Saturday, April 14, 2007

i couldn't do it

i couldn't get through more than 2 chapters and a glance at the end of 'the one percent doctrine' by ron suskind. it isn't that it isn't well written- i just couldn't get through reading about the ideology of cheney and his fellow neo cons- and the way that they set people up to take the blame for them. having just lived through the last few years and having spent at least the last 3 fighting against this admin- i just couldn't get through it. maybe in a few decades after a few of them have been through the court system. (wishful thinking on my part i know). if ever there was a cause for impeachment. i mean really- how much more proof is needed to start someone's head a rollin'?

5 comments:

C-dell said...

The buck definately does not stop with Pres. Bush.

The Future Was Yesterday said...

if ever there was a cause for impeachment. i mean really- how much more proof is needed to start someone's head a rollin'?
Every Democrat, Independent, they all seem to know this - except for one "history making Woman" - and she's the one who has to put her finger on the trigger. Go figger.

Coffee Messiah said...

There's so much going against these guys, I've been offended that no one has the guts to follow through on something so obvious! ; (

bjkeefe said...

Coincidentally, I just read "1%" a couple of weeks ago. I agree; it was both well-written and tough to read. I almost put it down myself, thinking, "Well, it's a Good Thing that someone is documenting this, but I already know most of this story, and it doesn't have a happy ending."

One thing I found fascinating was the entirely sympathetic portrayal of George Tenet, the CIA director who is famously said to have called the invasion of Iraq "a slam dunk." Suskind makes a strong case that Tenet either didn't say it, or said it in a completely off-hand way at the end of a long meeting, and independent of that, did a good job overall, pre-Iraq. Suskind goes on at length about the initial successes in the counterterrorism efforts, and shows how such many tactics had an understandably short effective lifespan. The implication, of course, is that an all-out "war on terrorism" is ultimately doomed -- other methods will have to be developed to address the problem.

Another worthwhile aspect of the book is the extensive documentation of the resentment on the part of the intelligence services regarding the push by the White House to get them to change their reports as the Bushies' erections for invading Iraq swelled.

I also thought the details on how Osama bin Laden escaped were interesting -- not so much new info here, but a nice effort on Suskind's part to gather up the details.

By and large, the book makes you appreciate what it must have felt like to be responsible for ensuring national security in the first few days after 9/11. Suskind also makes you like the CIA, a bit.

And hate the Bush Administration even more.

If that's possible.

slcslc said...

we've got the 1% doctrine at our house and I haven't cracked it open yet. It sounds overwhelming.