Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA Paperback – Illustrated, 6 May 2008

This is a fascinating account of the historical crimes and blunders of the CIA, and these are just the events we know of! It clearly demonstrates that what lies behind our so-called benevolent democracies is purely violence, lies and coercion. It is totalitarianism, colonialism and empire building pure and simple, but done in secret in the name of National Security. You can do what you like, as long as nobody can prove it was you, including murder!There are a number of disturbing examples of CIA coups, including one in Indonesia, where a CIA pilot was captured after bombing a church and a marketplace, the same pilot later remarked that all the people he attacked were communists, even though they may not have been aware of it.The book highlights the problem of security service unaccountability. What strikes me as particularly hilarious, is the constant reiteration by Western Governments of the need for transparency, openness and fairness, whilst at the very same time cutting back on all departments that are bound by these principles, in contrast the unaccountable "Secret" areas of the state grow ever larger and more encompassing.The more I read about these so-called "intelligence services" the clearer it becomes, that ideas like democracy and the rule of law become completely superfluous if they are not exercised in an egalitarian way.Whenever the schemes of the secret services are exposed in the corporate media, they just find new ways of hiding and rearranging their activities, then carry on like its business as usual. It's a matter of National Security you see!Definitely worth a read.

In popular tv-series and countless movies, we get brainwashed with the idea that the CIA is an almighty organ of espionage, that could detect anyone, anywhere with the click of a button. This book unveils the actual weakness of the organisation and their numerous failures to predict what was going to happen, since their existence. Well written and easy to read.

This is a review for a book that really has a specialist interest audience. You must really want to read this book. The information contained within will have you questioning everything you thought you knew about recent history concerning clandestine operations and government intervention in foreign countries. The information provided will have you researching what it reveals. You will be continually asking yourself if that could really happen. I guarantee you will be stunned if you were previously unaware of the actual level of intervention of the USA on other countries affairs and more importantly their drastic failures. If you have a genuine interest in Cloak And Dagger factual events this is a required read. This book is an event. Stick with it and you will get into the mind-set of the writer. I have been used to reading detailed reports all my adult life so I found the book very enjoyable and in a format that was familiar to me. It is not a book I will be lending out. The book costs very little for the information it contains. A very good buy, in my opinion of course.

Weiner's main charge against the CIA isn't that it is a sinister all powerful organisation that controls the world for good or ill, but that it has repeatedly failed in it's basic tasks. The legend of the ll powerful CIA doesn't match the reality.In order to this he has assembled an impressive set of subjects willing to speak on the record about the CIA's activities. His case is devastating as he charts the CIA's activities over the course of over half a century, from the coups in Iran and Guatamala, to the intelligence assesments on iraq's weapons programmes the incompetence is a recurring feature.The major problem appears to be that successive administrations have been unsure of what they want the organisation to do and thus give it tasks to which it is ill suited or even worse allow it to operate with minimal supervision. Of all 17 CIA directors only two emerge with any real credit from this account.The accounts of the Agency's early years in the Cold War is particularly well researched, with the retelling of the succession of failed field operations behind enemy lines that resulted in a stream of US agents being killed for no discernable intelligence beneft.

This book is good for people interested in American foreign policy and how it is shaped through intelligence gathering. When I came to the most recent part however surrounding the second Gulf War it places the blame on the CIA for misleading the White House over WMD and in effect causing George Bush Jnr to invade Iraq. All other accounts I have read of this period however place the blame on the White House for warmongering and using 911 as an excuse to overthrow Saddam, with the intelligence services being placed under pressure to come up with a case for war. I am inclined to believe the second version which then casts doubt over the accuracy of the rest of the book. It is still a worthwhile read however.