Most Presidents have trouble in their 2nd terms -- they often are lame ducks cursed with diminishing political clout...The VietNam War destroyed Johnson and The Iraq War might destroy GW Bush...Nixon had WaterGate...Reagan had to deal with The Iran-Contra Scandal...Clinton had to deal with MonicaGate...I have a hunch the Bush/Cheney regime will have a scandal that we might call "IraqGate" -- remember the GOP prevented a Senate report from being released before the November elections...this Senate report could provide insights on how the Bush Administration exagerated intelligence to take our country into a pre-emptive war...The majority of the American electorate is not savvy enough to understand the impact of Abu Grahib before it's too late.
-s2@HistoryRepeatsItself.com
btw, the Kerry Campaign or 527s like The Media Fund should have aggressively communicated the highlights of Seymour Hersh's new book 'Chain Of Command'...This election SHOULD HAVE BEEN A REFERENDUM ON GEORGE W. BUSH and his reckless decision to pre-emptively invade Iraq...
amazon.com
Editorial Reviews /Amazon.com
Seymour Hersh has been a legendary investigative reporter since 1969 when he broke the My Lai story in Vietnam. His considerable skill and well-placed sources inside the government, intelligence community, military, and the diplomatic corps have allowed him access to a wide range of information unavailable to most reporters. Chain of Command is packed with specific details and thoughtful analysis of events since the attacks of September 11, 2001, including intelligence failures prior to 9/11; postwar planning regarding Afghanistan and Iraq; the corruption of the Saudi family; Pakistan's nuclear program, which spread nuclear technology via the black market (and admitted as such); influence peddling at the highest levels; and the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, among other topics. The book collects and elaborates on stories Hersh wrote for The New Yorker, and includes an introduction by the magazine's editor, David Remnick, on Hersh's background and his sources.
Part of Hersh's skill lies in uncovering official reports that have been buried because government or military leaders find them too revealing or embarrassing. Chain of Command is filled with such stories, particularly regarding the manner in which sensitive intelligence was gathered and disseminated within the Bush administration. Hersh details how serious decisions were made in secret by a small handful of people, often based on selective information. Part of the problem was, and remains, a lack of human intelligence in critical parts of the Middle East, but it also has much to do with the considerable infighting within the administration by those trying to make intelligence fit preconceived conclusions. A prime example of this is the story about the files that surfaced allegedly detailing how Iraq had purchased uranium from Niger in order to build nuclear weapons. Though the files were soon proven to be forgeries, the Bush administration still used them as evidence against Saddam Hussein and therefore part of the reason for invading Iraq. In these pages, Hersh offers readers a clearer understanding of what has happened since September 11, and what we might expect in the future. --Shawn Carkonen
Product Description:
Since September 11, 2001, Seymour M. Hersh has riveted readers -- and outraged the Bush Administration -- with his stories in The New Yorker, including his breakthrough pieces on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Now, in Chain of Command, he brings together this reporting, along with new revelations, to answer the critical question of the last three years: how did America get from the clear morning when hijackers crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to a divisive and dirty war in Iraq?
Hersh established himself at the forefront of investigative journalism thirty-five years ago when he broke the news of the massacre at My Lai, Vietnam, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. Ever since, he's challenged America's power elite by publishing the stories that others can't, or won't, tell. In exposés on subjects ranging from Saudi corruption to nuclear black marketeers and -- months ahead of other journalists -- the White House's false claims about weapons of mass destruction, Hersh has cemented his reputation as the indispensable reporter of our time.
In Chain of Command, Hersh takes an unflinching look behind the public story of President Bush's "war on terror" and into the lies and obsessions that led America into Iraq. He reveals the connections between early missteps in the hunt for Al Qaeda and disasters on the ground in Iraq. The book includes a new account of Hersh's pursuit of the Abu Ghraib story and of where, he believes, responsibility for the scandal ultimately lies. Hersh draws on sources at the highest levels of the American government and intelligence community, in foreign capitals, and on the battlefield for an unparalleled view of a crucial chapter in America's recent history. With an introduction by The New Yorker's editor, David Remnick, Chain of Command is a devastating portrait of an Administration blinded by ideology and of a President whose decisions have made the world a more dangerous place for America.
