Richard A. Clarke's Against All Enemies

In Richard A. Clarke’s book, Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror, Clarke explains America’s long war on terrorism. This book contains Clarke’s self-written narrative of his experience in counterterrorism and national security. On September 11th, 2001, Richard A. Clarke, chair of the Counterterrorism Security Group, the CSG for short, guided the United States’ instantaneous response to the terrorist attacks from the infamous Situation Room located in the West Wing of the White House. It is from here, that Clarke starts his narrative.
With a thirty-year career in national security, involving ten years in the White House, Richard Clarke brings a remarkably extensive perspective on the United States’ struggles to battle terrorism both on the home front and abroad. Clarke discusses how he, like other government employees, made the oath and swore to protect the nation, “against all enemies” (). With this preface, he leads into the essence …show more content…
Afghanistan had been invaded by the Soviet Union and the Iranian Revolution, led by Ayatollah Khomeini and other Muslim clerics, had just overthrown the military dictatorship led by Reza Shah Pahlevi, taking United States embassy staff in Tehran hostage. In that same year, Iraq, under the new leadership of dictator, Saddam Hussein, invaded Iran. The hostages were released in 1982, moderately fitting to the Iran-Contra program, which exchanged weapons for the hostages. Reagan, in 1983, sent United States troops into Lebanon and then had them leave for Grenada after the bombing of Marine barracks in Beirut. Reagan, later, sent weapons onto Afghanistan. Which, within weeks of receiving, the mujahedeen and their Arab supporters started firing at Soviet aircrafts. This lead for Arabia’s Secret Service, Prince Turki al-Faisal, to request that Usama bin Laden systematize a Saudi response to the Soviet’s