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Summary: Evidence Does Not Lie
Review: This book honestly examines why we are where we are today as far as terrorism is concerned. History is 20/20 hindsight and the author, Richard Miniter, pieces together information from all sides, including interviews from individuals from both parties - democrat and republican - as well as loads of documents from international sources. This book about a President focused on domestic issues while the rest of the world focused on "going global." This book examines the fact that we could have stopped bin Laden if we had listened to Sudan, but we didn't. Even after our embassies in Africa blew up, the Sudanese continued to try, but our intelligence organizations failed time and time again. And it was those agencies who briefed Clinton. The title may focus on Clinton alone, because "the buck stops (t)here" but the book explores the hows and whys this system failure happened. "Losing bin Laden" is well worth reading no matter who you are if we want to make sure these things never happen again. This book is something of a tribute to those who lost their lives on 9-11. We should not forget them or why they died.
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Summary: If Arnie Were a Democrat......
Review: ...do you think the Repugs would let him get away with, "That was the '70s. I was never planning to run for governor." Please. Look at the damage they did to the country over a sexual act between consenting adults, over "I did not inhale..." The hypocrisy boggles the mind. And now this scurrilous book. Make no mistake, the people on this site giving this book high ratings are storm troopers for the neander-cons now running the country. God save the United States of America!
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Summary: Selective Outrage
Review: This book purports to be a history of how the United States government allowed Osama Bin Laden to sneak up on us with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. If indeed that is what it was, the book would be a useful addition to the history of our era. Unfortunately, it is nothing more than another dreary addition to the already lengthy list of books (and in speaking of publications of this nature one uses the term loosely) about President Clinton's perfidies and how they supposedly endangered the nation. This book supposedly chronicles the many lost opportunities the US had to capture Bin Laden during the Clinton Administration. Some of these are already well known and documented. President Clinton himself has expressed his frustration over several near misses. However, most of the rest of what this book categorizes as failures are nothing more than the kind of hyperbolic innuendos and sometimes outright lies that one has come to expect from the anti-Clinton book industry. The fabricated and exagerrated claims made by this book are less interesting than what it leaves out. Nowhere is there a mention of the repeated attempts by the Clinton Administration to gain increased funding for anti-terrorism which were blocked by the Republican Congress. Most tellingly, there is not a word about the involvement of the Reagan and first Bush Administrations in Osama Bin Laden's rise to power and subsequent anti-American activities. One should not be surprised by these omissions. This book is not meant to be a history. It is a political tract designed to obscure the failures of the present Administration by blaming its predecessor. W.'s blind partisans will appreciate the effort. The rest of us will roll our eyes and move on.
Rating: 
Summary: Well researched and factual
Review: It's good to see that the facts are coming out about Bill Clinton. Unlike some of the others, I could care less about Clinton's infedility and lack of moral values, although it does tell you a thing or two about the mans values. Losing Bin Laden will make you angry. Not only did Clinton's failure create Global Terror, it also created a national recession. New York was not alone in financial devastation as a result of 911. If you have a closed mind and feel that Bill Clinton was faultless, don't waste your time. On the other hand, if you enjoy a well researched and factual book, you will enjoy this book. Just watch your temper!
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Summary: I actually read it....
Review: Unlike some of the online reviewers here, I've actually read the book. Miniter is entirely credible. The book is very interesting and very well written.
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Summary: Amazing Book. Learn From It.
Review: Want to know what this book is like? Remember that scene from the movie, Saving Private Ryan, where that smart kid who speaks a lot of languages and knows poetry is on the stairs with a rifle, crying and paralyzed while a few steps from him his buddy is about to be stabbed by the Nazi? All the "smart" kid's got to do is go up a few steps and shoot the Nazi in the back? It's an easy, no-risk shot but the kid is a sniveling coward and just can't do it. I was fit to be tied after seeing that in the movie and I felt the same way after reading this book. That kid grew up, became President of the United States and the Nazi came back as bin Laden. The buddy who gets killed is all the Americans who were murdered by bin Laden while Clinton was on the stairs a few steps away sniveling. I'm thankful that the author wrote this amazing book. If you care about this country, read this book and make sure to learn from it.
