reading a few blogs regarding the event pointed to Reeve’s work as a well written overview of that tragic summer.

Reeve includes a chapter of a tragic and sad event left out of Speilberg’s movie, The Lillehammer Affair when Israel’s Mossad agents killed an innocent man who they mistook for a Black September leader. To this day Mossad has never apologized for the killing even though they reached a settlement with the family after more than 20 years.

Reeve’s focus surrounds Black September, Andre Spitzer and his wife Ankie who had just given birth to their daughter Anouk before the games. Reeve brings Ankie’s life before, during and after into the book. He writes about the impact of family members whose children, husbands and fathers were killed at Fürstenfeldbruck when German authorities attempted a poorly planned rescue of the athletes.

Reeve also reveals the battle between German police and the terrorists at the airport lasted over two hours while the movie suggests the confrontation lasted only minutes. Learning the gunfire during the rescue lasted that long only made their deaths all the more tragic and horrifying.

Tags 1972 munich olympics, black september, controversial book, german authorities, german police, gun battle, intelligence, mossad agents, munich olympics massacre, olympic coaches, olympic games, one day in september, operation wrath of god, Reading, sad event, simon reeve, terrorism, wrath of god

Education Reading

Latest read: Triple Cross

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date December 23, 2009

My understanding of the events leading up to 9/11 have been shaped by great authors and believe Triple Cross: How bin Laden’s Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI–and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him by Peter Lance makes significant contributions to understanding the full breakdown of the US intelligence community. Many elements of his research and interviews will should shock Americans.

Lance reveals Al Qaeda had a mole in the NYFD who was able to steal blue prints of the World Trade Center before the 1993 bombing and that US authorities had been tracking Al Qaeda for more than 10 years.

The book’s primary focus is the role of Al Qaeda master spy Ali Mohamed and his work as a mole within US Army intelligence, the CIA and the FBI. Lance brings a number of key points that were overlooked or more appropriately ignored by the 9/11 Commission.

Patrick Fitzgerald, National Security Coordinator for the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York met multiple times with Ali Mohamed years before 9/11. During this timeframe Ali Mohamed declared his loyalty to Osama bin Ladin and told Fitzgerald that he did not need a fatwà to attack America. And yet Fitzgerald did nothing.

Ali Mohamed was identified by the US State Department as Osama bin Ladin‘s first security trainer and helped smuggle Al Qaeda’s co-leader Ayman al-Sawahiri into mosques located in California and North Carolina for recruiting and fund raising. Lance reveals that even Bin Ladin recruited at mosques in Chicago in the late 1980s.

Education Globalization Reading

Latest read: Where Men Win Glory – The Odyssey of Pat Tillman

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date November 20, 2009

I have a cousin on his third tour of Afghanistan and an old friend from school serving in Iraq’s Green Zone. This book is an honest look at a military tragedy and hits home for all who have loved ones serving our country overseas.
Jon Krakauer has written a sobering, powerful book Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. This is about the life of a gifted patriot. I finished this book on Veterans Day.

Krakauer’s focus is on the friendly fire killing and dishonor by the Cheney Bush Administration and Military towards Pat’s virtue, wife, mother and family. As Krakauer points out the military conducted SEVEN investigations into his killing.

The opening chapter quickly introduces Tillman’s death then moves to his early childhood and life playing high school football. From there Krakauer traces his steps at Arizona State University where Pat was the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and and Academic All-American. He was drafted by the Phoenix Cardinals and turned down a $9 million dollar offer from the St. Louis Rams to stay in Phoenix.

Tillman proved time after time that he was able to overcome challenges placed before him and his measurement was not physical, but rather his heart and soul. That is how Tillman was raised. This even fell to brother Kevin Tillman. Kevin and Pat both left professional sports careers (Kevin was playing pro baseball in the minor leagues) to join the Rangers shortly after the 9/11 attacks.