"Chain of Command" by Seymore M. Hersh

p.71> "In an odd way, the sexual abusers at Abu Ghraib have become a diversion for the prisoner abuse and the violation of the Geneva Conventions that is authorized."

> "These choices may haunt us in next war....The bar has been lowered."

p.72> "When you live in a world of gray zones, you have to have very clear red lines."

? > How does an open society deal with the threat of future terrorism?

p.150> "Winning a war calls for more than defeating one's enemy in battle."

p.152> "From January 2002 on, we were in the process of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory."

note> Opium production increased 20 fold between 2001 and 2003

p.203> per Al Gore, a preemptive strike policy would replace a world in which states consider themselves subject to laws with a world in which there is no law but the discretion of the President of the United States

p223> Bush administration destroyed intelligence filtering process which had prevented invalid intell from reaching decision-makers. They developed "stovepipes" allowing intell they "wanted" to bypass filtering and go straight to the top

p.252> Rumsfeld has done the same with military

? > Why aren't Hersh's findings published in local papers, instead of only in elite intellectual reads like "The New Yorker"?

note> Niger documents were forged....by whom? unknown to date

note> War required leading Americans to inaccurate conclusions

p.253> "Hope is not a plan of action."

note> Current joint chiefs as "Stepford Wives"

p.285> policy of deliberate indifference to bad news - hoping something good would happen led to short notice troop call-ups

p.288> short sighted policy in Pakistan is keeping a despot in power and not helping the people