Ron Suskind's The Way of the World is a great book to read while we wait for a new president to take office. Suskind had excellent sources in the Bush Administration, but it's his ability to set the information he receives into cultural reality that makes his work extraordinary. In this book, particularly, he is able to show how policy was made in the intellectual vacuum of the White House and how it impacted the lives of individuals whose stories Suskind tells in careful detail.

It was those stories--the Pakistani student shown compassion at Connecticut College on 9/11, the Colorado family who takes in a Muslim student and then must kick him out, the rural Pennsylvania family that has better luck with the student, the lawyer who takes on a prisoner at Guantanamo, the disillusioned intelligence insider who makes finding black market nuclear fuel his mission, among others--that kept me reading. His account of Benazir Bhutto's last days broke my heart.

Yes, Suskind outs the Bush administration for creating whole cloth a letter to make the link between 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta and Iraq, but it's the process by which the letter was created and Suskind's account of all the opportunities Bush & Co. ignored to avoid war that I found most chilling.

The subtitle, A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism, captures Suskind's point that we must not lose sight of the values--the rule of law, the worth of the individual, the importance of reason, the power of education--that make our country great. I read a book (rather than a newspaper or a blog) for the kind of tapestry that an accomplished writer like Suskind can weave of myriad facts and experiences. The sum is indeed greater than the parts.

No need to cover points already made by others. There's one underlying assumption of the book I want to take issue with. Repeatedly, author Suskind alludes to America's lost moral authority, which he sees as a principal casualty of the Bush administration's cynical war on terrorism. Now, I'm wondering just where that lost moral authority resides or has resided. Seems to me that an unbiased reading of the country's history provides little evidence of any repository of moral authority that could be lost. From genocide of the Native Americans to ruthless territorial expansion to WWII fire bombings, plus the many recent bloody imperial adventures, the list of major crimes is a long one. In short, looks to me like we've acted pretty much like any other expansionist state since our founding. By what actions, then, can our historical narrative have accumulated the kind of moral authority that in Suskind's opinion could be lost. Nowhere, I believe, does he take up this key question.

Sure, the Bush regime has been particularly brazen in waging aggression abroad and assaulting civil liberties at home. Nonetheless, these are not unprecedented violations, as any unexpurgated account of international and domestic law reveals. In fact, torture has been routinely practiced from the Indian wars to McKinley's Phillipines to Johnson's Vietnam. But instead of concealing these deceptions, as in the past, this hubristic administration redefines the prohibitions and institutionalizes them at Gitmo. And I'm willing to bet that had Iraq not gone so badly sour, such violations would be popularly overlooked.

This doesn't mean that energized people shouldn't terminate as many of the abuses as possible. But, Americans need to be clear that in dealing with our government, we're also dealing with an empire, and empires are not managed on the basis of doing what's morally right. Such practices as torture, domestic spying, and rights violations will continue underground, just as before, not because government is evil, but because the imperial dynamic requires foul means as well as fair. Reforms can change the above-ground and give liberals something to brag about. But that's as much as good people such as the book's Candace Gorman can hope to accomplish when dealing with empire.

Perhaps there is hope that a very real moral energy can be mobilized at some point around common human problems, as Suskind desires. But what's sorely missing in the international equation is a common vision that would rally those hopes, the sort of alternative social order that might well borrow from the best of America but not seek to duplicte it. And it's that vision that should be sought after, not restoring some illusory moral authority that no empire has ever possessed in the first place.

Got the book in a few days, and it was in a good condition! Thanks!

This insightful book melds individual stories of "east and west" and the urgent geopolitical issues we face today. An amazingly good read.

The book is a must read if you want to understand the assault on the constitution during the Bush administration.

The war on terror has never been broken down so clearly as Ron Suskind has in this engaging, thought provoking book. The author so deftly takes us around the world and weaves the stories of people working to protect the 'idea' of American values as our own government demolishes that hope by it's own arrogance and hunger for power. We are the last great hope of a mankind that is governed by it's own people. Most Americans live in some sort of dangerous bubble, not aware of our Country's influence on the rest of the world that in itself should make this book required reading.

My favorite book of this year, a dramatized - you were there- epic, that is part expose', and part a series of romantic narratives that weave in and out and kept me thumbing back to where the newly reappearing character was last seen. They say there is a novelist hidden in every reporter, and parts certainly had the structure and poetry of a novel - al la LeCarre. The expose' parts, if true, should put people in jail - if not true, Suskind is in trouble, but I'm betting on true - he did not get a Pulitzer for nothing. The more romantic parts spun hopeful stories, where against the horrible conditions of the calamity we humans have created for ourselves there are people struggling together, helping each other because it is the right thing to do. In these places Suskind reminds me of Sarah Chayes who, in "Punishment of Virtue" ,told of the little, but all important. human interactions taking place beneath the awfulness of Afghanistan. This is a book in which those excited about "change" will find both the strongest possible need for it, and the hope that it can succeed.

Suskind's third book on the Bush Administration is more than a behind the scenes look - it's a narrative - actually a handful of narratives loosely bound together by the "War on Terror" and reads much like a novel and even a screenplay at times. The stories track Benazir Bhutto's final months, an incredibly persistent Chicago attorney tasked with "defending", (and I use the term defending very loosely here), an "enemy combatant" imprisoned at Gitmo, an Afghani transfer student coming to America and several senior members, and ex-members, of the US Intelligence community as they go about making the world a safer place. The last includes a few visits into the Oval Office and the success/failure in simply engaging the current President in the details of critical projects. The good news/bad news for the reader is that each of these narratives is treated to same amount of detail - interesting when following the hunt for the elusive WMD - not so much concerning our Afghani adolescent, who for instance finds out that the Web contains a lot more than shopping sites.

There are nuggets - three in particular. If one's opinion is still out concerning the lack of Iraq's WMD, i.e. Intelligence incompetence or a rush to judgment with the use of questionable data, Suskind presents some damning evidence that the Bush administration was not only aware of these "oversights" but manipulated evidence to facilitate their cause for the invasion of Iraq. The hardest to ignore - several meetings, (prior to March '03), between a member of the British intelligence service and a high ranking Iraqi official confirming not only the lack of Iraqi WMD but also highlighting the "game" Saddam was "playing" by threatening the region with these "phantom" WMD.

Second, the author documents a renegade CIA officer running around Europe during the build-up to war - seemingly without anyone's permission/direction - squashing any evidence contradicting that Iraq wasn't dangerous and exhorting both "Curveball", (a questionable Iraqi source managed by the Germans), and the Niger uranium purchase. In hindsight, the author presents sound evidence that this CIA agent was actually following DIA orders - specifically Rumsfeld's and indirectly Cheney's. Insanity unless one takes into account a quote attributed to Donald Rumsfeld - "Every CIA success is a DoD failure.", (quoted in Suskind's previous book).

Third, an attempt in 2003 by the Iranian government to reach out and assist the US Government in rooting out terrorism. The administration's response - specifically Cheney's, "Don't reward bad behavior.". So of course nothing came of this attempt at rapprochement.

I don't mean to slight the other narratives. Bhutto's story is memorable in capturing her almost knowingly walking to her assassination. (We know much of her last months because the NSA was tapping her phones.) Another of the Intelligence "stories" tracks the impossible task of infiltrating the global enriched uranium black market. And the Guantanamo tale mentioned above struck a chord with me. The persistence of the attorney - against all odds and the government - simply because she didn't believe what was happening was "right" does give one hope. Also the legal argument finally presented to break the "logjam" down there in Cuba was genius in its simplicity - at least to this non-attorney.

Is this book a must read that will continue to resonate 5 or 10 years from now? Probably not. Some of the narratives are overlong and become repetitious and much like "The One Percent Doctrine", the last 75 pages or so seems rushed. On the other hand "The Way of the World" continues to raise questions about the Bush/Cheney administration's effectiveness in waging its "War on Terror".

Just one more confirmation that the Shrub admin is nothing short of a criminal enterprise. Impeachment followed by a war crimes trial followed by a guilty verdict followed by execution of at least 7 memebers of the enterprise including of course the Shrub.

Loved this book. It really tells the personal side of the "War on Terror". It shows how it affects people from the President to trial lawyers trying to defend an "enemy combatant" at Guantanamo Bay. It also shows the differences culturally and communication wise between americans and people from the the Middle East. A must read for anyone fascinated with the dynamics of the United States influence in the world.

THis is an interesting read and certainly relevant, informative and enlightening regarding the state of world affairs in which we find ourselves enmeshed as of late. Like Bob Dylan says, truly "The Times They Are A Changin'". And the beat of the global empire goes on. I do, however, have one question of Mr. Suskind: As an award-winning writer for the Wall Street Journal (and no doubt an insider and privy to all kinds of inside information as well as resources?), can you make you next book a truthful one about the "dirty dealings" on WALL STREET which resulted in the recent collapse of the American enonomy and let us know what really happened...both the HOW and the WHY? I would definitely buy that book, too.

This book is a meandering loosely linked set of vignettes. They are annoyingly detailed to not be referenced, especially because some of the quotes etc. could have only come from the very top officials in government and it is hard to believe the author actually recorded them. All in all as a nonfiction book from a top notch author it was thoroughly dissappointing

Ron Suskind's new book, The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism, is a great book. Very informative, and reads like a novel. Some of the incidents in the book are just now coming out in the mainstream press, and they happened years ago. This is a "Must Read."

This is a wonderful book, written to inform the public about what is really going on in Washington, D.C. In the end, it is we, the majority, are going to suffer at the hands of the people they were elected to protect. It is unconscionable to imagine what is happening there. Too much power has been given to these bandits who have stolen outrageous salaries and golden parachutes. It is unbelievable! All of these greedy politicians need to be brought to justice: impeachment and prison time for these bandits.!

This is the worst book i've ever read, I can not believe i paid 29.99 some wall street schmucks can invest my money on wall street and help destroy this country.

This book is biased, and in no way represents "the way of the world." Instead it represents a journalist trying to sway his readers into seeing his far side thinking of reality.
I will admit here and there you gather bits of useful information that I most certainly wouldn't have other wise known. But in no way do those snippets of info justify reading 400 pages of crap!

The book is brilliant. My suggestion to the publishers is that they immediately send copy to each and every member of Congress so that there can be some accountability from the criminals in the administration before their terms run out!

While the research on this important subject is thorough, the florid style of writing, an obvious intent on making the book exciting, turned me off. The interjection of meaningless details, things that Mr. Susskind could only imagine, really bothered me. IE: President Bush glanced at the clock on the wall. If Mr. Susskind had stuck to the facts the book would have been much more powerful. Instead he hoked it up in an attempt make the book some kind of cheap thriller.

