"third person passive once removed"

[saavedra77]

I recently finished reading Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack. The book's main themes will be familiar to pretty much anyone who ever entertained doubts about the Bush administration's case for invading Iraq: senior figures hell-bent on invasion, casting about for anything that might suggest Saddam Hussein could be a 9/11-like threat to the U.S., & then in early 2004 struggling to deny mounting evidence that Hussein was no such thing--or to change the subject. In this sense, Woodward's book simply provides more & different perspectives on a narrative whose outlines we've already received from the likes of Hans Blix, Joseph Wilson, Richard Clarke, & other critics.

Beyond simple corroboration, though, what's particularly interesting about Plan of Attack are the things that the author gets members of the administration to say--in many cases on the record:

The president admits that he didn't really take the threat of terrorism very seriously before 9/11. Soon after 9/11, Don Rumsfeld characterized the attacks as a possible "opportunity" to go after Iraq, according to other senior officials. Colin Powell & others describe Dick Cheney's "fever" (or "unhealthy fixation") on Iraq. Doug Feith complains that Powell doesn't "get it" when it comes to dangers (& opportunities?) of the post-9/11 world. Powell complains about Rumsfeld's bureaucratic machinations & verbal tics (memorably calling Rummy's speaking style the "third person passive once removed"). A "despondent" Richard Armitage comments that he & Powell served as "enablers" of a policy that they didn't believe in. The president admits that he neglected to inform the Secretary of State about the decision to go to war until after he'd already briefed the Saudi ambassador. Bush is also the one who tells us that George Tenet called the case for Iraqi WMD a "slam dunk." (Tenet's resignation for "family" reasons followed within weeks of the book’s publication.) &, in the Epilogue, Bush rambles on disturbingly about his father, God, Manifest Destiny, & how it doesn't matter how history ultimately judges the war because "we'll all be dead" ...

Bizarrely, the Bush campaign's website recommends Plan of Attack. Of course, Karl Rove et al are probably assuming that most people won't actually read it--just display it on their coffee tables with those stern, serious images of the president & his advisors under the big red letters of that dramatic title.

Comments

[betwana.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that review! It's on my list of books to read in the near future (I always seem to be behind in reading these books, waiting until after they've stopped becoming the first thing you see when you walk into the bookstore). Also, very astute observation about why the book might be on GW's campaign website. Are any intellectually curious people (who are also decent) supporting him? I seriously doubt it.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Not that I know of! (At least, not according to my definition of "decent"!)