Books : War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism
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by: Douglas J. Feith
List Price: $27.95Amazon.com's Price: $18.45 You Save: $9.50 (34%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.931
EAN: 9780060899738
ISBN: 0060899735
Label: Harper
Manufacturer: Harper
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 688
Publication Date: March 01, 2008
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: April 08, 2008
Sales Rank: 16216
Studio: Harper
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In the years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, journalists, commentators, and others have published accounts of the Bush Administration's war on terrorism. But no senior Pentagon official has offered an inside view of those years, or has challenged the prevailing narrative of that war—until now.
Douglas J. Feith, the head of the Pentagon's Policy organization, was a key member of Donald Rumsfeld's inner circle as the Administration weighed how to protect the nation from another 9/11. In War and Decision, he puts readers in the room with President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, General Tommy Franks, and other key players as the Administration devised its strategy and war plans. Drawing on thousands of previously undisclosed documents, notes, and other written sources, Feith details how the Administration launched a global effort to attack and disrupt terrorist networks; how it decided to overthrow the Saddam Hussein regime; how it came to impose an occupation on Iraq even though it had avoided one in Afghanistan; how some officials postponed or impeded important early steps that could have averted major problems in Iraq's post-Saddam period; and how the Administration's errors in war-related communications undermined the nation's credibility and put U.S. war efforts at risk.
Even close followers of reporting on the Iraq war will be surprised at the new information Feith provides—presented here with balance and rigorous attention to detail. Among other revelations, War and Decision demonstrates that the most far-reaching warning of danger in Iraq was produced not by State or by the CIA, but by the Pentagon. It reveals the actual story behind the allegations that the Pentagon wanted to 'anoint' Ahmad Chalabi as ruler of Iraq, and what really happened when the Pentagon challenged the CIA's work on the Iraqal Qaida relationship. It offers the first accurate account of Iraq postwar planning—a topic widely misreported to date. And it presents surprising new portraits of Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Richard Armitage, L. Paul Bremer, and others—revealing how differences among them shaped U.S. policy.
With its blend of vivid narrative, frank analysis, and elegant writing, War and Decision is like no other book on the Iraq war. It will interest those who have been troubled by conflicting accounts of the planning of the war, frustrated by the lack of firsthand insight into the decision-making process, or skeptical of conventional wisdom about Operation Iraqi Freedom and the global war on terrorism—efforts the author continues to support.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - One hopes for more books of this type about the Iraq war.
This is an essential fact book for every person curious about the U.S. government's decision making that led to the Afghan and Iraq wars and their pursuit in the early years.
Douglas Feith's memoir includes the period in which he served as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. He covers discussions in which he was personally involved and clearly identifies information that he did not personally observe. As such, important pieces of the puzzle are left to the observations of the actual ... Read More
Rating:  - It wasn't my fault, honest. Somewhat informative though.
Feith's book is largely an attempt to justify his actions and policies as #3 in the Pentagon under Rumsfeld, more specifically with regards to the Iraq war.
Well, if your boss calls you in to grill on some mistakes you've made you can:
- admit failure and throw yourself at her mercy
- justify every single issue by saying that it wasn't your fault
- tactically admit some failures and defend your record on the rest.
Most people, but not Feith apparently, ... Read More
Rating: - a good first draft of history
This is an excellent background and first draft of history for the last seven years.
Feith was a policy/ analyst guy. He is not a foaming at the mouth, neo-con ideologue. He is a DC area lawyer, that worked in the NSC under Reagan/ Bush the elder and then more law work during Clinton, while keeping an amateur hand in the defense/ policy world.
As far as managing an office goes, I understood, that he was leading up an office of about a hundred civilian and uniform policy wonk type ... Read More
Rating: - The Pentagon Strikes Back
Douglas Feith's memoir "War & Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism" is a fascinating and enlightening account of Feith's stint as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy in Rumsfeld's Pentagon from 2001 through 2005. Feith provides a candid look at the inter-agency process in the US government as it responded to the 9/11 attacks and then prepared for and fought wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Feith's account challenges the conventional wisdom of the media's stories during this ... Read More
Rating: - The Real Story - A MUST READ
Douglas Feith has written an excellent book that takes you inside the decision-making and process of the White House and the Pentagon. His story, rooted in the notes from the actual meetings he attended, sheds a light on what really happened pre- and post-9/11 and you learn that what the press reported isn't actually what was happened. His straight-forward and factual with malice towards none approach is refreshing and needed. If only other biographers and historians were as careful as Feith.
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