This book simultaneously looks backward and toward the future regarding THE major task of our time. There are some "revelations," accusations, etc. regarding the past; but more important are the glimpses, hints, etc. of the way forward. Reading much like an exciting, multi-character novel, we closely track several contemporary happenings--all based (the author directly assures me) on thousands of interviews, many taped ones, including those when he was present.
One senses the careful urgency, the need to correct mistakes, make different choices, and the areas and means/avenues of hope, along with the growing awareness of the immensity of the complex problem and the need to get busy in some very, very different ways. A book to be read and re-read, a must for every American able to think beyond "We're all powerful; we're always right; just "stomp 'em." A much needed SMASH!!

This is a beautifully written book that explores the broader ramifications of the narrow Bush perspective that sees all the world as either enemy or subjest to US control. By humanizing the events,he gives them greater clarity, which is not always the case in politcal commentaries.

In addition, Suskind clearly demonstrates the lies of both the Bush Administration and Tony Blair in their rush to unjustified war. In the name of security, they have made the US and the world a less safe place.

Perhaps surprisingly, I found this to be a hopeful book, with remedies and not mere hand-wringing. There is no utopian call for the certainly justified trials of Bush and Cheney, but rather ways in which the country can move forward in a desire to work to our highest calling, rather than continue the descent into brutish thugism.

This is a beautifully written book that explores the broader ramifications of the narrow Bush perspective that sees all the world as either enemy or subjest to US control. By humanizing the events,he gives them greater clarity, which is not always the case in politcal commentaries.

In addition, Suskind clearly demonstrates the lies of both the Bush Administration and Tony Blair in their rush to unjustified war. In the name of security, they have made the US and the world a less safe place.

Perhaps surprisingly, I found this to be a hopeful book, with remedies and not mere hand-wringing. There is no utopian call for the certainly justified trials of Bush and Cheney, but rather ways in which the country can move forward in a desire to work to our highest calling, rather than continue the descent into brutish thugism.

With a history of many satisfactory purchases via Amazon, this purchase of "The Way the World Works" was the best yet with and really low price and I received my book on the THIRD DAY AFTER PURCHASE. Ron Suskind's book confirms what many Americans have suspected: that the neocon reich-wing government haters have pillaged our treasury, perhaps irreparably damaged our reputation at home and abroad, striped our military of much of its effectiveness, weakened our Constitution and perpetrated acts of high crimes and misdemeanors and should be impeached and removed from office. The past 8 years have been the most dire in our entire history as a free republic, and this includes all previous war years in the 232 previous years since our declaration of independence. I hope Obama wins this fall and begins to turn our nation around. His election may be our only hope of redemption and amends. Even then I feel it will take a generation to recover from the damage done by the Bush/Cheney/Rove/Rice/Rummy/Addington gang -- and that is what the have been: a lethal gang of irresponsible, ignorant, arrogant thugs. And there is the very real threat of a McCain/Palin win that would continue the policies of the previous eight years and the devastation brought upon our nation. Sadly, The Fourth Estate has abrogated its responsibility to the American public and become part of the corporatocracy that denies us of truth and is therefore a co-conspirator in the attacks on our Constitution, then God help us. If Americans do not real and assimilate such books as Ron Suskind has provided us (and I include others such as 'Broken Government,' 'Fiasco,' 'Worse Than Watergate,' 'Hubris,' 'Conservatives Without Conscious' and several others out there) with the truth, then we may be witnessing the last gasps of our republic -- the situation is that dire.

This book has received a lot of media attention for the claims about forged Iraq documents, but there is so much more to this work. Suskind writes in a narrative nonfiction format, weaving human interest stories within a broader examination of the Bush Administration and its work within the intelligence community leading up to the invasion of Iraq. The aim is to expose the miscommunications, misdirections, and bureaucratic deaf ears that changed history for the U.S. and the Middle East under President Bush, but also to examine a broader concept of personal conflict. The forged letter is a surprisingly small revelation near the end of the book.

Suskind's writing is clear and entertaining, a departure from the dry, text-book style of writing often associated with political/historical nonfiction. He also uses a journalistic method in his sources as opposed to a scholarly method. You won't find footnotes or endnotes as his information appears to have come from face-to-face and telephone interviews with key players. In a time where footnoting to your own previous book or to a link for an obscure blog is considered by some as valid research, this is actually refreshing. Backed by direct quotes from his interviews, Suskind draws what some may see as controversial conclusions about the Bush Administration's push toward the Iraq invasion. As a former senior nation affairs writer for the Wall Street Journal and Pulitzer Prize winner, though, he is exactly the caliber of journalist that could uncover such valuable insights from the international intelligence community.

Overall, the book is an engaging look at the local and personal conflicts that drive the broader issues in our world, and how our recent government administrators have failed to live up to our traditional American values. I wouldn't call Suskind's outlook gloomy, but he does stress that we need to regain our moral bearings to move forward in the complex modern world. It is a well-done piece of journalistic nonfiction, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in politics and America's War on Terror.

Suskind gives an excellent view into a handful of people trying to provide new perspective and solutions to problems in our shrinking world.

Suskind sufaces people who care deeply about major geopolitical issues and are going about solving them in entirely NGO ways. At the same time he brings needed clarity to the picture of Bush 43's self serving, duplicitous foreign policy failures. Could the evidence for impeaching George W. Bush and Dick Cheney finally be in the open? Too bad there's not enough time in their terms to find out...

One of the two best books I have ever read regarding how we got where we are and our choices for the future. The other is Fareed Zakharia's Post American World.

Both are "must reads" for thinking Americans.

