BuzzFlash Reviews

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

From the conclusion of the book:

"The first five years after 9/11 have taught that a unilateral, exceptionalist approach to fighting terror by jettisoning fundamental commitments to the rule of law in the name of the preventive paradigm is both morally wrong and, as a pragmatic security matter, counterproductive."

From the Publisher, The New Press:

"If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long.
—PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, DEFENDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY DOCTRINE “PREEMPTIVE WAR,” COMMENCEMENT SPEECH AT WEST POINT, JUNE 1, 2002

"In Steven Spielberg’s science fiction thriller Minority Report, the Justice Department uses psychic visionaries to predict and prevent future crimes. President Bush has no psychic visionaries, but in fighting the war on terrorism his administration has nonetheless adopted a sweeping new “preemptive” strategy, which turns on the ability to predict the future.

At home and abroad, the administration has cut corners on fundamental commitments of the rule of law in the name of preventing future attacks—from “waterboarding” detainees, to disappearing suspects into secret CIA prisons, to attacking Iraq against the wishes of the UN Security Council and most of the world when it posed no imminent threat of attacking us.

In this brilliantly conceived critique, two of the country’s preeminent constitutional scholars argue that the great irony is that these sacrifices in the rule of law, adopted in the name of prevention, have in fact made us more susceptible to future terrorist attacks. They conclusively debunk the administration’s claim that it is winning the war on terror and offer an alternative strategy in which the rule of law is an asset, not an obstacle, in the struggle to keep us both safe and free."

From BuzzFlash.com:

This is a book that cogently argues what BuzzFlash has been editorializing since before the "shock and awe" of the Iraq War began: the Cheney/Bush doctrine is a power play that makes us less secure as a nation. It also "gives into" the terrorists, because if they hate us for our freedoms, Bush is helping them achieve their goals by taking our freedoms away.

But the fundamental point that "Less Safe, Less Free" makes is that Bush is failing our national security and making us more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Republicans and Democrats alike who enable his macho delusions are putting America at increased risk.

This is a must-read book that cuts to the chase in dissecting the truth about how it is the Bush Administration which is endangering our nation through its utter neglect of what really needs to be done to countact terror.


BUZZFLASH REVIEWS