Some citations and observations on Clarke's book:
"I don't care what the international lawyers say, we are going to kick some ass." George W. Bush, as quoted by Richard Clarke in his book Against All Enemies (p. 24). "Why don't the missiles have cameras in them"? Bill Clinton, as quoted in same source, (p. 83). We also learn in this book the Clinton administration had serious plans for the invasion of Iran in the 1990s, and later for Sudan. To my astonishment, Clarke calls Saddam 1980 invasion of Iran as "preemptive attack on Iran" (p. 39). On p. 43, he calls Israeli-US military relations in the 1960s and 1970s "minimal, " this while US undertook the largest military airlift in history (until 1990 Gulf War) to help Israel in the 1973 war. The extent of House of Saud's support for Bin Laden and his kooks may be even bigger than previously thought. On p. 59, I learn for the first time that Prince Turki (who still to this very day has kind words for Bin Laden--see previous posts on this site) had recruited Bin Laden for a secret mission in Yemen. On p. 176, he cites a "report" to the effect that Bin Laden had "put a contract" on Clarke. I don't believe it but it fits into the self-promotional and self-importance tone of the book. Just as Oliver North in his memoirs had claimed that Abu Nidal (who later died in Baghdad--declared a suicide by Iraqi police, although Abu Nidal managed to shoot himself FIVE TIMES, and later--while dead--managed to move his body from the bedroom to the living room of his apartment) wanted to kill him, Clarke is underlining his own importance. Bin Laden has specialized in the killing of innocent civilians and I doubt that he knew who Clarke was. Clinton had this military plan against Al-Qa`idah (p. 190): "..Ninja guys in black suits, jumping out of helicopters into their camps, spraying machine guns. Even if we don't get the big guys, it will have a good effect." On p. 282, he claims that Saudi Arabia "replaced a technical, Western-styled curriculum in Saudi schools with a Wahhabist religion-focused education." Dead wrong. Saudi Arabia, since its founding, had always had the fanatical obscurantist curriculum that it has today. (My Saudi Arabia book is coming out in a few weeks--read all about it). There are no pictures or footnotes in the book. The book will be turned into a movie; reports indicate that after selling the movie rights, Clarke is insisting that he is played by Ashton Kutcher.