Post by DavidL on Mar 15, 2007 9:06:42 GMT -5
"On the Brink" by Tyler Drumheller, former chief of CIA clandestine operations, Europe. He lays out a damning case of how the administration manipulated intelligence, relied on sources that the CIA warned were unreliable (such as the notorious Curveball, who was virtually the sole source of the supposed mobile bioweapons labs), ignored sources that didn't tell them what they wanted to hear, and started a war on false, not mistaken, premises. He also paints a picture of an administration that alienated actual and potential allies (including the Europeans, and Turkey) with its black-and-white, you're with us or you're against us approach.
Drumheller was a career CIA officer, who retired in 05 after 26 years because he just couldn't take the continuing politicization of the agency by the administration. He's also no lefty, having voted for Reagan and Bush I, although he also did vote for Gore. He seems to support the idea of removing Saddam, but recognizes that the case for an invasion should have been honestly made, and that much more diplomatic work should have been done to make it truly a coalition effort.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's more damning, with more insider information (subject to CIA vetting, however) than Woodward's last book, "State of Denial."
Drumheller was a career CIA officer, who retired in 05 after 26 years because he just couldn't take the continuing politicization of the agency by the administration. He's also no lefty, having voted for Reagan and Bush I, although he also did vote for Gore. He seems to support the idea of removing Saddam, but recognizes that the case for an invasion should have been honestly made, and that much more diplomatic work should have been done to make it truly a coalition effort.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's more damning, with more insider information (subject to CIA vetting, however) than Woodward's last book, "State of Denial."