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Spotlight Reviews:
Investigative Journalism At Its Best - Bravo Seymour Hersh!!, September 13, 2004
Reviewer: Jana Kraus "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA)
I have been subscribing to the New Yorker Magazine for many years and for many reasons. One of them is Seymour Hersh. As an investigative journalist he tops my list in terms of all around excellence, credibility, depth of content, and writing style. I have been following his reporting on the Abu Ghraib Prison abuses with great interest and picked up "Chain of Command" this morning.
"Chain of Command" is a riveting account of the horrific journey that began with the attacks of September 11, 2001, when a united America, backed by a sympathetic international community, rallied to declare a war on terrorists, to where America stands today, with few friends and many more enemies than we had 3 years ago. As a result of the Bush administration's decision to launch a preemptive strike on Iraq, rationalized by linking the 9/11 attacks with Saddam Hussein and his alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, America has lost her credibility in the world, as well as international respect. The obsession to take-out Saddam Hussein became an administration priority, even while our troops were battling the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Saddam was contained, under constant surveillance and not developing any new weapons. The dictator did not present a clear and present danger to the US. There was no real urgency to attack Iraq on March 19, 2003. Our actions have assisted al Qaeda with their recruitment and made many new enemies for the USA. The author asks how a mere eight or nine people, neo-conservatives, were able to convince President Bush and his advisors to take this unfortunate path. The administration, however, still insists they did the right thing, and that the world is a safer place today because of their decision to go after Saddam Hussein. But is the world a safer place today? The reader must decide. It is not a difficult choice if you have been following current events and the news out of Iraq and Afghanistan over the past year.
Mr. Hersh discusses the disparity between what our government says about the war and its progress and what is actually happening. He relates a litany of administration lies and exaggerations which led to the present conflict. Poor planning and decision making initially exacerbated the problems - the lack of concrete guidelines to bring immediate security to postwar Iraq; failure to secure Iraq's borders and to successfully carry out a fast and effective reconstruction; and lack of judgment in dismissing General Shinseki's recommendation to increase the number of troops on the ground, to name a few.
The author also reveals how a basically effective policy, designed to obtain crucial information from identified al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, led to obscene prison abuses and blackmail in places like Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and the detention facility on Guantanamo. Hersh reveals how the torture, humiliation, abuse, utilization of obscene photographs for coercion, and even the death of some prisoners, were not the actions of just a few "rotten apples." In fact, details of this disgraceful situation were known to members of government at the highest levels. Had not a young soldier with a CD of photographs turned up and formally reported these incidents, which he witnessed, the public may have never found out.
Seymour Hersh's articles from the New Yorker, on the subject, are consolidated here along with new revelations and unpublished writing. He received the Pulitzer Prize for exposing the Mai Lai massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War. He also won several awards for his book "The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House." More recent articles include: the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse problem in Iraq; and a piece on how Vice President Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld circumvented the normal intelligence function of the CIA to make the case for the 2003 preemptive strike against Iraq.
The book is riveting. I bought it early and read it in a day - although most will take longer. In the late 1960s, when the atrocities of Mai Lai were exposed, I remember saying to my husband, "Thank God for excellent investigative journalists." I repeat the same words today. No matter what your political inclination, most will find "Chain of Command" one of the best political books to come out in a long time - high praise indeed in a year when political books abound.
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Investigative journalism at its best
September 14, 2004
Reviewer: Jane Cosentino
Seymour Hersh is a fabulous writer - smart, succinct and utterly devoted to his job of exposing the horrific mess that our government has gotten us into. He has exhaustively researched the topic and his book should be read by anyone, Republican or Democrat, who wants to understand how soldiers in our army could have stooped to such unthinkable acts as they did in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
CHAIN OF COMMAND can be added to the pile of books published in the past two years offering damning evidence and insight into the Bush administration's utterly failed policies in Afghanistan, Iraq and the war on "terror".
Our quagmire in Iraq deteriorates daily, while the Taliban is back on the rise in Afghanistan (Not surprising, really, when there are a third less US troops in that country then there were New York City policemen in New York during the RNC. Probably not the greatest strategy for hunting down Osama bin Ladin.).
What blows my mind is that half the country (even after presented with irrefutable evidence as is readily available in this book, in addition to many others) is still planning on installing Bush in the White House this year. |
