Terrorism and Homeland Security / Edition 7

This Book Sucks

This is one of the most dry books I have encountered in my criminal justice career thus far. Very boring. Hard to read. Just plain bad reading material.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

in order for a book to be good there must be a clear veiw point

Jonathan R. White shows everyone's point of view and does not tell you the right point of view in accordance to the his wishes. Jon can't write a book of quotes and sit on the fence about it. If I turned in a paper like that i would fail in life and in any scholarly pursuits .

What a dilemma......!, (1 of 2)

When local governments prove lack of temerity and live in chattering fear from terrorists in their midst, there will be no measure for panic, and experience indicate that fear breeds atrocities. <BR/>Experience also indicate that terrorists atrocities do not remain localized, they tend to spread outside the borders. <BR/><BR/>The UN should leave no stone unturned until terrorism is defined. <BR/>If the UN took, in unison, immediate actions in the past century to quash the plots for terrorist's acts, many sad events on the turn of this century would have not been speeded up so sudden and hysterical. <BR/>But the UN remained weak by the `Veto' power. <BR/>It is amazing how the `super powers' sat on heaps of weapons delicately stored in their arsenals to be on the look out against each others, tiger vis-à-vis tiger, while the bugs were brewing to bug. <BR/><BR/>Certainly the chain of events leading to 9/11 was so odd they would have been more fitting the famous James Bond - Agent 007 movies. <BR/>But the unfortunate fact is that what happened was gravely true. <BR/><BR/>The USA is to blame because by remaining so passive in the past and by sitting put and lethargic when bloody acts looked them in the eye, America delivered the `wrong' message. <BR/>It is incredible how the American public was left aloof to know if the successive Administrations had been seriously handling, or gathering intelligence, about bloody acts around the world. <BR/>It is also incredible how the USA abdicated its responsibilities to the UN waiting in profound ignorance to see how the disasters from `petty' and `localized' wars in small countries will unfold. <BR/><BR/>We can all recall Jimmy Carter's famous smile (a precursor of inaction) and his inclination towards pacifism. (Rescue attempt of American Hostages in Iran that failed). <BR/><BR/>Despite Ronald Reagan's gifted articulation, his soft actions were no match to his hard words and the same pacifist messages were again delivered. <BR/>The USA must have taken better heed of what went `wrong' in small countries on this planet (Lebanon for example), not to stoop from the slightest incident (the attack, that killed 241 marines, on their compound located at Beirut Airport on October 23, 1983, for example). Immediately after this sad event, the USA pulled their forces out of Lebanon - scuttling away from important pressing responsibilities. <BR/>As World Power, the USA should not have been deceived!!! <BR/><BR/>Georges Bush senior daring reprisals looked pale, later on, when Bill Clinton weakened them by his impulse to deal with internal matters at home mixed what they feared to believe with what they dared not to believe. Despite short periods of `hopes' during his first term, Bill Clinton occupied the media for quite sometime bringing up the image that USA house is crumbling, at its weakest point, leaving a lot to be desired. <BR/><BR/>Mr White sees the definition of terrorism very difficult to formulate, and it gets more confusing within 'Homeland Security.' <BR/>Who should decide what is a terrorist act or otherwise a resistance struggle? <BR/>Are the Palestinians terrorists? Were Yitzhak Shamir and Menachem Begin terrorists or resistance? <BR/>Are Hizbullah terrorists and who should decide so? Were members of the French resistance terrorists? <BR/>Which signposts should support `a definition' to be recognized by all nations? Should references to certain groups in history be taken as signposts, and equated with current ones? And how soon will it be settled?

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

If you want to understand terrorism, this book is a must.

I have had the pleasure of reading other books by White and I must say this book does a great job explaining some of the most critical components of terrorism. White shows the evolution of warfare to what is known today as terrorism, as well as offers insight into ways in which policy needs to adapt to meet the evolution of war tactics. Again, if you are interested in learning about terrorism, this book would be a great place to start.

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