I am all but through this well written, eye opening, riveting "docu-story" by Bob Woodward. This writer may be the very best journalist in history given his roots back to the Nixonian era. I had barely completed WHAT HAPPENED by McClellan when Woodwards book was released. These two books seem to review and reveal the "truthiness" of what can only be the most disgraceful administration the country has seen to date. Let us all pray that true CHANGE will really begin. From a lifelong Republican, now Independent, lets give the Dems another go. Things just couldn't get worse, could they?

As a corporate director I am very concerned about the direction our nation is heading particularly in the areas of trade deficits, loss of manufacturing, lack of immigration reform and our wrong-headed energy policies (using our corn for fuel; how stupid is this). But more than these concerns are the concerns for my family and the American way of life. I can live with an incompetent government to a degree, but now our very lives are at stake due to our lose of direction.

This book is a must read for everyone that believes our nation and our way of life is important. As the book so adeptly points out, we are on a slippery slope and help does not seem to be on the horizon. Neither Congress nor the executive branch offers any hope. Our current presidential candidates are under-whelming to say the least. Maybe if Palin and Biden were on top of the ticket I would feel better - probably not.

Please read this important book and pass along the information to others. The information is disturbing but very real and well researched. Just in case you're wondering, I vote Republican. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR Author of Wingtips with Spurs

Republican or Democrat you must buy this book and read it from cover to cover. America's greatest strength can easily become its greatest weakness. The hearts of most Americans are innocent and that innocence can be used against us by our enemies.

The oppressed in the world look to the United States to lead the way and to act against the tyranny of religious extremism. We are the standard bearer. We have always been and must continue to be the strongest voice of freedom and reason in this world.

Uncited, unsourced, constant repetition of hearsay, incessant imputation of thoughts and feelings to subjects in the text; this is little more than a very long op-ed piece dressed as journalism. Amero-centric nonsense that so absolutely and arrogantly ignores history and the legitimacy of the rest of the world. It repeats again and again that old chestnut "they don't like us because we are American" as opposed to the more truthful cold facts that people strangely object to becoming "collateral damage" or "regime changed" or any other globalised gruesome end (Very inconvenient that).
If this is the standard of `journalism' that wins a Pulitzer I think there is really is no hope left for the American press, but on the bright side it's very encouraging for the state of empire. If you are after an insightful analysis of global events really don't bother with this one, Sorbent is cheaper and much more comfortable on the nether regions.

This was an excelent book. A must read for all. It should be required reading for every one before they are allowed to vote. Few people realize the parel our nation has been in from the very first day of the George W Bush administration. Few people realize the depth and completeness of the deceit, short sightedness, lack of respect for the law and reckless mean spiritedness of this president. We must avoid future mistakes like this.

All of our suspicions regarding the Bush/Cheney/McCain90% Administration are confirmed in this book of truth regarding how Bush/Cheney "cooked" the intelligence to meet their wish to attack Iraq. They had positive intelligence at least 4 months before attacking that Saadam had no WMD, nor chemical weapons nor had any contacts with terrorists. Bush had a letter falsified from the Iraqi Intelligence Chief in order to justify his reason for going to war. He lied to the American people and used false intelligence to get our support. This book is full of evidence and backup verification of all it states. A book worth reading before this important election to shake the slightest idea of voting any Republican in office at this time in our history. A well written, easily read documentation of how we were mis-led into trust of our leaders.

Suskind's latest book investigates how the U.S. lost the moral leadership it needs to fight the real threat of our era - a nuclear weapon in the hands of terrorists. We haven't caught a top terrorist of any real value in two years - Suskind believes that's because of a widespread dislike for the U.S. Problems include our lies about and invasion of Iraq, extraordinary renditions, torture, indefinite detentions, and bungling opportunities involving the U.K. and later Iran. (The U.K. bungling was caused by the Cheny/Bush prodding Pakistan to arrest one of the U.K. plotters' contacts - nearly 2,000 British operatives had been working the case for nearly a year, and the U.S. action ended their ability to learn more or prosecute; the Iran bungling involved our insulting the Iranians by failing to respond to their potential help.)

Suskind also tells us that Bush is not interested in "reality" - unlike FDR, Nixon, and Ford who had specific means of encouraging people to bring forward unpleasant news and views.

More disturbing, however, was Suskind's assertion that the Bush administration discounted information from Iraq's Foreign Minister that Hussein had no WMD - Bush/Cheney were only interested in information that supported their case for war. The White House also took a negative stance on similar information from Iraq's head of security - Habbush. Worst of all, the White House pushed Tenet to have Habbush back-date a false letter claiming that Atta had trained in Iraq, and that there were links between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

In between, Suskind follows a number of sideline "mini-dramas" such as how Islam convinced an outstanding female Pakistani overseas student to drop her potential economics career to become a traditionalist and teach Islam to youngsters, the conflict created by a young Afghan male teenager's perception of his traditional role vs. an American host family, the craziness ruling Gitmo detainees, and the frustrations of a man assigned responsibility to prevent nuclear terrorism.

If you don't like, or would like to not like, the current administration, then read this book. If you trust the current administration, then read this book and see if you can explain why you have this trust.

More importantly, the author points to a new American foreign policy which I hope will become part of the current electoral debate. He also seems to point out that there is a better case to impeach Bush than there was to impeach Clinton.

