Bush vs. the Beltway: How the CIA and the State
Department tried to Stop the War on Terror
Booklist [American Library Association]
September, 2003
As the subtitle suggests, Mylroie claims the CIA and the
U.S. State Department (among other bureaucracies) systematically discredited
vital intelligence about the threat of violence from Iraq and, in particular,
about Saddam Hussein's own intentions. It seems, on the surface, an unusual
claim, but the author, who advised Bill Clinton on Iraq during his 1992
presidential campaign, marshals a lot of persuasive evidence. She demonstrates
how important proof of danger from Iraq was dismissed by the federal government,
in large part a result of the ill-conceived notion that, after the 1993 attacks
on the World Trade Center, state-sponsored terrorism against the U.S. was no
longer a going concern. The book chronicles President Bush's run-ins with the
bureaucracies of his government and documents the "massive intelligence failure"
in the 1990s that culminated in the September 11 attacks. "George W. Bush was
absolutely right," Mylroie writes, "there was no choice but war." It is a
conclusion that some will not support, both here and abroad, but it is argued
well. A key document in the ongoing policy debate.
David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
