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 |
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ISBN-13 978-0-06-019591-5 | ||||
ISBN 0-06-019591-6 | 416p. | HC | $25.95 |
Page 55: | "International law prohibits the rendition, or forced return of any person, no matter what his status or suspected crime, to a foreign locale where he or she would be at risk of torture or mistreatment." |
Missing comma: S/B "or forced return, of any person,". |
Page 120: | "The trial, scheduled for January 2003, when I first wrote about it, has now been indefinitely delayed." |
Extra comma: S/B "scheduled for January 2003 when I first wrote about it,". Hersh is not saying he first wrote about the trial in January 2003, as the mistake would have it; he's saying that was when it was scheduled to take place at the time when he first wrote about it. |
Page 186: | " 'If you get that order [to fire on Israel] and you're managing a Scud unit, do you carry it out? If you do, you're hanged or you're dead. By the time Saddam does that' — order the attack on Israel — 'he's done anyway.' " |
I think this is a misinterpretation by Hersh of the comment he's quoting. To me, what it says is that the Scud commander would not fire even if Saddam ordered it as a desperation move because he would know that Saddam would be gone before he could punish the commander. |
Page 235: | "The C.I.A. assessment also informed Rumsfeld that the other available information on the attempted Iraq purchase of Nigerian ore was 'fragmentary and unconfirmed.' " |
I am fairly sure that this is the wrong way to turn the proper noun "Niger" into its adjective form. As written, it refers to Nigeria — an adjoining but separate country. Perhaps "of ore from Niger" is the best way to write it, avoiding the adjective altogether. |
Page 290: | "Referring to the war in Afghanistan, which was then underway, Biden asked rhetorically, 'How much longer does the bombing continue?' " |
S/B "under way". |