**NSA wiretapping not the only story Risen breaks in State of War**

[BurtWorm]

Here are some other items from the book that could just as well have been "fit to print."


Comment to Tenant Suggests Torture Culture Started with Bush

After an al Qaeda lieutenant, who was shot in the groin and in intense pain, was captured in Pakistan and transported to Thailand for interrogation, Tenant met with Bush to talk about the difficulty of getting information from someone on a lot of morphine. Bush said, "Who told anyone to give the guy pain killers?" According to someone present, the comment may have been Bush's idea of a joke; but it may also have led admin staff to look into the legalities of using regulation of morphine as a form of "negative incentive" during the captive's interrogation.

Abundant Human Intelligence Showing Iraq's Nuke Capacity Was Nil Entirely Ignored by NIE

In 2002, a war skeptic at CIA launched a program to get about 30 expatriate family members into Iraq to find out from relatives who worked on Saddam's 1980s nuclear project what was going on with it. Every last one of these informants reported back that the program was long dead, killed by sanctions and accidentally accurate bombing by Americans in the early 1990s that wiped out the center of Iraq's "Manhattan Project." This evidence, because it contradicted the objectives of the Bushists--who made crystal clear very, very early on that they were going to get rid of Saddam--was not mentioned in the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) of Iraq's WMD capabilities, which erroneously concluded that all evidence strongly supported that Saddam was trying to rebuild his nuclear capabilities. The NIE (assembled in October 2002) is a major source for both Bush and Blair's WMD arguments for war in Iraq.

Rumsfeld, Cheney Exploited Systemic Vulnerabilities to Restructure Executive Branch and Enhance their Own Power

Both men were mainly interested in getting control of the aimless Intelligence system, which, after the cold war, was particularly vulnerable to a takeover. Already, Agency culture was changing, for example, to value brief, "high concept" cable news-style reports over the in-depth, academic-style opuses long part of its tradition. Rumsfeld is virtually alone among modern Defence Secretaries in hungering to make intelligence all his own, and Cheney, as is well known, is unique among VPs for his intense interest in the CIA.



I'm only halfway through. It's a painful read, but I recommend it highly.

[sabra]

1. I am also halfway through the book. The WMD-pre war section

just blows my mind...

[BurtWorm]

2. Someone was complaining that the book is too slim.

I think she meant not enough pages. If it were any fatter, I'd never finish it. I'd be constantly throwing it aside to recover from the latest outrage in it.

[FreedomAngel82]

10. Sometimes being simple is the best way to get the message through

[RufusEarl]

3. I just finished reading it,

and thought the same thing when Bu$h asked who said he could have pain medication. Thats very cold and very telling about this compassionate leader.

[BurtWorm]

4. I'm kind of surprised by how tepid the response to this book is at DU.

:wtf:

[RufusEarl]

5. I have posted,

a couple a passages from the book. But i haven't received many responses. It's a very good read and i highly recommend it. How about Assassins Gate, have you read it yet?

I haven't but plan to pick it up this week, along with Impostor by a guy named Bartlett.

[Marie26]

6. I think it would be cool

if there was a "DU Book Club" where people could get together & discuss a book as they read it. It would help to have feedback to understand them & would maybe inspire people to read these books.

[BurtWorm]

8. There is one, actually, in the Nonfiction forum.

They do a book of the month.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=209

[Marie26]

12. Thanks!

I didn't know about that forum - maybe I'll join in.

[BurtWorm]

7. I haven't read Assassin's Gate, though I read a lot of it when it was in

the New Yorker. I have a hard time with Packer's basic support of the war and the fact that he was part of the problem beforehand. But I have enjoyed the horror he's expressed since it all went to hell, and I may eventually get around to reading the book.

I don't think I'll be reading Bartlett's book. Kevin Drum has a piece on Bartlett in Washington Monthly. It's online. Interesting development, for sure.

[RufusEarl]

13. Thanks for the info,

I didn't know anything about either book. Watched Bartlett last night on Lou Dobbs, the part about him being a Conservative going against Bush peaked my interest.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

17. Me too. I was enraged when I read it.

I plan to read it again. After my anger dies a bit.

[FreedomAngel82]

11. Unless he was sarcastic but still a cruel joke

[BurtWorm]

16. Typical Bush "humor"

Always cruel and always at someone else's expense. Best if the someone else is in pain already.

[FreedomAngel82]

9. Oh wow

Add another book to my many "must read's."

[EVDebs]

14. How could a NYTimes reporter not speak out about Judith Miller ?

Does he put the hammer down on her ? Better yet, go watch the old movie Three Days of the Condor and ask yourself, 'did the NYT publish' Redford's disclosures about seizing Saudi oil fields ? No, huh ? Not in fiction and not in real life either !

They finally published the '73 information in January 2004, AFTER no recourse could be taken in the Iraq fiasco, btw, same plans different set of oil fields:

Published on Friday, January 2, 2004 by the New York Times
Britain Says U.S. Planned to Seize Oil in '73 Crisis
by Lizette Alvarez

www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0102-01.htm

And Risen's book publication was held up to prevent WHAT from happening...say, anything negative about Bush pre Nov. 2004. Give me a break. What was left out of Risen's book will prove far more costly, IMHO.

Nowadays we're all hearing about what a mistake pulling out of Iraq 'early' will be. What utter nonsense. Murtha is 100% correct. The military is into self flagellation and apparently too many Knights of Malta/Opus Dei run the show.

[BurtWorm]

15. Is there a formula to calculate how much to discount the info in the book

based on when it was published? I mean, I don't want to keep the info in my head that the CIA had solid evidence against the notion that Iraq had a viable nukes program and it wasn't included in the NIE if the book's info should be discounted.

;)

[EVDebs]

20. Plus DIA's Pat Lang knew Chalabi and the rest were Iranian intell

"I'm a spook...and I appreciate good work" The Iranians burned these Republican/neocons sooooo badly. They really should be facing treason charges if not for the fact that they are soooo high up the food chain.

[RazzleDazzle]

18. Painful how, exactly?

Just reading the truth? Or poorly written? Or -- ??

[BurtWorm]

19. Reading the truth, knowing how much they've gotten away with.

That hurts.

:evilfrown: