Books I'm Reading 9) State of War by James Risen
http://www.amazon.com/State-War-Secret-History-Administration/dp/0743270673/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240064684&sr=8-1
It's nice to have a book that's obviously critical. I mean really, you read this and have no doubt that Risen is not a fan of Bush. To be fair, he beats Clinton some too, and let's be honest, Clinton didn't exactly make all the right calls.
It's fair to say that this book isn't completely groundbreaking but it also brings to light a number of things I didn't know before. Some of the stuff, like operation Merlin were quite surprising and rather alarming. And there are a few other nuggets of rash neoconservative stupidity in the book. But overall I'm not overly impressed.
It's well researched but makes some large assumptions to the state of mind of some key people, notably the former President, that I think take away from the overall value. It's a good book, just a bit lopsided and that disappoints me.
It's easy to look back at past mistakes, and Bush II made a fuckload of them, but it's another thing entirely to understand the context and situation of the moment those mistakes were made. I like the fact that it provides good back story but it glosses over many of the mistakes made in Iraq proper during the months immediately following US troops taking Baghdad. I understand that's not the focus of the book; it's driven towards the broader implications of the Bush Administrations dealings, but so much of the book focuses on mistakes made post-911 with regards to the middle east that it misses many of the key issues that have broader implications. Global Warming, economic mistakes and the failure of the US economy to be effectively regulated, the US relationship to China, Korea and other Asian nations. And it's surprisingly lacking on ties to oil interests. I would have expected much more on that front. It covers some of the Saudi ties but does not delve much into them and glosses over US relationships to other OPEC nations.
All in all, it made for an interesting read that I got to finish while I had some downtime in the judges lounge at the debate tournament last night and it was worth the money but it's not really what I expected. Worth the read if you happen to pass it in the library though.
It's nice to have a book that's obviously critical. I mean really, you read this and have no doubt that Risen is not a fan of Bush. To be fair, he beats Clinton some too, and let's be honest, Clinton didn't exactly make all the right calls.
It's fair to say that this book isn't completely groundbreaking but it also brings to light a number of things I didn't know before. Some of the stuff, like operation Merlin were quite surprising and rather alarming. And there are a few other nuggets of rash neoconservative stupidity in the book. But overall I'm not overly impressed.
It's well researched but makes some large assumptions to the state of mind of some key people, notably the former President, that I think take away from the overall value. It's a good book, just a bit lopsided and that disappoints me.
It's easy to look back at past mistakes, and Bush II made a fuckload of them, but it's another thing entirely to understand the context and situation of the moment those mistakes were made. I like the fact that it provides good back story but it glosses over many of the mistakes made in Iraq proper during the months immediately following US troops taking Baghdad. I understand that's not the focus of the book; it's driven towards the broader implications of the Bush Administrations dealings, but so much of the book focuses on mistakes made post-911 with regards to the middle east that it misses many of the key issues that have broader implications. Global Warming, economic mistakes and the failure of the US economy to be effectively regulated, the US relationship to China, Korea and other Asian nations. And it's surprisingly lacking on ties to oil interests. I would have expected much more on that front. It covers some of the Saudi ties but does not delve much into them and glosses over US relationships to other OPEC nations.
All in all, it made for an interesting read that I got to finish while I had some downtime in the judges lounge at the debate tournament last night and it was worth the money but it's not really what I expected. Worth the read if you happen to pass it in the library though.
posted by rpalmeira at 7:25 AM
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