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Book Review, © Copyright 2000, Jim Loy
This is the history of "failures of U. S. Military Intelligence from George Washington to the present." And it is fascinating. Spying would seem to be a nearly unbroken series of disasters. About the only really successful (often very successful) intelligence gathering project seems to have been the allied codebreakers of WWII. The current situation (Gulf War and Bosnia) seems to be that spy organizations (CIA mainly) often do not pass along intelligence to the commanders who need it, in order to protect their sources.
The subject is fascinating. But sometimes the author points to tragedies which seem to have other causes. I got the impression that what the author said about faulty military intelligence was true, but that he often failed to prove it. Nevertheless, this book is very interesting.
To order this book, click Amazon.com (goes directly to this book).
Reviewer's comment: Several commedians have joked that "Military Intelligence" is the ultimate oxymoron (is self-contradictory). Actually the use of the word "intelligence" as a measure of brain power, is of recent origin. Intelligence was another word for information, long before that.