Clinton's Secret Wars: The Evolution of a Commander in Chief

by Richard T. Sale

A popular yet polarizing force long after leaving office, Bill Clinton is still criticized by right-wingers as a president who was weak in his foreign policy. Veteran reporter Richard Sale takes us beneath partisan rhetoric and documents the learning curve of our nation’s 42nd President, showing his evolution as a strong leader on the world stage. Using confidential sources in the administration itself, Sale reports on Clinton’s covert ops in such arenas as the Balkans and Middle East, revealing a leader who spearheaded the fight against Slobodan Milosevic, bombed Saddam Hussein, targeted Osama bin Laden, and prevented al-Qaeda from establishing a stronghold in the incendiary Balkans region. Ultimately, and revealingly, Clinton emerges at the end of his term in office as a tough-as-nails commander in chief in the same vein as Ronald Reagan. This “fly on the wall” look at a generation-defining leader provides an invaluable window into the presidency of Bill Clinton in the world arena.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

512 pages, Hardcover

Published October 13, 2009

About the author

Richard T. Sale (1939-) American Investigative Intelligence Correspondent located in
Hillsborough, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Kenneth Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book deals with the foreign policy of president Clinton as viewed through the major events he had to face while in office. With the end of the Cold War foreign policy had to be revamped. Issues were no longer black and white, good vs evil. Often situations arose where neither side of the issue was clearly good ie Haiti, Somalia, etc.

Clinton was mainly interested in domestic issues such as balancing the budget, expanding trade and promoting globalism for economic reasons. The American public was not that interested in foreign policy or involvement in world affairs The military was wary if getting involved in any foreign conflicts. Despite all these factors Clinton still had to deal with world events.

His first term was seen as a failure because of his seeming lack of policy and his lack of success in handling situations such as Somalia During his second term he got better people to advise him and he became more confident in dealing with world events.

The book covers the situation in Bosnia and Kosovo in depth as well as the rise of bin Ladin The author uses these events to show the maturation of Clinton as an effective leader in world affairs. I felt the book was interesting and worth the read.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I debated giving this book only one star, however, it is clear after reading Clinton's Secret Wars: The Evolution of a Commander in Chief that Mr. Sale is committed to the subject matter and I believe that should count for something. Overall, I was disappointed with this book. First of all, there were grammatical and punctuation errors sprinkled throughout this book. There is no excuse for the number of errors I found in this book. Secondly, there was a dearth of sources for this book. This lack of sourcing makes me wonder how much of the book is accurate. Thirdly, I thought Mr. Sale spent too much time discussing the international players and events and not enough time on his primary subject: President Clinton. Perhaps my expectations were too high. When I discovered a book had been published that objectively looked at President Clinton’s foreign policy I was eager to read it. I am sad to say this book did not live up to my expectations. If someone genuinely wants to read Mr. Sale’s book I encourage them to wait until the book is on the remainder’s table.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Effective, if ponderous, account of the Clintonian foreign policy, especially re the Balkans. Never clarified what interests were pursued in region, other than rising to the expectation of providing humanitarian relief (there was no discussion of possible US interests in mollifying Islamic concerns in mid-East by supporting Islamic interests in Balkans)Author did do good job of illustrating how clumsy, blind, confused diplomacy can be--kind of like watching sausage being made.

[Dave Beeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fair assessment of President Clinton's understanding and change in foreign policy undertakings. Not quite the dove most believe him to be.

[Doug Mcquirter · Rating 2 out of 5]

took bloody forever to finish. The book's prose is all over the place.