I have just put down The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism and I cannot yet decide which is the more compelling force, the powerful story that has been put down upon its pages or the amazing talent of this writer, who managed to captured it and cleverly pull it together. From interrogations inside the White House gates to the holding cells at Guantanamo, Ron Suskind has masterfully laid out the realities of today in unflinching terms.

Using snapshot-like descriptions of events from the past few years, Suskind not only connects us with the knows - Bush, Blair, Tenet, Musharraf, Bhutto - but also with an array of unknowns with names like Stephen, Ibrahim, Rolf, Usman, Candace, Abdul, Rob, Ann and Stephen that turn out to be core players in our close-knit world. How faith, tradition and hope integrated and shaped their lives and futures, along with those of their families and their societies, reveals for us how 'the way of the world' that we live in has actually come to pass. And in a particularly skillful six-page portrait of the 10th century foundations of faith and reason and the events that launched our beliefs, Suskind carries us forward through a thousand years of evolution to our current levels of confusion with today's priorities and the conundrums that we face.

In his remarkable vignettes, Suskind binds our characters into a single idea, a shared purpose, and makes his case for finding our moral energy and reestablishing America's moral leadership so that we might generate precious intelligence and global actions that could enable us to detect imminent threats in a world where technology and terrorism have intersected.

Using the same skills that were on display in The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11, he takes us inside the mind of each member of the cast and lets us walk in their shoes. In the last third of this book, the players not only address these realities of nuclear terrorism but also the need for cooperation on a global scale to address it. They appropriately raise the question of 'why' terrorism and nuclear weapons are handled in secret rather than continuing with the traditional 'how' to better watch over them; asking not 'how' 9/11 happened but 'why'.

Of the many allegations contained in this journalistic masterpiece, one in particular indicates that The White House was the source of a fake letter from an Iraqi intelligence agent to Saddam Hussein that linked Mohamed Atta's 9/11 mission directly to Saddam and to Iraq. Unfortunately, the frenzy that resulted has overshadowed some equally important issues that Suskind's book has also addressed, which have the potential to impact the future in no small way. The appropriate questions of the day are first, what are other nations doing with their loose uranium [or WMDs]? and second, how do we assess the gap between what they are saying publicly and doing privately? and finally, are we doing enough to control or eliminate these dangerous commodities? I found it notable that in 2003, there was a deliberate American diplomatic snub of the Iranians in Geneva, which shut down the ongoing talks with Tehran, took place after Iran had voluntarily suspended the part of their nuclear program to weaponize enriched uranium. Was this 'step in the wrong direction' for political reasons?

As the Senate committees make moves to look into issues and allegations raised by this book, perhaps they should address such issues as 'uranium leaks from Russia to Georgia in 2003 and 2006' or 'actions that we should pursue now to compensate for our past failures in policy and security', things that Suskind's prose has made perfectly clear. And as we plan for a better future, let us also question why is it that an Iraq-like campaign to bomb Iran still persists in media reports about the current Administration. Is the intent of this to 'stop terrorism' once again? I don't think so...

Bob Magnant is the author of The Last Transition... - a fact-based novel about Iran, Iraq and the Middle East.

"The Way of the World" is an absolute must read for anyone wanting to know the truth about the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. Mr. Suskind confirms the "foolish arrogance" of Bush and Cheney as they use false intelligence and good people to fool the American people into supporting this illegal war. His strongest message, however, is the evolution of our world toward a greater understanding of each other as we discover our similarities instead of our differences. My only hope is that both Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama read this book and act accordingly.

This is a profound book. A description of the betrayal by the powerful and the courage and integrity of the people who move this country, this civilization forward simply doing what they know is right, is ethical.

I began reading this book to find the section describing Bush choosing to go to war knowing that the case he was making to us was false. The gravity of this is staggering...

What I gained in reading the book in its entirety is confirmation that the essential American spirit enobled by the values most of us hold and live by are still relevant and that those values are not exclusive to America but are universal among brave citizens of many countries.

This country was highjacked by a president and vice president who came to office with an agenda to have a war with Iraq and took whatever path to lie to and manipulate the citizens of this country to support them.

And yet, there are many inspiring people who meet this corruption on the road where it travels and fight it on the only battlefield that matters. These incremental achievements are a sharp contrast to the glaring abuses of this White House.

Thank You Mr. Suskind.

Suskind sees signs of a looming terrorist attack and tries to connect the dots. He levels explosive charges at Bush:

--For months, British agents infiltrate a terrorist cell. Worried about mid-term elections, Bush asks Blair to "snap the trap shut" on the plotters. Blair refuses. Behind Blair's back, Bush and Cheney send CIA agent Jose Rodriguez to instruct the Pakistanis to arrest the UK-based terror cell's Paki contact. The arrest blows the British investigation wide open. When they find out that their investigation has been ruined, the Brits "curse, throw ashtrays, and scream bloody murder," and are prematurely forced to arrest the plotters. Bush and Cheney then use news of the plot to scare voters against electing Democrats to Congress.

--As early as 2001, Russian experts in the government warned Bush against Vladimir Putin. The "CIA had an old listening device implanted in the wall of the presidential suite at the Hotel Imperial," where Putin would be staying on a visit to Vienna. "All they needed to do was replace the battery." Bush refused, saying "you don't wiretap a friend." The real danger of terrorists acquiring WMD came/comes not from Iraq but from Russia and its former satellites. In 2003, uranium was smuggled by a crime syndicate from Russia through Georgia. Later, Putin assured Bush he shut down the syndicate. But in 2006, the same syndicate was again caught smuggling uranium.

