Rain - 2001 Books

This book of Rumsfeld interviews, quotes from Rummy's Rules, and releases from the DoD website is full of terrific quotes from the secretary on WMD, al-Qaeda, "elegant intelligence," the perils of catastrophic success, known knowns, unknown knowns, and unknown unknowns--in other words, Rumsfeld caught in the act of gross mistatement and misleading cynicism. The reader will learn as much here about the whys of the war, prison abuses, etc. here as in any of the big books this year.

Of the entire Bush team, Donald Rumsfeld may be the most vexing. A veteran pol, clearly intelligent, far more experienced than anyone else in the administration, he nonetheless makes more preposterous -- and often terrifying -- statements than Cheney, Ashcroft, Wolfowitz, or even Bush himself. Using Rummy's own statements, all set in context, this little primer let's you decide for yourself whether the Secretary of Defense is clever, power crazy, self-destructive, "sexy" (as some have claimed), a savior of the Free World, or just plain nuts. It's one of the best briefings on current politics that I have read.

A quick read catering to those who admire Ahmed Shah Massoud as the "Che" of the Middle East and the dire situations he has faced in his homeland. Although the quantity of the content in regards to direct relations and general philosophy of Massoud is somewhat lacking, Rowan more than makes up for it in his very concise account of the various allied and enemy factions that make up this richly historic but completely fractured country. Quite frankly, there isn't much available of note on Massoud's life in print (there is a French documentary in DVD "Massoud L'Afgan", which I have not seen)so Rowan's personal account is noteworthy. He also gives some very interesting details in regards to the U.S.'s duplicity in the whole affair. Worth reading!

The author does an admirable job describing Afghanistan's tortured past, present and future as a pawn of cynical imperialists, most notably the USA. He correctly oppoints out how the Americans supported the Taliban when it was convenient to do so, especially if it meant fattening corporate campaign chests. He also correctly implies that this relationship may still be ongoing, despite the manipulated war on terror which is being used to mask hegemonic capitalism's grand designs for Afghanistan. But the focus of his book is Ahmed Shah Massoud, the legendary Lion of Panjshir, who desperately sought to warn the west of the Taliban's dangers. His murder two days before the diversionary "suicide" attacks on 9-11-2001 prompt speculations about the timing and the source of the hit orders.
All in all, a delightful introduction to a leader whose death may lie squarely in America's hands. Wait until the Bush impeachment trial to find out.

This book was the narcisitic excercise of an American-hating hack. This book contains hardly any real information about Massoud. His name is merely used to sell conspiracy drivel and pat himself on the back. I've seen more supporting evidence in tabloid publications. It is a shame that Amazon does not have the sense of fairness to publish negative reviews of the book. This is my second attempt. Maybe if they cared more about honest opinions rather than sales, their customers would be happier with the products that they "believed" they were purchasing. I seriously doubt this review gets published, either.

I bought this book to read about Massoud. As hinted by the title, it seemed like a wise choice. What I found instead were the musings of Rowan, a narrow-minded Canadian-national humanitarian aid-worker, usually making outlandish, anti-American claims. It would be one thing if he was articulate in his thoughts (I contrast this work with Rory Stewart's work about his trek across Afghanistan), but examining the early chapters of this book makes it clear that we are not dealing with a thoughtful, educated individual. Being swindled by locals while exchanging currency, walking up to random people in central asia because they "look like Afghans", and getting turned away at borders gives us some insight into this feeble mind. In fact, Rowan at one point speculates that the Uzbek taxi driver practice of splitting fares with colleagues for long trips is an effort to save gas. It's this type of conjecture that rears its ugly head all too often in this narrative.

Rowan's attack on the United States became obvious to me when he began painting unflattering depictions of US aid-workers, in contrast to his own Canadian colleagues. Individuals are individuals, entitled to their subjective views, but leave it to Rowan to use a chance conversation on an airplane to generalize about an entire country. What bothers me are the factual inaccuracies in the narrative--Rowan should have done his homework to understand that without assistance from America, Massoud could not have risen to the prominence that he achieved.

About 70 percent of Rowan's narrative was set during the 1990s and prior to that, which begs the question why wasn't this book published earlier? Coupled with his choice of title, I have no doubt that Rowan wanted to play on Massoud's death to try and make a few bucks. Sadly, this is hardly the definitive, well-researched account of Afghanistan's national hero we are looking for. Unsourced assertions about the CIA and US leadership quickly stripped any credibility the book had at the start.

In the end, Rowan should stick to the subject he knows best -- humanitarian aid work -- and leave geopolitical, military, and intelligence commentary to others. It's clearly not his lane.