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Sales soar for bookby former terrorism adviser

Sales are soaring for "Against All Enemies," the book by former terrorism adviser Richard Clarke.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Sales keep soaring for “Against All Enemies,” the book by former counterterrorism adviser Richard A. Clarke that claims the Bush administration did not do enough to protect the country from attacks.

Just three days after publication, the book has gone into its fifth printing, with 500,000 copies in print, according to the Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. “Against All Enemies” ranked No. 1 on Amazon.com as of Thursday afternoon, and both superstores and independent retailers have reported nonstop demand.

“It’s the publishing phenomenon of the year,” Gabriel Voiles, a manager at Coliseum Books in New York, said Thursday. “We cannot keep it in stock for more than two hours at a time.”

Clarke, a counterterrorism adviser to the past three presidents, was a featured witness this week before the bipartisan commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He retired early in 2003 after 30 years in government service.

Under questioning, Clarke said the Clinton administration had “no higher priority” than combatting terrorists while the Bush administration made it “an important issue but not an urgent issue” in the months before Sept. 11.

Republicans have suggested his criticism was intended to spur book sales or boost the candidacy of Bush’s likely rival, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Clarke said he wouldn’t accept a position in a Kerry administration — and noted he was under oath.