--CIA had a reliable asset named Naji Sabri high up in the Iraqi government. Sabri informed the CIA that "Saddam neither possessed WMD nor was trying very hard to procure or develop them." When informed, "Bush dismissed the intelligence." Then, when CIA filed a report, Sabri's words were distorted "under pressure from Washington." The false report was passed on to foreign intelligence agencies.

--Suskind interviews "a longtime U.S. intelligence official" who "knows there was a secret mission before the war that found out...there were no WMD. And we knew it in plenty of time." Tahir Habbush, the head of Saddam's intelligence agency, was a spy for the Brits. During secret meetings in Jordan, Habbush informed them there were no WMD in Iraq. Richard Dearlove, head--at the time--of MI6, thought he was presenting Bush with a marvelous intelligence coup that would prevent war with Iraq, but Bush did not care for anything contradicting the case for war, no matter how good the source. Habbush was the Jack of Diamonds--sixteenth--in Bush's deck of playing cards of most-wanted Iraqis. Actually, though, Habbush was given $5 million in hush money by the Bush administration, which also helped him relocate. Another Suskind source is Rob Richer, former head of CIA's Near East division. When WMD did not turn up, Richer says the "White House concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001," claiming that Saddam had trained Mohammed Atta. It also mentioned WMD activity. The letter was taken to Baghdad, where it was "found" and given to The Daily Telegraph of London. From there, it was picked up by American media. (This revelation casts suspicion on several al Qaeda letters found by the Pentagon.)

--The British government secretly complains that "the U.S. is too anxious and trigger happy, taken to picking up some bit of overheard conversation and then sweeping up suspects." Many innocents are imprisoned at Guantanamo, including "a group who went to Afghanistan to escape Chinese persecution and were handed over to U.S. authorities by bounty hunters." Suskind documents foul play. Guantanamo officials take evidence exonerating prisoners, stamp it "classified," then use it against the same prisoners as if it were incriminating evidence. After prisoners die, officials at Guantanamo merge the dead person's identity with that of living prisoners. For example, after prisoner Abdul Salam died, they added his name to the name of the innocent man in the cell next to him, Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi, to form the name Abdul Hamid Abdul Salam al-Ghizzawi, who could now be accused of whatever the dead person did. Stephen Abraham, a former tribunal judge at Guantanamo, witnessed the constant presentation of false evidence against prisoners. He says, "information was never more than grossly inadequate." The book recounts the story of Kurnaz, who was arrested for associating with Selcook Bilgen, supposedly a terrorist who had blown himself up. The problem? Bilgen is neither a terrorist, nor has he blown himself up, but is alive and well in Dresden.

--Powell's presentation at the UN was based on intel from Rafid Ahmed, codenamed Curveball, an Iraqi defector in Germany. Bush officials now maintain that "had they been given access" to Curveball, "they might have discovered that he was a fabricator." However, the truth is that Joe Wippl, the CIA's chief of station for Germany, "recommended to the Germans that they never provide the U.S. with access to Curveball" so that the U.S. could have an excuse about why it was misled by Curveball.

--Soon after 9/11, the Brits got Iran "to start working al Qaeda's exiles [in Iran] and maybe even use them to get to bin Laden. The Brits were delighted, as were senior intelligence officials throughout the U.S. government." However, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, the CIA man who briefed Bush on the breakthrough with Iran, recalls how Bush "just looked at me with this funny blank stare." Although intelligence officials considered Iran's offer genuine, Bush refused their help.

--The NIE made it seem like CIA approved the nuclear claim against Saddam; however, the claim came from a unit under the sway of neocons at the Pentagon. Alan Foley, head of WMD analysis for CIA, recounts how he objected to Bush's claim that "Saddam was `vigorously trying to procure' nuclear material." Ignoring the CIA, Bush based his claim on British intelligence, which relied on forged Italian documents which the U.S. knew were bogus. After giving nuanced conclusions about Iraq's WMD, analysts such as Foley were pressured to change their assessments: "I got phone calls--I'm sure Bob did--not just from the administration, from Congress...We were under a lot of pressure to dispense with the qualifiers" and dress up "thin speculation as evidence." Although Bush blames CIA for getting it wrong, the CIA's WMD division, headed by Foley, was hardly ever consulted in the run-up to war, ignored even by Tenet.

--The "1992 Schumer Amendment, which dealt with trade in HEU [highly enriched uranium] for nonmilitary purposes such as cancer treatment and imaging equipment," mandated that "any company using HEU get on the path to converting it to low-enriched uranium, which works just as well and can't be made into a bomb." But Senator Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, slipped exemptions into the 2003 Energy Act, which allows corporations to revert to HEU, making it easier for terrorists to acquire it.

--Not only is Osama bin Laden alive, he's "openly recruiting physicists and chemists, even some biologists." Many Muslim youths turn to terrorism after having close relatives die in refugee camps. Bush's policies increased the refugee population by five million.

--Suskind describes the last days of Benazir Bhutto, betrayed by Bush, who paid lipservice to democracy but privately supported dictatorship. The U.S. tapped Bhutto's phones. Suskind quotes some of her private conversations. Suskind takes his title from something Bhutto said in her last days: Muslim women lead men "by making them feel they are in charge, then guiding them to do what you want. You see, they think they're saving you, and you think you're saving them. That's where the trouble starts. Someone says, 'I saved you, now here's what I want.' And it's the same with big countries and little ones, religious leaders and their followers, even husbands and wives. When things really work, though, it's because people realize that...we save one another. It's the way of the world. Things work out for the best when everyone makes it together, when we manage to save each other."

