News:

When one conveys certain things, particularly of such gravity, should one not then appropriately cite sources, authorities...

Main Menu

State of Denial

Started by Amor Fati, October 13, 2006, 08:16:08 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Amor Fati

I'm more than 2/3rds of the way through Woodward's third leg in the Bush trilogy, and here' the jist:  

-Bush is surrounded by yes-men, with the sole exception of Powell and Armitage, even though they fell into line publicly.  Either willfully or accidentally, Bush was in the dark, for the most part, as to the actual conditions on the ground.

-WMD intelligence had been shotty after the gulfwar in 1991 due to UN sanctions and Hussein's resulting policies.  Most of what was known came from satallite photos and communication intercepts which were never conclusive or even showed a pattern of wmd activity.  

-Post war policies and planning were both understaffed and, thus, bungled from as far a three months before the invasion.  

-Rumsfeld comes across as the weakest link in the chain; an incompetent, paranoid,  micromanager.  Micromanaging works fine if you're both a polymath and addicted to speed, neither of which describe Rumsfeld.  

-Bremer, who headed the CPA after major combat operations ended, follows the bumbling micromanaging tradition of Rumsfeld.  

-As expected, political considerations trumped pragmatic solutions to various Iraqi issues for up to a year before the 2004 presidential election.

Anyone else that has read the book have thoughts on the text?