Book Information

31 Days: The Crisis That Gave Us the Government We Have Today, by Barry Werth

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Brief Synopsis:

In 31 Days, Barry Werth takes readers inside the White House during the tumultuous days following Nixon's resignation and the swearing in of America's "accidental president," Gerald Ford.

Long Synopsis:

As Iraq began to subsume to Bush's presidency, the degree to which Cheney and Rumsfeld had been responsible for steering the country into war by promoting flawed and misleading intelligence became more and more clear. They had made the office of the vice president the center of power in the White House, exerting an unprecedented grip on foreign and defense policy by browbeating intelligence officials and disregarding the Nation Security Council's traditional leadership. The cycle begun by Nixon, who conspired with Kissinger to disregard Congress, the State Department, and the Joint Chiefs in forging global policies, seemed to come full circle. With the United States facing rising casualties in Iraq-more than two thousand dead and fifteen thousand seriously wounded-approval for Bush's handling of the War on Terror plunged. In October, Cheney's chief aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted for lying to a grand jury investigating the White House unmasking of a secret CIA agent whose husband had publicly debunked prewar intelligence linking Hussein to an effort to buy nuclear material from Africa. Cheney, according to the indictment, had informed Libby of the agent's identity, and his staff had discussed how to handle press inquiries about her. Fearing that Libby might cut a deal, Democrats in Congress wrote to Bush, urging him not to pardon anyone involved in the leak case. The confluence of a major political scandal and a grim, unpopular and costly military occupation focused renewed attention on the reasons for going to war and on Bush, who had made personal integrity the backbone of his political appeal. Former officials depicted him as in isolated leader who doesn't hear from enough people-a captive of the Rumsfeld-Cheney axis. The most potent and stinging rebuke came from Scowcroft, assumed by many to speak also for Bush's father, whose advice the White House had been ignoring during the run up to the invasion. Scowcroft not only questioned the wisdom of invading Iraq but also criticized the administration's entire doctrine of unilateral and preemptive war and its misreading of the Middle East. "This was supposed to be part of the War on Terror," Scowcroft said, "but Iraq feed terrorism." "Vietnam," he said, "was visceral in the American people.. .. This is not that deep, but we're moving in that direction."

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

392 Pages

ISBN-10:

N/A

Publisher:

N/A

Date of Addition:

08/10/06

Copyright Date:

2006

Copyrighted By:

Barry Werth

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Categories:

History, Nonfiction

Submitted By:

Kim Lingo

Proofread By:

David H. Carter

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