Surrealpolitik - must read by Sidney Blumenthal in Salon

[whometense]

I ordered Ron Suskind's new book last night (Overstock.com had the best deal). Anyone else planning to read it?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/06/22/iraq_debate/

On Jan. 10, 2003, Stephen Hadley, then deputy national advisor, called Jami Miscik, deputy director of the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence, from the office of Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, demanding that Miscik appear in Libby's office that afternoon. According to Suskind, Miscik told Tenet, "If I have to go back to hear their crap and rewrite this goddamn report ... I'm resigning, right now." So the report was not rewritten. As a result, U.S. intelligence sources could not be cited and the disinformation had to be attributed elsewhere. Thus Bush, in his 2003 State of the Union address, delivered his infamous 16 words: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Bush's falsehoods were an accomplishment of Cheney's "deniable" presidency. Inside the CIA, Cheney was nicknamed "Edgar," after ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.

And this.

On Oct. 29, 2004, Osama bin Laden released his "October surprise," an 18-minute tape attacking Bush. The CIA analyzed the tape and concluded that "bin Laden's message was clearly designed to assist the President's reelection." That day, at a meeting at the CIA, acting director John McLaughlin remarked, "Bin Laden certainly did a nice favor today for the president." Miscik presented analysis that bin Laden felt challenged by the rise of the thuggish Zarqawi, who called himself commander of al-Qaida in Iraq, and that bin Laden was refocusing attention through his tape on his cosmic and continuing one-on-one battle with Bush. "Certainly," she said, "he would want Bush to keep doing what he's doing for a few more years."

[ginnyinWI]

1. looks like a good one

So many books, so little time! I'm reading "How would a Patriot Act" right now. It's hair-raising.

For some of these I just have to content myself with reading the extensive reviews I find in TAP or elsewhere.

:yoiks:

[whometense]

2. I know what you mean.

For most of them, that's what I do. But the anecdotes from this one have been hair-raising.

Did you hear this one?
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/20/911pdb/index.html

Ron Suskind, George W. Bush and the Aug. 6, 2001, PDB

Ron Suskind's "The One Percent Doctrine" is out this week, and the Washington Post's Barton Gellman says it's full of "jaw-dropping stories" about the Bush administration's war on terror.

Or lack thereof.

We've known for years now that George W. Bush received a presidential daily briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, in which he was warned: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." We've known for almost as long that Bush went fishing afterward.

What we didn't know is what happened in between the briefing and the fishing, and now Suskind is here to tell us. Bush listened to the briefing, Suskind says, then told the CIA briefer: "All right. You've covered your ass, now."

-- Tim Grieve

[ginnyinWI]

3. it's like there is this great divide

One segment of the population is watching and listening and buying these books and trying to get the word out about what is truly going on. People like us, who are not afraid to look at the truth.

Then there is another segment who daily put on their blinders and stick their fingers in their ears because of fear, ignorance, brainwashing, indifference or cynicism. It's sad.

[whometense]

4. It is sad.

To tell the truth, I was surprised that I felt kind of sad when I read these stories from the book. They confirm my worst imagingings, which I was hoping were just my own fantasies. It does not make me happy to know for certain what a lying, fatuous, surly, self-centered bully Bush is.

[karynnj]

6. Same here - before Nov 2, 2004 I welcomed these articles

because they could have helped. Since, it's just painful - as they show that the way he acted could have been predicted from the very beginning. The media which, for whatever reasons, told us what a delightful person he was to be around - ignored that everything written before 1990 (appox) on him was extremely negative. He was a mean drunk, obnoxious person. He BRANDED kids at Yale. (Imagine what the press would have done if a Democrat in the primaries would have branded people.)

Your description here was what he was considered when he was the son of the President.

[ProSense]

7. Thinking about it too long

can bring me to tears!

[wisteria]

5. They have their radio, TV and news to bolster their ignorance. n/t