Iraq War Fought "To Make An Example" Of Hussein

Michiko Kakutani, reviewing Ron Suskind's book, "The One Percent Doctrine," writes that the Iraq war, "according to the author's sources who attended National Security Council briefings in 2002, was primarily waged 'to make an example' of Saddam Hussein, to 'create a demonstration model to guide the behavior of anyone with the temerity to acquire destructive weapons or, in any way, flout the authority of the United States.'" This is a quote sure to turn up in Chomsky's next book.

Of less political significance, but nonetheless interesting, it seems the portrait of Cheney as Bush's puppet master does indeed have some validity. Kakutani writes:

This book augments the portrait of Mr. Bush as an incurious and curiously uninformed executive that Mr. Suskind earlier set out in "The Price of Loyalty" and in a series of magazine articles on the president and key aides. In "The One Percent Doctrine," he writes that Mr. Cheney's nickname inside the C.I.A. was Edgar (as in Edgar Bergen), casting Mr. Bush in the puppet role of Charlie McCarthy, and cites one instance after another in which the president was not fully briefed (or had failed to read the basic paperwork) about a crucial situation.

["Personality, Ideology and Bush's Terror Wars," New York Times, June 20, 2006]

Tag: [Suskind]