Review of Chain of Command

This book probes the origins and aftermaths of two recent events momentous both for America and for the world at large: the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 on America; and the unilateral conquest and occupation by America of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. These events are linked primarily by American president George W. Bush's response to the former, and every American should understand the nature of that linkage. Incidents surrounding the war, notably the treatment of prisoners at "Gitmo" (the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay), the torture episodes at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and Valerie Plame's exposure as a CIA operative, have become political hot potatoes for this president — and the war itself is rapidly becoming one as well.

Seymour Hersh is the reporter1 who, on 14 November 1969, broke the story of the My Lai massacre in which 500 women, children, and elderly men were shot by U.S. troops at a hamlet in Viet Nam. This book, based on a series of articles he did for The New Yorker, shows that he has not lost his nose for news, his ability to carry out exhaustive research — or his well-placed sources. It is a hard-hitting book, and the hitting starts two pages in, where Hersh tells us how a high-level CIA analyst visiting Guantánamo decided that the U.S. was committing war crimes on the "enemy combatants" held there. The analyst's report concluded that the wrong people were being questioned in the wrong way, and that the whole operation was making things worse for the U.S. in its "war on terror". Like many other warnings, dissenting opinions, and proposed alternatives, it made little difference in the conduct of the war. That war, whether in Iraq or Afghanistan, was characterized by acceptance of mis- or dis-information, ignorance at high-command levels of events in the field, persistent rejection by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld of reports that the evidence he built the case for war on was bogus, and meddling by him in the logistics of the pre-war buildup.

This is a difficult book to read. First, Hersh does not mince words in describing problems such as the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib; it behooves the reader to have a strong stomach. Second, these are complex situations, with many organizations and a host of players participating; concentration is required. Third, it will probably cause outrage. Still, I recommend everyone to take a crack at it, even if you have to skip the graphic descriptions. It is one of the newest members of a short list of books that truly deserve to be called "important" — books such as Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest or Frances Fitzgerald's Fire in the Lake. It is fragmentary account, as a collection of independent articles is wont to be, and it is not the latest word on the complex situation. But it is very thoroughly researched. And, as someone said, it is the closest thing we have right now to a definitive treatment.

There are some typographical errors, but relatively few for a book of this length. Also, I noted at some places (e.g. pages 46-49) a tendency for Hersh to inject unsupported conclusions. For example, he writes on page 49, "The tough tactics appealed to Rumsfeld and his senior civilian aides, however." and on page 51, "Cambone [Stephen Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence] was a strong advocate for war against Iraq. He chafed, as did Rumsfeld, at the C.I.A.'s inability, before the Iraq war, to state conclusively that Saddam Hussein harbored weapons of mass destruction." I have no doubt that these assessments are correct; I merely think Hersh could have provided more supporting documentation.

Hersh ends his work with an Epilogue that explores some still unanswered questions and is a searing indictment of George W. Bush. It closes with these words (Pages 366-7):

1 David Remnick's Introduction tells how Hersh, then a "freelancer" (a reporter not connected with a newspaper or wire service) talked to Lt. Calley and other soldiers involved in the 1969 massacre at My Lai and obtained the scoop that ignited his career. Remnick, a colleague and friend of Hersh, says this: "Hersh, who is in his mid-sixties, is a reporter and he always will be. If anything, he has even more energy now than he did in his thirties. And the results are plain: His work for The New Yorker during the Administration of George W. Bush, which is reflected in this book, represents an achievement, journalistic and even moral, as striking as his reports on My Lai." Remnick goes on to reprise Hersh's career and discuss his reporting on the events covered in this book — reporting which, by the time it broke the Abu Ghraib scandal, had hit nerves in high places. "By now," Remnick says, "the Bush Administration had made a habit of casting doubt on Hersh's work in the most direct and strenuous terms." If any further proof of the merit of Hersh's work were needed, there it is.

CHAIN OF COMMAND: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib Seymour M. Hersh David Remnick (Intro.) New York: HarperCollins, 2004				Rating: 5.0 High
ISBN-13 978-0-06-019591-5
ISBN 0-06-019591-6	416p.	HC	$25.95

CHAIN OF COMMAND

Reviewed 11/10/2005