War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism

War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism
by Douglas J. Feith

War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism
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Book Summary Information

Author: Douglas J. Feith
Narrator: Holter Graham
Edition: Music CD
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Published: 2008-04-01
ISBN: 0061143707
Publisher: HarperAudio

Book Reviews of War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism

Book Review: The Essential Iraq War Book
Summary: 5 Stars

I saw at Powerline that Doug Feith testified before the house judiciary committee subcommittee, and that prompted me to share my enthusiasm for this book, in which Mr. Feith discusses how and why we went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. He documents the process, beginning with 911, staff discussions that occurred immediately followed 911, and on through the lengthy public process (in the case of Iraq) that led to the decision to go to war. Along the way, Mr. Feith provides excellent insight into the style, character, and to the degree that one can know, motive in subsequent actions of all the major players.

Regarding motive, it is telling that the most thoroughly written arguments for or against a particular policy came from Donald Rumsfeld. Amid all the wild accusations about an illegal war, secrecy, impeach Bush, and that sort of nonsense, it is refreshing to have such an honorable and courageous public servant as Mr. Feith around to painstakingly document just how open, how much public debate, and how much scrutiny of the evidence went into the very difficult decision to go to war.

This book has been ignored to an incredible degree by the mainstream press, not only by the enemies of the administration, but was even dismissed by Bill O'Reilly, who is the king of the all knowing, king-making media gods. No big deal, except that it represents such a terrible injustice to the fine work done by Mr. Feith. If you care about how we ended up going to war in two countries following 911, read this book. The facts are all there.

Summary of War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism

In the years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, journalists, commentators, and others have published accounts of the Bush Administration's war on terrorism. But no senior Pentagon official has offered an inside view of those years, or has challenged the prevailing narrative of that war—until now.

Douglas J. Feith, the head of the Pentagon's Policy organization, was a key member of Donald Rumsfeld's inner circle as the Administration weighed how to protect the nation from another 9/11. In War and Decision, he puts readers in the room with President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, General Tommy Franks, and other key players as the Administration devised its strategy and war plans. Drawing on thousands of previously undisclosed documents, notes, and other written sources, Feith details how the Administration launched a global effort to attack and disrupt terrorist networks; how it decided to overthrow the Saddam Hussein regime; how it came to impose an occupation on Iraq even though it had avoided one in Afghanistan; how some officials postponed or impeded important early steps that could have averted major problems in Iraq's post-Saddam period; and how the Administration's errors in war-related communications undermined the nation's credibility and put U.S. war efforts at risk.

Even close followers of reporting on the Iraq war will be surprised at the new information Feith provides—presented here with balance and rigorous attention to detail. Among other revelations, War and Decision demonstrates that the most far-reaching warning of danger in Iraq was produced not by State or by the CIA, but by the Pentagon. It reveals the actual story behind the allegations that the Pentagon wanted to "anoint" Ahmad Chalabi as ruler of Iraq, and what really happened when the Pentagon challenged the CIA's work on the Iraq-al Qaida relationship. It offers the first accurate account of Iraq postwar planning—a topic widely misreported to date. And it presents surprising new portraits of Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Richard Armitage, L. Paul Bremer, and others—revealing how differences among them shaped U.S. policy.

With its blend of vivid narrative, frank analysis, and elegant writing, War and Decision is like no other book on the Iraq war. It will interest those who have been troubled by conflicting accounts of the planning of the war, frustrated by the lack of firsthand insight into the decision-making process, or skeptical of conventional wisdom about Operation Iraqi Freedom and the global war on terrorism—efforts the author continues to support.

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