Instinct
By Michael A. Smerconish with Kurt A. Schreyer
Reviewed by Allen Appel
Political commentator, talk show host, television personality and author, Smerconish has written a nifty little book about, primarily, immigration inspector Jose Melendez-Perez, the man who refused to admit Mohamed al-Kahtani into the US one month before 9/11. Kahtani is thought to be the 20th hijacker, and it is Smerconish's contention that because the man was not on United Airlines Flight 93 to provide more muscle to the other terrorists, it was possible for the passengers to battle their way into the cockpit and divert the plane from its probable target, the US capitol. While one could never be sure if this was true, the author makes the possibility a reasonable assumption.
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Disaster Prep 101
By Paul Percell
Reviewed by Allen Appel, HSO Contributor
Percell opens with a list of grim reminders: "Chernobyl, Bhopal, Three Mile Island, Hurricane Andrew, California earthquakes, Mississippi flooding, Texas tornadoes, western wildfires, northern blizzards, rolling blackouts, Mad Cow, West Nile, September 11th, Anthrax, DC Snipers, SARS, and asteroids." Toss in terrorists setting off a suitcase nuke in a major city, or a ship with a dirty bomb blowing up a port and you've got to ask yourself, "Am I prepared?"
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A Paradise Built in Hell
By Rebecca Solnit
Reviewed by Allen Appel, HSO Contributor
Solnit sets out to prove a seemingly impossible thesis: that within disasters can be found elements of joy and freedom, elements that come about because of the disaster. "Disasters are, most basically, terrible, tragic, grievous, and no matter what the positive side effects and possibilities they produce, they are not to be desired... Horrible in itself, disaster is sometimes a back door into paradise, the paradise at least in which we are who we hope to be, do the work we desire, and are each our sister's and brother's keeper." |
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Reviewed by Alan Appel, HSO Contributor
After Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of Homeland Security, resigned in late 2004 and the embattled Bernard Kerik was forced to turn down President George Bush's offer to replace Ridge, Michael Chertoff, then the United States Court of Appeals judge for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, was nominated. Chertoff, who had worked in government for many years, was quickly approved by the United States Senate on February 15, 2005. He left that job at the end of 2009. This book is an assessment of the department's first five years.
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