This sounds like a helluva book - Pretext For War

[Jane Austin]

A This is from a book review by Steve Weinberg in the San Jose Mercury Times on Sun, Jun. 13, 2004

It's titled What went wrong?

As the claims and counterclaims about Sept. 11 and its aftermath continue to resound, close your eyes for a moment and dream about a book that would pull together the strands, making sense of the cataclysmic occurrence, doing so with on-the-record sources in clear, compelling prose.

Imagine that book of your dreams would open with a section called ``Destruction'': 90 pages showing how civilian and military leaders reacted poorly to the strikes against the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Next would appear a section called ``Detection'' (though it might be more accurate to call it ``Lack of Detection''), 160 pages explaining in lay terms, without oversimplification, the signals missed by the so-called ``intelligence agencies'' of the U.S. government. Finally, the book would close with 150 pages demonstrating how President George W. Bush used the Sept. 11 attacks to mislead the world's populace about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction before invading Iraq.

The book of your dreams is now available.

<snip>

James Bamford, one of the most talented but unsung investigative reporters of the past 25 years, has accomplished the difficult. ``A Pretext for War'' not only contains significant new information, but it also combines that information with previously known material to make better sense of Sept. 11, its lead-up and aftermath than any other book I have read.

[mike_c]

1. Bamford's books on the NSA are meticulously researched...

...and highly respected. If this latest book follows his usual standards it will be devasting for the chimp-in-chief and his neo-con cronies.

[Jane Austin]

2. YeeHaww!!

n/t

[Jane Austin]

3. I forgot the URL - - as usual

So sorry.

Here it it:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/books/8912987.htm

[RamboLiberal]

4. I have the book and it is a good read - from what I posted earlier in DU

I just picked this one up. Looks like there's some great inside intelligence info on the failures leading up to 9-11 and on how * and the neocons lied to get their war in Iraq. Also a lot of inside info on secret bunkers, post-apocalyptic plans for government, secret government, etc. Author James Bamford's books "The Puzzle Palace" exposed the NSA and "Body of Secrets" explored its inner workings.

Bamford questions * going on with his photo op at the Florida school. Says * left the nation leaderless. He has an interesting theory that *'s claim of seeing the first plane hit the WTC that he actually saw the 2nd plane as he was conferring with Rice over the phone before going in to the classroom.

After Card whispered in Card's ear Bamford writes.

For a CIC who had just decided to launch his country into a war, a rare and enormous event, George Bush seemed strangely uninterested in further information. He did not demand to speak to the SecDef. Nor did he ask for George Tenet...to determine what kind of intelligence there was on what had taken place. There were no questions to Andy Card or Condi Rice about whether there had been any additional threats, where the attacks were coming from, how to best protect the country from further devastation, or the current status of NORAD or the FAA or the FEMA. Nor did he ask that AF1 prepare to return him to Washington at once.

Instead, he simply turned back to the photo op....

By then, at one of the most critical moments in American history, the country had essentially become leaderless.

Bamford goes on later to basically label * less than courageous for flying around the country instead of ordering Cheney to go to a secret bunker and * returning to the DC.

Here's review of the book.

In The Puzzle Palace, James Bamford revealed the inner workings of the NSA, the largest, most secretive, and best-financed intelligence organization in the world. In Body of Secrets, he took readers inside the ultrasecret agency, charting its deeds and misdeeds from its founding in 1952 to the end of the twentieth century. Now Bamford applies his relentless investigative drive and unparalleled access to intelligence sources to produce another history-making volume. A bold, incisive response to the Bush administration’s version of recent events, A PRETEXT FOR WAR explains why American intelligence agencies failed to predict and prevent the disaster of 9/11 and lays bare the Bush administration's role in formulating specious justifications for the pre-emptive war on Iraq.

Bamford homes in on the systematic weaknesses that led the intelligence community to ignore or misinterpret evidence of the impending terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Using impeccable sources in the intelligence communities, he shows that the Bush administration was, from its inception, more interested in pursuing a dubious agenda in Iraq than hunting terrorists like Osama bin Laden. From the mishandling of 9/11 to the still-unproven claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, to recent allegations about the threat Iran poses to the world, Bamford argues that the Bush administration has co-opted the intelligence community for its own political ends.

A PRETEXT FOR WAR is the full, unvarnished story of a national scandal packed with detailed proof of incompetence, deception, and misinformation on the part of the government officials charged with safeguarding our security. An unprecedented, utterly convincing exposé of the most secretive administration in history, it is bound to make headlines throughout the world.

JAMES BAMFORD is the author of the bestsellers Body of Secrets and The Puzzle Palace and has written extensively on national security issues, including investigative cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. Formerly an investigative producer for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, he lives in Washington, D.C.



http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385506724/qid=108692524...

[Jane Austin]

5. That business about not reacting to Card's whisper

has always bothered me.

I mean, if somebody whispered to me that there'd been a wreck in the street in front of our store, I'd at least have looked at them and said "What?" And I'm not exactly the President.

His reaction is just not normal.

[Jane Austin]

6. Kickin'

n/t

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

7. Excellent -- I'd forgotten about this nt