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Operation Hotel California: The Clandestine War Inside Iraq
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| List Price: | $24.95 |
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Product Description
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #76615 in Books
- Published on: 2008-10-21
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 240 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Among Warriors in Iraq is hard-boiled and absorbing.Mike Tucker
also has Hemingway's eye for description, particularly of warriors."
BOOKLIST.
“In Hell Is Over: Voices of the Kurds after Saddam, Mike Tucker
tells a story we should know, but would not except for his bravery.”
Senator Bob Kerrey, member of 9/11 Commission.
From the Inside Flap
They endured almost a year of being denied food, weapons, and ammunition by a NATO ally, Turkey, as they carried out a covert operation with profound consequences on the War on Terror, the Iraq War, and U.S. foreign policy: Operation Hotel California.
Drawing on exclusive interviews with the man who led the CIA team, Operation Hotel California tells the story of the dangerous mission that paved the way for the invasion of Iraq. In a riveting narrative, much of it in the words of the operation’s leader—publicly identified here for the first time as Charles S. “Sam” Faddis—Mike Tucker chronicles a staggering trail of corruption and incompetence by the Bush White House, from pursuing federal tax cuts rather than Al-Qaeda in spring 2001, to pandering to Turkey at the expense of America’s fight against Saddam and Islamic terrorists.
With compelling portrayals of the courageous men on Faddis’s team and first-hand accounts of how America’s finest tracked and took down the Mukhabarat assassination squads Saddam had sent to kill them, Operation Hotel California captures fully the thrills and frustrations of hunting the nation’s most fanatical enemies. And—as the most blistering indictment to date by any American counterterrorism officer of the national security blunders vis-à-vis Iraq and Al-Qaeda—it carries lessons that will reverberate in Washington and beyond for years to come.
About the Author
Mike Tucker is a counterterrorism and guerrilla war specialist, poet, and Marine infantry
veteran—and the author of eleven books. Among his works are Hell Is Over: Voices of the Kurds After Saddam (Lyons Press), a finalist for the 2005 Ben Franklin Award in History; Among Warriors in Iraq (Lyons Press); RONIN: A Marine Scout/Sniper Platoon in Iraq, named by the Salt Lake Tribune as one of the best nonfiction books since September 11; and six volumes of poetry. Formerly a visiting lecturer at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy, and a visiting scholar on counterterrorism at James Madison University, he has led and witnessed counterterrorist raids in Spain, Burma, and Iraq; and has patrolled on deep reconnaissance with Karen guerrillas behind Burmese Army lines.
Customer Reviews
Interesting But Disapppointing
First of all I'd like to say the book was interesting. However, I was disappointed in that it is mostly written like a transcript from Mike Tucker's interviews with Mr. Faddis. There's alot of repetitiveness in what Mr. Faddis says and frankly, he comes across as a hot-headed, teenage Lee Marvin character. Makes one wonder if his personality affects his credibility and trustworthiness. I would not pay full price for this book but if you can borrow it from someone, sign it out from a library, or get real cheap, then go ahead and read it. I hope a better organized and written account comes out on this topic in the near future.
Very Disappointing
I wish I had read the reviews here before I bought this book. A few pages into the book, I began to notice the word and idea repetition. Annoyed, I continued on, hoping that things would smooth out and the real story would begin. Unfortunately, it only got worse and by the time I got through the first chapter, I could take no more. Like another reviewer noted, I'll be selling my copy to a used book store. This book should have been edited by a competent editor before it was published. It was not and now I feel taken for $17.
Disappointing
Disappointing. Don't waste your money on this one. Written mostly as verbatim interview in a bar room setting. Comes across as a know-it-all with a lot a pent-up testosterone and a bar room swagger. And he wonders why he did not instill confidence from his superiors. Blames the lack of success in Iraq on his superiors and the White House.
His experiences could make an interesting read. . . but this is not it. He spends more time and energy castigating blaming others for what went wrong than telling his own story.
