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More copies of this ISBNThis title in other editionseBook editionsOperation Hotel California: The Clandestine War Inside Iraqby Mike Tucker
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:The Iraq War most of us know began on March 20, 2003, with the U.S.-led invasion. In fact, it began more than eight months earlier—on July 10, 2002—when eight Americans crossed the Harburr River from Turkey into Kurdistan. Carrying side arms and assault rifles, the CIA counterterrorist team soon linked up with Kurdish peshmerga to commence their mission: strike and kill Al-Qaeda, and take down Saddam Hussein’s Baathist dictatorship. 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. Review:"To recreate the early 20th century killing spree which took place primarily in Connecticut's 'Archer Home for Elderly People and Chronic Invalids' (the inspiration for Joseph Kesselring's play Arsenic and Old Lace), Phelps amasses an abundance of research to complement his already-extant authority on female murderers (the author of Perfect Poison: A Female Serial Killer's Deadly Medicine, Phelps has also consulted on serial killer TV drama Dexter). A seemingly charming setting, the Archer Home was run by Amy Archer-Gilligan, a homely 'Christian woman' who provided the last hope of a comfortable home for many of her elderly residents. As a nasty heat wave overtook the East Coast, however, the number of deaths occurring in the Archer Home spiked precipitously. After 24 deaths over four years, a vigilant reporter noted that Archer-Gilligan has been purchasing large quantities of arsenic; she was using it to kill the very residents she'd sent to purchase it for her. Phelps' diligent research creates a vivid portrait of the country a century ago, but his telling is oddly dispassionate; readers may not fully understand the brutality of Archer-Gilligan's crimes until the list of the dead at end of the book, laid out over three full pages." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Book News Annotation:A Central Intelligence Agency covert operative describes his missions
inside Iraq from July 2002 through the US invasion in March 2003.
Among the things he describes are the discovery of Al Qaeda
operatives working with the Iraq-based Ansar al-Islam on chemical
weapons, at least according to his Kurdish informants; finding no
connections between these operatives and the Baathist regime of
Saddam Hussein; and conducting various sabotage missions, including
the destruction of an Iraqi Army supply train. He is fairly scathing
about the Bush administration's failures in conducting the war, but
generally in terms of their failure to act on the information and
recommendations being provided by himself and his colleagues. His
account is occasionally interrupted by another author's contextual
asides. It has not been officially confirmed by the Central
Intelligence Agency, but it has been reviewed (and presumably
censored) by the Agency in the name of protecting national security
secrets.
Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Synopsis:"Operation Hotel California" tells the inside story of the dangerous mission that paved the way for the Iraq invasion, and delivers the most blistering indictment to date by any American counterterrorism officer of the Bush administration's blunders. Synopsis:The untold story of the CIA's secret mission inside Iraq to prepare for the invasion of Iraq--from the secret team leader who led the 2003 mission. Synopsis:On July 10, 2002, more than eight months before the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime, eight American CIA operatives slipped into northern Iraq. They endured almost a year of being denied vital supplies by a NATO ally, Turkey, as they pursued a covert operation with profound consequences for both the War on Terror and the Iraq War: Operation Hotel California. Operation Hotel California tells the inside story of the dangerous mission that paved the way for the Iraq invasion—and delivers the most blistering indictment to date by any American counterterrorism officer of the Bush administration’s blunders vis-à-vis Iraq and al Qaeda. Drawing on exclusive interviews with Charles Faddis, the operation’s leader, and other team members, Operation Hotel California is a riveting work that will shake Washington to the core. About the AuthorMike Tucker is a counterterrorism expert and Marine infantry veteran—and the author of ten books, including Hell Is Over: Voices of the Kurds After Saddam and Among Warriors in Iraq (both Lyons Press), and five volumes of poetry. He has led and witnessed counterterrorist raids in Spain, Burma, and Iraq. He lives in the Far East. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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