How many of you have read "Hubris?"

[Clarkie1]

People were talking about it on the radio. Sounds like a good read.

[Anakin Skywalker]

1. There Have Been Several Books

with the exact same title. What is the subject of this particular one?

[Clarkie1]

5. This one came out a couple of weeks ago, I believe. nt

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Synopsis at Amazon, other reviews.... 5 star all.

http://www.amazon.com/Hubris-Inside-Story-Scandal-Selling/dp/0307346811/sr=8-1/qid=1158190553/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7708895-8317744?ie=UTF8&s=books

Book Description
March 2003: The United States invades Iraq.

October 2006: The world finds out why.

What was really behind the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq? As George W. Bush steered the nation to war, who spoke the truth and who tried to hide it? Hubris takes us behind the scenes at the Bush White House, the CIA, the Pentagon, the State Department, and Congress to answer all the vital questions about how the Bush administration came to invade Iraq.

Filled with new revelations, Hubris is a gripping narrative of intrigue that connects the dots between George W. Bush’s expletive-laden outbursts at Saddam Hussein, the bitter battles between the CIA and the White House, the fights within the intelligence community over Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, the startling influence of an obscure academic on top government officials, the real reason Valerie Plame was outed, and a top reporter’s ties to wily Iraqi exiles trying to start a war. Written by veteran reporters Michael Isikoff and David Corn, this is the inside story of how President Bush took the nation to war using faulty and fraudulent intelligence. It is a news-making account of conspiracy, backstabbing, bureaucratic ineptitude, journalistic malfeasance, and, especially, arrogance.

[Mike03]

3. Just received it today!

After finishing "Fiasco" by Thomas Ricks, I decided to get as many books on the Iraq war as I could and just devote several weeks to going through them. I skimmed through it but probably won't get to it for several days.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. I'm about halfway through it.

It's excellent, except that it's making me want to scream and throw things. We learn that all sorts of people had serious misgivings about the Iraq invasion (which was on the agenda long before 9/11), including a number of Republicans, military officers and intelligence people, but that they were basically cowed and browbeaten into agreeing to the IWR. Some Democrats, most notably Dick Gephardt, were against it ideologically but went for it because they didn't want to be seen as weak on Terra before a presidential election. It's just the most horrible fuckup you can imagine. I will be reading some more of it this evening and I hope I don't break anything valuable or scare the neighbors with my screams.

[Clarkie1]

6. I was listening to the author on a radio talk show today.

I got a few tidbits:

Shrub went psychotically ballistic behind the scenes after Helen Thomas questioned the rationale for the Iraq war....hurling all kinds of expletives about Saddam in a kind of tantrum.

Colin Powell is angry to this day about being used. He was assured by Tenet that all the intelligence had muliple sources...Tenet was apparently the one he trusted, he did not trust the office of the V.P.

The intelligence estimate made available to the congress contained all the dissenting opinion...but most never bothered to go into the "secure room" to read it.

Infuriating...looking forward to reading the book.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

7. Saw it at the bookstore

last Saturday, but didn't get it. Have a limited "book budget" right now and got the paperback "Bush on the Couch" instead.