I'm not endorsing the book; haven't read it.
But check out the snide Publisher's Weekly "review", how it tosses in an incredibly stupid comment near the end:
From Publishers WeeklyGot that? "Thoughtful" readers, i.e. "Liberal, right-thinking" readers, and not "Fox News-watching readers", apparently.
"Hang onto your ball caps and hairpieces, this is going to be monkey-butt ugly." Indeed. Delivering an account of the U.S.'s failures in combatting terror, Hunt, a Fox TV News military analyst and retired army colonel, depicts a world of gutless politicians, bungling bureaucrats, deceitful allies and bleeding-heart liberals. His solution is to expand the armed forces and vastly contract bureaucracy, especially the many intelligence agencies, which he proposes be combined into one central bureau with a single, long-term director who is exempt from testifying before congressional committees. Hunt hates congressional committees and admires elite military teams like the SEALs and Delta Force; he wants them turned loose. Merged into the "TKA" (Terrorist Killing Agency), they would receive intelligence from the now competent intelligence bureau, proceed to wherever terrorists operate and (with or without the host country's permission) kill them.
The author considers Israel an ideal model; its forces, he says, respond viciously to every attack. Legal niceties and public relations take a back seat. Assassination teams travel the world to murder Israel's enemies. (Thoughtful readers may wonder why, after decades of slugging it out, Israel remains wracked with terrorism.) No group escapes the author's venom—or his praise.
No, how about "Empty-headed readers without a shred of logical ability or historical knowledge and lacking a moral compass." That's more the kind who would wonder about such a thing.
What, if they responded with rainbows and puppy dogs, things would be better?
Is that it?
Well I suppose they would, as Israel would have been destroyed, the Jews scattered, and thus the "Peace of Islam" would indeed reign.
That's like complaining that D-Day was a failure, because we were suddenly fighting more Germans than ever before.
Clearly, to anyone with the observational powers of a lump of mud, Israel's pounding of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leadership has drastically reduced the abilities of those evil groups to murder the innocent.
The subtext of course, is that if only the "occupation" would end, then they'd be fine. Never mind that from 1948 to 1967, the "Palestinian Territories" were administered by Egypt and Jordan, who never set up a Palestinian State like the UN said they were supposed to, now, did they?
Instead they used those territories as launch points for a series of wars, with the combined armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan attempting again and again to crush Israel.
Look at this map! These propaganda pieces regularly omit Israel and label the whole region "Palestine."
Maybe they're still "wracked" by terrorism because they're surrounded and outnumbered 50 to 1 by Islamists who have been trying to wipe them out since forever.
I'm sure the "reviewer's" worldview is shaped entirely by what is heard on NPR and read in the NYTimes.
Thoughtful, indeed.
What would you have Israel do, Publisher's Weekly?
Other than roll over and die?
How should they respond, Publisher's Weekly, when brave "freedom fighters" sneak into homes and shoot infants in the face in their cribs, or snipers target them in their strollers?
Some point to Palestinian casualties as justification. These morons can't see the difference between a deliberate policy of murder, and the unfortunate, unintended consequences to a society that harbors and supports a terrorist movement.
Not to mention that many of the reports of harm to Palestinian children are outright lies, and several photos have been shown to be fraudulent and staged, or taken out of context, not to mention how the brave jihad warriors hide among crowds of children, hoping a stray bullet will make a PR story for them of victimhood -- and when that doesn't happen, deliberately killing their own people themselves and blaming Israel.
It is nothing but sick theatrics, aided and abetted by the international media.
"Thoughtful readers", indeed.