--The book has a gazillion typos, unacceptable from a big publisher like HarperCollins.

Where is the outrage to the terrible truths this important book has revealed ?!

I am stunned there is not more of an outcry regarding the hidden truths coming to light and how we were deceived and shown no respect by our elected leaders ?!

You do not have to read very far into this book to know that it is a Pulitzer-Prize winning work. It is far more than just the revelations about the abuse of power. One of his revelations, not at all publicized, is that one of his research assistants, working on one of the projects for the book, was detained by federal authorities, interrogated, and had his notes confiscated before being released.
It is an affirmation of American values - the value that we place on coming together to find common ground, often with people(s) we don't understand very well. It asserts that people and governments must get together in solving some of the great problems of our age.
We can no longer accept the notion that 'when we save you, we expect to get something in return'. To quote a statement from the book (with a slight rewording), "Things work out for the best when everyone saves everyone else and no one is owed anything in return."

THE FATAL FLAW IN THIS OTHERWISE INTRIGUING BOOK IS LACK OF DOCUMENTATION.
WHERE ARE THE COPIOUS FOOTNOTES TO BUTTRESS SUSKIND'S STARTLING ASSERTIONS?

MUCH OF THE DIALOG APPEARS CONTRIVED. ALSO THE PRESENT TENSE,SCENE DRIVEN NARRATIVE DETRACTS FROM THE IMPORTANT POINTS HE IS MAKING. EVERYBODY SAYS IT READS LIKE A NOVEL OR A MOVIE SCRIPT. SORRY THAT'S NOT REAL LIFE. I BELIEVE THAT A BOOK ON A SERIOUS SUBJECT ABOUT THE DECEPTION IN THE SO-CALLED WAR ON TERROR SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN A MORE TRADITIONAL JOURNALISTIC VEIN.

THE FATAL FLAW IN THIS OTHERWISE INTRIGUING BOOK IS LACK OF DOCUMENTATION.
WHERE ARE THE COPIOUS FOOTNOTES TO BUTTRESS SUSKIND'S STARTLING ASSERTIONS?

MUCH OF THE DIALOG APPEARS CONTRIVED. ALSO THE PRESENT TENSE,SCENE DRIVEN NARRATIVE DETRACTS FROM THE IMPORTANT POINTS HE IS MAKING. EVERYBODY SAYS IT READS LIKE A NOVEL OR A MOVIE SCRIPT. SORRY THAT'S NOT REAL LIFE. I BELIEVE THAT A BOOK ON A SERIOUS SUBJECT ABOUT THE DECEPTION IN THE SO-CALLED WAR ON TERROR SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN A MORE TRADITIONAL JOURNALISTIC VEIN.

Yes, footnotes are not included. Also, there are perhaps a dozen typos. But these small shortcomings don't matter. This book is very well written and shows a great richness of research, contacts, thought, and experience on the part of the author. It makes the case very effectively that our future depends on our humanity and that continuing the style of our current Administration would be a disaster. Very highly recommended.

After the many lurid revelations of this Administration's sins, yet more are revealed here. I wish I found these imputations as "flooring" as everyone else. But, I for one, am still asking how Bush got away with delaying the investigation of 9/11 for over 400 days, and how in heck, he got close enough to recoup another term in office? Will this sordid, brilliantly researched and eloquently stated, dissection of yet another crime against the people of the world (not merely American citizens), finally get Conyers, et al, to do what is necessitated by their sworn duty to uphold the explicit decree of our Founders? That, my fellow Amazonians, is yet another question which should never have had to have been asked.
Here we are, sinking in a morass of debt, engaged in a futile and brutally destructive war of aggression fought for the gain of a few, our rights and privacy disappearing by the nanosecond, traceable to eight years of extreme mis-government, and Congress refuses to act.
Susskind lays out decisive material evidence for impeachment (as if eight years of blatant conflict of interest were not enough) before the reading public. Will it finally be acted upon? That is the question. That such a distinguished effort should come to naught, would not only justify crimes against humanity, but those against literature, as well.

Have mercy!! What to say. Saw the author in an inteview say it's written like a movie. True enough. It's a screenplay, shouldn't be any problem getting it into film. Only thing is, maybe where it belongs is on the committee where Rep. Kucinich's articles of impeachment are twisting in the wind. Now, about the book. It's beautifully written, incredibly finely woven, and perhaps the most intrigueing contribution Suskind has made is the least appropriate for a Hollywood film and the most urgent, other readers can say. Suskind's appeal is for a return to authenticity, moral authority, goodness actually, between people, nations, governments, in public life. Seem to suggest (maybe I imagined it) that we might not survive as a people if we don't change back to what we really are, really want to be, really need to be, and can be. There's an interesting powerful appeal to "selflessness" and right out of the matrix of international intrigue, moral crimes, murders, heartlessness, and the despair of it all. So odd that the characters nearly all seemed trapped in lives either ruined or nearly ruined by the lack of those cardinal values. It's a book about values, human, really spiritual or heart values, but not at all in a monastic setting. I read the book after hearing about it from my dental hygienist and then seeing the author interviewed, once by Amy Goodman and once by John Stewart and someone in between, I forget who. Suskind has done his watchman's duty as per Ezekial. He's off the hook. Now, how about we get on with some fearless impeachments.

Ron Suskind is a pulitzer prize winner and it shows. How refreshing to read a well-researched, exceptionally crafted book. This is a compelling read, bringing to life the news stories of the past 7 years. Buy this book and donate it to your local library. It's that good.

