Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq

By Christopher Cerf and Victor S. Navasky

The authors review some of the many claims by Bush and his people and others who were in support of the Iraq war and points out how mistaken they often were in their claims and assumptions. For example, Major General Martin Dempsey, at a ceremony reopening a bridge in Baghdad said, "Safety and security have been achieved." Fifteen hours after this statement, quoting from the book, "insurgents drove across the newly reopened bridge and fired eight Katyusha rockets into the Al Rashid Hotel inside the Green Zone, killing a staffer of the Coalition Provisional Authority, wounding fifteen others, and narrowly missing U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who was staying at the hotel." The book is chock full of these priceless little gem facts and well worth reading for anyone, for or against the Iraq war. The book ends with a quote from Dick Cheney on the first Iraq war where he says what a horrible mistake it would have been to try and invade Iraq because taking over Iraq would destabilize what is a very volatile part of the world and he warned, "It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq." Too bad he didn't remember what he had previously said when Bush and company were planning their move against Saddam Hussein and Iraq.

Review from the Huffington Post.

New Word:

Précis: an outline; a sketchy summary of the main points of an argument or theory. 'Therefore, rather than provide an obfuscatory précis, we herewith present what nonscientists might think of as a preview of coming attractions.'