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Product Description
The shocking inside account that has outraged the Bush administration, Chain of Command gives the most revealing and terrifying picture yet of what really led to war in Iraq. Seymour Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose sensational reportage has revealed the stories the others can't - or won't - get, traces the chain of events that turned America from victim of terrorism on 9/11 to perpetrator of a dirty and disastrous war. Plumbing an unrivalled list of top military and CIA contacts, he uncovers an astonishing story of corruption, intelligence failures, secret Pentagon operations and behind-the-scenes deals - and provides the closest answer we have to why it went so wrong.
About the Author
Thirty-five years ago, Seymour Hersh established himself at the forefront of investigative journalism with an expose of the massacre in My Lai, Vietnam, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. Ever since, he's been a relentless thorn in the side of America's power elite, plumbing Washington back channels and the intelligence community for the stories others can't - or won't - get. In the crises that followed the September 11th attacks, Hersh found a challenge equal to his explosive energy. From the hunt for the hijackers to the dubious claims about weapons of mass destruction, Hersh delivered inspired pieces that have been met with both acclaim and outrage - including his breakthrough reporting on Abu Ghraib.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Investigative journalist Seymour M. Hersh has been revealing the underbelly of United States politics since the 1960s. In Chain of Command, he takes us inside the U.S. "war on terror," interviewing countless former and serving government, military, intelligence and technical officials, both within the U.S. as well as Europe and the Middle East.
Hersh reveals how the usual intelligence channels of analysis were deliberately bypassed by George W. Bush's White House, so that raw (and quite often, dubious) information was `stovepiped' from highly unreliable sources, such as Ahmad Chalabi's London-based exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, directly to Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld. This material, though of little credibility, meshed perfectly with the ideology of the neoconservative `crazies' that made up the inner sanctum of Bush's White House. As a consequence, ridiculous propaganda became widely disseminated, such as (amongst others) stories about Saddam Hussein's ability to active weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of an order being given.
Hersh details many, many other disturbing facets of the Bush administration: how the torture at Abu Ghraib was not an isolated incident perpetrated by a few rotten apples but rather part of a Rumsfeld-initiated Special-Access Program (Copper Green) to engage U.S. Special Forces in information retrieval through intimidation (often sexual) and torture, a program that ran out of control, much like the Vietnam era Phoenix Program; how other SAPs were created to engage in `manhunts' of high value targets - manhunts that often ended in assassinations; how the war in Afghanistan was mismanaged from the outset, whereby deals with warlords which allowed them to escape across the Pakistani border, also allowed senior Al Qaeda members to be shuttled out, virtually under U.S. protection; how the Bush administration has looked the other way whilst its ostensible ally, General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, has allowed nuclear weapons technology to be proliferated throughout the region; how the U.S. has contingency plans to invade Pakistan in the event of a fundamentalist Islamist takeover, to ensure that nuclear weapons do not fall in to the 'wrong hands'; how former Bush advisor and Defense Policy Board member Richard Perle, vigorously promoted the idea of a war against Iraq, whilst at the same time being a member of a company (Trireme) that stood to directly benefit from military-industrial contracts.
Highly readable and yet crammed with vital information and a wealth of first hand interviews, Seymour Hersh has written a book that will become a corner-stone of an alternative history of 9/11 and the so-called "war on terror." Comprehensive and compelling stuff.
Hersh reveals how the usual intelligence channels of analysis were deliberately bypassed by George W. Bush's White House, so that raw (and quite often, dubious) information was `stovepiped' from highly unreliable sources, such as Ahmad Chalabi's London-based exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, directly to Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld. This material, though of little credibility, meshed perfectly with the ideology of the neoconservative `crazies' that made up the inner sanctum of Bush's White House. As a consequence, ridiculous propaganda became widely disseminated, such as (amongst others) stories about Saddam Hussein's ability to active weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of an order being given.
Hersh details many, many other disturbing facets of the Bush administration: how the torture at Abu Ghraib was not an isolated incident perpetrated by a few rotten apples but rather part of a Rumsfeld-initiated Special-Access Program (Copper Green) to engage U.S. Special Forces in information retrieval through intimidation (often sexual) and torture, a program that ran out of control, much like the Vietnam era Phoenix Program; how other SAPs were created to engage in `manhunts' of high value targets - manhunts that often ended in assassinations; how the war in Afghanistan was mismanaged from the outset, whereby deals with warlords which allowed them to escape across the Pakistani border, also allowed senior Al Qaeda members to be shuttled out, virtually under U.S. protection; how the Bush administration has looked the other way whilst its ostensible ally, General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, has allowed nuclear weapons technology to be proliferated throughout the region; how the U.S. has contingency plans to invade Pakistan in the event of a fundamentalist Islamist takeover, to ensure that nuclear weapons do not fall in to the 'wrong hands'; how former Bush advisor and Defense Policy Board member Richard Perle, vigorously promoted the idea of a war against Iraq, whilst at the same time being a member of a company (Trireme) that stood to directly benefit from military-industrial contracts.
Highly readable and yet crammed with vital information and a wealth of first hand interviews, Seymour Hersh has written a book that will become a corner-stone of an alternative history of 9/11 and the so-called "war on terror." Comprehensive and compelling stuff.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There isn't much to say about this, except that Seymour Hersh is doing the job that most of the mainstream American media has passed on because it conflicts with their teeth-whitening appointment. He has been hated and reviled by those in power for more than 30 years now, but he carries on telling the truth long after assorted crooks, thugs and liars have faded from these scene.
Meticulously reported, with a bloodhound's instinct for shaking out secrets, this is ultimately a depressing, but essential read. Everyone in the USA and the UK needs to know what has been and is being done in their name. At least we can't pretend nobody told us the truth - whether we listen or not seems to be another matter.
Meticulously reported, with a bloodhound's instinct for shaking out secrets, this is ultimately a depressing, but essential read. Everyone in the USA and the UK needs to know what has been and is being done in their name. At least we can't pretend nobody told us the truth - whether we listen or not seems to be another matter.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Nobody does it better than Hersh. This is an insightful book on the back stage workings of US government in the run-up to and during the Iraq war. As is usual with Hersh, he is analytical, sharp and has a nose for excellent news stories that is almost unsurpassed.
This is not a canvas on the war in Iraq. However it is a brilliant supplement for any politically interested person and it cannot help but prompt some pretty challenging questions to American policy in the Middle East.
My one critisism of the book is that it comes across as a bit of a re-hash of a series of articles in the New Yorker. As such the book is a little lacking in theme and consistency. However that does not detract from the fact that each chapter in its own right is relevant, interesting and as always, well researched.
Go for it...
This is not a canvas on the war in Iraq. However it is a brilliant supplement for any politically interested person and it cannot help but prompt some pretty challenging questions to American policy in the Middle East.
My one critisism of the book is that it comes across as a bit of a re-hash of a series of articles in the New Yorker. As such the book is a little lacking in theme and consistency. However that does not detract from the fact that each chapter in its own right is relevant, interesting and as always, well researched.
Go for it...
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