I thought it might be a struggle to get through, but instead it's a page-turner. The courage of Mr. Suskind and the sources in this book is truly inspiring.

I'm probably about a third of the way through this patched array of anecdotes.

If this book is truly based on taped interviews, the preface should contain a fairly detailed account of the taping and interviewing, includes dates, places, etc. Considering the book's title, the preface should have included the names of those interviewed, etc.

The narrative is filled with quotations and dialogue that are obviously contrived, probably based on hearsay, commentary obtained well after the fact - an effort to turn to book into what might be characterized -a "mystery thriller."

The inital book promotion - "talk television" interviews - appear to have been based on book promotion "excerpts" and not on a thorough reading of the manuscript - making these interviews phony publicity stunts.

Historical events spliced into the narrative are not even footnoted. Virtually everything in the book is assumed to be "common knowledge," even though the typical reader probably has never heard of the book's featured "players."

I also question whether "any" or "most" of the Amazon reviewers have actually read this book - frankly I doubt it.

Finally, the book may be an important contribution to historical narrative and our understanding of the last seven plus years; but the book's author, its editors and publisher should have included appropriate documentation.

Non-fiction should NOT read like fiction - if it does read like a "novel," than it probably is a "novel."

If an "unknown" author had created this manuscript, it never would have been published.

A reviewer writes, "I continue to be astonished that citizens of the US are not burning tires in the streets and surrounding the White House..."

The reason we are not engaged in the moral act--and reponsibility--of civil disobedience is because owing to a protracted period of quote-unquote obedience to authority (read: "we were only following orders") we are now, effectively, morally LAME, that's why. We are here at Amazon's comment page venting impotently. i.e., just what the corporate mandarins--and, therefore, D.C., the "shadow" of corporate Power--have set us up for. This is part and parcel of the American ENTITLEMENT myth--we are ENTITLED to enslave blacks, we are ENTITLED to (virtually) annihilate Native Americans, we are ENTITLED to work six-year olds twelve hours a day in New England Mills. After all, folks, when you have an Empire to build, what the hey, you gotta break SOME eggs if you want an omelet! Right?

Yet, someone forgot to mention (darn it!) that concomitant to all of the benefits of Empire building comes responsibilities--which we readily shrug off, i.e., being of little consequence to US.

To illustrate: Suskind reports at some length on the existence of an interrogation room underneath the White House [!]. A reviewer, however, is INDIGNANT at Amazon for a lax book review policy. Quel audace! So much for burning tires today...

Let's continue venting--WE will feel better in a moment. And THAT'S what counts (either that or we will forget what we were supposed to do today).

It is astonishing anyone actually publishes this or buys it. Read some of the book gratis, thankfully after lunch. On Clinton's watch he had 5 major warnings regarding radical islamists from the embassy bombings to the 1st attempted World Trade Center attack (yes slightly before he held the White House) but still should have defined his stay in the White House. And voila, no 9/11 , no Bush / Cheney hysteria.

Ron Suskind certainly knows his business: this is an important book, and I'm hoping there will be some congressional investigation on the basis of his revelations. Some of them are new, some not so much. Besides chapter on completely fake info on Iraq and refusal to accept information from Iraqi's chief spy, there is a great 'cloak-and-dagger' story about Benazir Bhutto. It is hard to read this and not feel evil of having a clueless president and really psychopathic vice president. This is certainly one more of the 'must reads' for an informed citizen.
But I gave it three stars for the amount of schmaltz and choppy composition. There are a few sugar-comma inducing descriptions, particularly one about anniversary of 9/11 in NYC. Choppy storyline makes for a slightly annoying read. I'm still faintly puzzled to the usefulness of the stories about two young Muslim men, who feature prominently in the book. Both stories are certainly compelling, but their connection to the main storyline is, at best, tenuous.
Regardless, this is a must read book. By now, most of the public which has been paying attention, understands fairly well what has been going on in the last 7 1/2 years. This book peels off few more layers of the lie we have all been living in.

This sobering book by Ron Susskind has proved what many of us have believed for years and what many of us have denied: that our country is being held hostage by the individuals who are leading it.

The 9-11 horror and its aftermath, the administration maintaining a state of war which gives the executive branch way too much power, an unfortunate war followed by another unfortunate war, the irresponsible emptying of our coffers expanding what was unimaginable national debt into even more debt, enacting 1100 laws robbing US citizens of rights previously accorded us by the Constitution- it just goes on and on. And then there's Cheney, perhaps the most frightening individual I've ever encountered as 2nd in command of the US.

This book offers irrefutable proof that what we believed or suspected about the gross mishandling of our country's situation is true. It's pretty sobering to read this book and learn that things are even uglier than we thought.

I'd like to see Ron write a book of possible solutions because that's what we need. I agree that the 2 party system seems pretty ineffective at this point, but given the Constitution, I'm not sure we have a viable alternative. I suspect that our country can't survive another 4-8 years of being lead by those unprepared or incapable of the daunting task of leading this country at this moment in its evolution. This upcoming election will make us or break us, I fear. I worry that neither of the Presidential candidates is the ideal person who's needed to turn this mess around.

This is a great book and unless you can convince yourself it's all a lot of bunk, you're probably going to have to deal with some sleepless nights. This author has written a book based on research material that can't be argued. If you're in the market for a book that divulges the truth about the inner workings of our governement, and you only want to read one book, I would highly recommend this book.