Deadwood, OR (PRWEB) January 20, 2009
In a series of exit interviews President George W. Bush has stated repeatedly no one was "connecting the dots" on Osama bin Laden, and we were not aware of the threat of al-Qaeda. A publisher in Deadwood, Oregon challenges this sentiment in NATIONAL SECURITY MOM: WHY "GOING SOFT" WILL MAKE AMERICA STRONG written by 20-year counter-terrorism expert for the CIA, Gina Bennett.
"Bennett is among the very few who can accurately claim to have 'connected the dots' prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks. And she did so nine years before…," writes Dr. Bruce Hoffman in his Jan. 6, 2009 National Interest review of NATIONAL SECURITY MOM. He continues, "A recently declassified assessment that Bennett wrote in 1993, titled 'The Wandering Mujahidin: Armed and Dangerous' clearly shows that at least someone in the vast windowless corridors that comprise this community in fact understood the threat and the manner in which it would unfold."
The National Interest Jan/Feb 2009 issue, emblazon with a 70s-inspired "Obama's Angels" icon featuring Clinton, Napolitano, and Rice denoting Hoffman's cover article, "The Age of Woman," reviews NATIONAL SECURITY MOM alongside Peggy Noonan's PATRIOTIC GRACE. Hoffman, a professor at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, comments, "…many voters concluded in the recent presidential election that we had lost that moral compass and were adrift politically, economically, and in terms of our foreign policy and national security. PATRIOTIC GRACE and NATIONAL SECURITY MOM both offer prescriptions not just for improvement, but for redemption. Despite deceptively simple messages, these books offer useful guides for all of us to help build a safer, more secure and, most importantly, morally strong and superbly confident America."
NATIONAL SECURITY MOM empowers Americans to engage with confidence in the public national security debate and reinforces that true and lasting security is a nationwide effort that begins at home, precisely the spirit of volunteerism and compassion that President-elect Obama is seeking to reinvigorate. Bennett states, "Our security rests with the endurance of our values and principles of democracy and our commitment to them. Our strength is not a projection of power or the absence of a challenge. It is the character our nation demonstrates when challenged that makes America strong and secure."
CNN's National Security Analyst Peter Bergen states, "Gina Bennett has been one of the most perceptive and influential forces in understanding transnational terrorism and prioritizing the challenges policy makers need to address. NATIONAL SECURITY MOM is perhaps her most important work to date as it opens the door for all Americans to participate in securing our nation in a more meaningful way."
After having been chosen a "Superwoman" for an Alicia Keys concert on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Bennett was featured on the CIA.gov website--offering a very different image of the CIA than commonly seen in the media, that of an average working mom who calls a day a success when "nothing bad is going to happen in small part because of the work I've done." The CIA article amusingly states, "During her 20 years of government service, Bennett has had her share of chaotic days. Once, while volunteering at her children's elementary school, she was called in to brief President George W. Bush, 'There I was in jeans with photocopier ink all over me entirely absorbed in helping a kindergarten class. A few hours later I was briefing the President,' Bennett said. 'When I got home I had to deal with my child's disappointment with my leaving her class so abruptly. To this day, I'm not sure which was the tougher crowd.'"
NATIONAL SECURITY MOM redefines national security from the inside, and inspires it from the bottom up, offering a refreshing mainstream approach to ending the war on terrorism while rebuilding our moral reputation globally by each of us having a small affect locally.
Bin Laden's new January 2009 audio tape predicts an inheritance of "…two wars and the collapse of the economy" which he says will render the United States unable to sustain a long fight against the Mujahidin. Bennett, who since her early prescient warnings has been hunting for this man and the terrorist regimes he represents, has to agree, "If we want total security, we could abandon health care and social security reform, the improvement of our public education, and our ability to rebuild after a natural disaster in favor of spending all of our national resources on security and the 'war on terror.'" Will Obama heed Bennett's words unlike Bush? And will moms, inspired by Bennett's book, make sure the next generation inherits a deep sense of values, a commitment to the principles of democracy, and the strength to not be afraid? This Oregon publisher hopes so.
NATIONAL SECURITY MOM (Wyatt-MacKenzie, NOV. 2008) is available nationwide from booksellers in hardcover, and in an early-release paperback on JAN. 20, 2009. Visit http://www.NationalSecurityMom.com for the video, declassified documents, and activities for the kids. Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, Inc. in Deadwood, Oregon celebrates eleven years as the leading independent publisher of mom writers. Visit http://www.wymacpublishing.com for more information.
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