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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael97123 who wrote (147991)	10/15/2004 10:06:46 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

Chain of Command : The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib _______________________ This is a MUST READ book by Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh amazon.com Seymour Hersh Writes The Key Book of Campaign 2004 Reviewer: William Hare (Fort Lauderdale, Florida United States) October 14, 2004 <<..."Chain of Command: The Road from 9-11 to Abu Ghraib" by Seymour Hersh is the book I would recommend during the election cycle to anyone before entering the voting booth on November 2. The disclosures of Hersh regarding current U.S. foreign policy serves as a harbinger of what to anticipate in the future if major changes are not made. Hersh's staggering disclosures, in which he repeatedly has scooped reporters with far greater economic resources operating as a part of corporate media conglomerates, speaks volumes of the type of reporter this sober-minded, vigilant Chicago product is, along with the seismic impact he has made on the eternally wild and wooly, highly competitive Washington political scene. Hersh's remarkable wealth of sources and presentation of important information form the backbone of a book that informs Americans of the tragedies of Bush policies showcased as successes designed to make the citizenry safer, but have actually rendered the nation vulnerable to attack. Hersh tears the veneer off of Orwellian doublespeak and blatant propaganda of a government seeking the trust of its citizens on the pretext that their policies are the best insurance against a repetition of 9-11. Not only does Hersh shatter that veneer; he demonstrates how the nation's most revered personal freedoms thought to be insured under the Bill of Rights have been stripped away under the guise of promoting security. It was Hersh, functioning as a columnist for The New Yorker, whose tenacity uncovered the tragic scandals at Abu Ghraib Prison near Baghdad. He also blew the lid off of official Washington with his further disclosure that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was aware of the grievous misconduct being perpetrated at Abu Ghraib under the guise of interrogating prisoners. Rumsfeld sat on this critical information without taking action. He was ultimately forced to concede that Hersh was correct when the cold facts dictated such a response. The Bush Administration then sought to once more invoke its pattern of seeking to spin its way out of difficulty. It was asserted that these excesses related to overly zealous service personnel taking matters into their own hands, and operating outside the chain of command. Hersh immediately debunked this self-serving posture, asserting that youngsters from small rural American towns lacked the psychological understanding to realize the forms of torturous conduct designed to humiliate and totally overwhelm a believer of the Muslim faith. Hersh pointed out at the time in various television interviews, and has written in this book, that such green and untried rural American youngsters would never have known that the ultimate humiliation of a Muslim male is to be rendered naked and have his private parts violated, as was done at Abu Ghraib. Hersh punctures the Bush Administration's claim that Americans are safer with the current regime in power. Hersh's sources took him into the portals of competing political power. Not only does Hersh reveal that prudent action would have spared America from the tragedy of 9-11; he cites the internecine warfare existing within competing departments along with the costly politicization of the Central Intelligence Agency, which resulted in Director George Tenet pursuing a "don't rock the boat" mentality to placate leading political figures. The weakening of the CIA at a time when it needed to be its most vigilant was also accompanied by the power grab of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. During the rush to war the most shocking information concerning Saddam Hussein allegedly possessing imminent capability to attack America through weapons of mass destruction, reports ultimately proven false, came from the Pentagon, often as a result of undue pressure on lower level CIA researchers. This information was at frequent cross-purposes with State Department reports. Tragically Rumsfeld possessed the formidable clout and State Department warnings were disregarded amid angry protests. It was Rumsfeld who disregarded advice of seasoned generals and decided to plan the Iraq War strategy on his own. A man of no battlefield experience who had served as a Navy test pilot relied heavily on the advice of supreme neoconservative Undersecretary Paul Wolfowitz as a "shock and awe" strategy was employed that proved considerably less successful than Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz had confidently assured. The role of corporate Iraqi con artist Ahmad Chalibi is also discussed. Experienced State Department hands recognized Chalibi as a fraud, but his impassioned stories concerning weapons of mass destruction allegedly possessed by Saddam Hussein proved music to the ears of neoconservatives Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle. The final three sentences from Hersh in "Chain of Command" provide all the warning Americans should need regarding the potential risk for America internally and globally with George W. Bush in office: "There are many who believe George Bush is a liar, a President who knowingly and deliberately twists facts for political gain. But lying would indicate an understanding of what is desired, what is possible, and how best to get there. A more plausible explanation is that words have no meaning for this President beyond the immediate moment, and so he believes that his mere utterance of the phrases makes them real. It is a terrifying possibility."...>>

To: michael97123 who wrote (147991)	10/15/2004 10:07:42 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

This country can NOT trust Mr. Bush with our finances.... "This administration has pursued a big-government spending policy and a small-government taxing policy. The result can only be deficits as far as the eye can see." sfgate.com

To: michael97123 who wrote (147991)	10/15/2004 10:08:30 AM
From: GST	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Reality Mike, not election politics. Bush's opportunism in cutting taxes while the economy was going over a cliff AND going to war is as inept as you can get -- and it plays to a base of mindless people who do not think farther into the future than their next income tax return. Look at the red ink -- it is turning into a raging river and there is no end in sight. We face higher inflation, higher taxes, lower public services, including defense, and a lower standard of living for all Americans as a result of the debt being racked up today. Hocus pocus -- poof -- have another free lunch and let my kids know much it is going to cost them to repay the Chinese day laborer who financed your magical free lunch