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Summary: The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Review: Let's be upfront about all of this from the beginning. Any book that is released by Regnery Press ( the Fox News of the publishing world ) is suspect from the very outset. And obviously " Losing Bin Laden " is certainly no exception. Regnery specializes in releasing books that are always, and I do mean 'always', Conservative filled diatribes that are often vicious, mean-spirited and little more then extremely sad excuses to blame the worlds problems on former President Clinton and Liberals in general. All generally tacky and without much journalistic merit but there seems to be an audience so.... Anyway, with titles such as Mona Charens " Useful Idiots ", " Dereliction of Duty " by James Patterson " and that truly insightful work of fiction " Ain't No Rag " by country musician turned author/social critic ( God save us! ) Charlie Daniels and you'll no doubt notice this is a far-right lovers dream library. Can't wait for Laura Ingrahams latest release from Regnery. As far as Richard Miniter's " Losing Bin Laden " is concerned one would think that the Clinton's not only conceived but are solely responsible for creating Osama Bin Laden. Not unlike Frankensteins monster Mr. Miniter would have the reader believing that Pres. Clinton was in a nearby labratory actually creating this monster and unleashing him upon an unsuspecting world. Ommiting former Pres. Reagans dubious hand in funding Bin Laden in the eighties. And of course ex-Pres. Bush's using this monster as well during his tenure as Commander-In-Chief. Oopps!, no doubt just a harmless indiscretion by our author. Nevertheless, how terribly convienenant for this author to play the 'blame game' and point his not so subtle finger at our former President all the while saying " see, I told you so. " I've seen this countless time in other Conservative books ( Rush, Hannity, Savage. The list goes on and on....and on! ) and actually done much more effectively. The book, sadly, is written rather clumsily and with comes across as almost child-like in his attempts to sound convincing. Yes, Mr. Miniter makes some accurate points in his release ( in his own ham-fisted fashion that is ) but, sadly, he seems so intent on 'getting' Pres. Clinton that he tends to take away a certain amount of validity from his argument simply due to no small amount of general dislike he obviously feels for the Clintons. Are any of us surprised? Lastly, I did catch Mr. Miniters appearance on C-Span the other morning and he did mention in his next release that he will focus on Pres. Bush's response to Bin Laden and how this administration has handled the search for Bin Laden and other terrorists. Something tells me this Republican Pres. will get much more of a objective and understanding outlook then Bill Clinton could ever hope for.
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Summary: Steve Forbes On Losing bin Laden
Review: Appeared in September 15, 2003 issue of Forbes Magazine The U.S. Let the Monster Grow Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror--by Richard Miniter (Regnery, $27.95)--chronicles in grim, eye-popping detail how the Clinton Administration mortally bungled our pre-9/11 efforts against global terrorism. The author tapped an extraordinary array of sources to piece this sorry tale together. This book delivers a devastating blow to the former President's reputation. When Clinton took office, Osama bin Laden was a two-bit player in global terrorism. By the time George W. Bush took office, bin Laden was a master of that hideous universe, with cells in 55 countries and a record of numerous successful attacks against U.S. targets. Read this book and you won't wonder why bin Laden thought the U.S. was a paper tiger that, despite its strength, lacked the will to effectively fight Islamic fanaticism. Losing bin Laden gives us head-shaking accounts of paralyzing bureaucratic infighting between the State Department, the Pentagon, the CIA, the National Security Council, the FBI, et al. This infighting hampered our antiterrorist efforts, despite irrefutable evidence of terrorism's growing menace to U.S. security. Missed opportunities to destroy bin Laden and his accomplices abounded. One particularly ghastly instance, which preceded the 1998 bombings of two of our embassies in Africa, involved Sudan, where bin Laden had his headquarters for a few years. The Sudanese government badly wanted our economic sanctions removed and went out of its way on numerous occasions not only to try to share its detailed intelligence on bin Laden and his operations with us but also to just about deliver the devil himself to us on a platter. Sudan's efforts were repeatedly rebuffed. President Clinton never forcefully cracked bureaucratic heads to achieve an effective coordinated antiterrorist undertaking. He and his Ad-ministration were never fully engaged; antiterrorist efforts were haphazard, half-hearted. Why? It wasn't as if the Administration was oblivious to the threat. Miniter speculates that there were a variety of factors, prime among them Bill Clinton's deep ambivalence about the use of American power, a holdover from his anti-Vietnam War days.
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Summary: First Class Analysis of an Important Topic
Review: After reading this very well written book, you will realize why all U.S. Presidents must have some form of military or defense training. This is true whether we are at peace or at war. The President of the United States is the commander and chief of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Our federal government's MAIN job is to protect us and our property from harm. It is clear that many of the mistakes Bill Clinton made, were due to his lack of training in and early disrespect for the U.S. Armed Forces. How can we expect a 60's hippie protester turned lawyer, to recognize the signs of impending danger, and make correct strategic decisions? Bill missed many clues along the way because he simply did not have the required experience with defense related issues, and therefore was unsuitable for the office of President. This is in addition his aledged lack of moral fiber. This book documents in clear form the many errors in judgement which the Clintons made, and how they affected the events which hurt our country, and caused thousands of Americans to die needlessly. The book is written in a easy to read style and is interesting all the way thru. Get the truth right here on Amazon.com with Mr Miniters new book.
Rating:
Summary: Very Informative and Fair
Review: Richard Miniter's "Losing Bin Laden" reveals Bill Clinton's years of passivity in the face of a growing terrorist threat in Osama bin Laden and al Queda. It would be unfair to claim that Clinton did nothing against terrorism. Miniter tells us that under Clinton's watch, many terrorists were apprehended and terrorist cells destroyed. Yet Clinton's major error came in the form of years and years of hesitation, unsure whether evidence against bin Laden and his network of terrorists was ever enough, and if it was, should the military be engaged? Once it was clear that al Queda was more than a band of criminals, a conclusion that was reached well into Clinton's second term, several plans against bin Laden and company failed due to struggles among the CIA, FBI and other agencies. Under Clinton's reign embassies were bombed, the USS Cole nearly sunk, and dozens of Americans would die. Ultimately the failures among several American agencies and Clinton's constant vacillations permitted bin Laden's plans for a second wave of horrible attacks culminating on September 11, 2001.
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