index index index index "Chain of Command" is an investigation into the prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib and the success in modeling it after the Guantanamo Bay facility.
The book discusses the mistakes made in misidentifying people arrested with no charges brought against them. Some of these people were later released due to their innocence.

Mr. Hersh examines the report on the scandal written by General Taguba as well as the Afghanistan war report from Hy Rothstein. Some interesting comments about the Afghanistan war from Wesley Clark were detailed.

A lot of the book's content deals with Rumsfeld and his missions. One was the quest to wrest control of covert paramilitary operations away from the C.I.A. He also commandeered military decisions from the Pentagon. History has proven that those decisions provided disastrous results.
From page 362 Seymour Hersh sums up how the administration operates-"Rumsfeld handled the dirty work and kept the secrets,but he and the two White House leaders were a team."

The author demonstrates how the Afghanistan war was used as a stepping stone or launching point for the real,predetermined cause all along-the invasion of Iraq.
Mr. Hersh examines how intelligence(lack of it in another sense)is used in this administration. Rather than having the agencies that are qualified to vet,investigate,and decide the accuracy of intelligence examine it; the White House and particularly the VP office will sometimes manufacture it and then leak it as evidence that can be used to justify pre-planned actions.
The author investigated the fake Niger-Uranium documents that were oppurtunistic "evidence" of the fantasy WMD's that were never found in Iraq. His tracing the history of that document was quite interesting, although he didn't pinpoint the origin.

He also takes a critical look at the policy setters-Richard Perle,Paul Wolfowitz,and Douglas Feith. Perle radically changed foreign policy. Of Perle-"It's an impressive achievement that an outsider can have so much influence and has been given an institutional base for his influence."- an observation quoted on page 193.

Contrasted with the current war on terrorism was Jordan's success in dismantling Abu Nidal's organization.

On the topic of intelligence...there are some troubling, indirect ties from Saudi Arabia's rulers to terrorist groups. Equally troubling is Mr. Hersh's reports of offers from Syria in assisting with the war on terror that were arrogantly dismissed. Syria is looked at suspiciously while there is evidence that Pakistan has been assisting Iran in it's goal of attaining nuclear proliferation.

While the idea of anonymous sources is not ideal, it is understandable when reading the content of this book. Recent history verifies that!

Seymour Hersh covers a lot of ground beyond Abu Ghraib expanding into the broader subject of Bush's foreign policy and the complex consequences of different end scenarios of the war in Iraq. I recommend this book and I am looking forward to reading more from this author.I'm taking it upon myself to respond to some of the book reviews that assert that "Chain of Command" is obsolete to the discourse because it was printed several years ago, meaning that the information within its pages is currently outdated and superfluous.
This contemplation obviously signifies (to some individuals) that numerous events transpired since the sanguineous Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the 9/11 atrocities, and they feel a more recent work is in order, but believe me; you won't find a better analysis of either Abu Ghraib or the Guantánamo Bay prison scandals than in these Pulitzer Prize winning pages.

Even still, some of the other book reviewers' comments can be construed as dubious statements inasmuch as finding this book outdated. I think they should regard this as a history book.
So, with that said, I totally disagree with their assessment because most Americans are still obtuse about what transpired before, during, and after the 9/11 attacks.
They (many Americans) are also extremely oblivious about the prevarications transpiring momentarily within the confines of our government, or the alphabet agencies such as the CIA, NSA, FBI, and the corporate dealings/conspiring with Saudi Arabia through American based corporations such as Dick Cheney's Halliburton, and the Bush family.

Besides, the ipso facto as to why we're not being exposed to the stories and evidence indicative of crimes against humanity presented in this book is because most of the media is acquiescing with the Bush administration's clandestine policies, which means they are passionately covering up the truth.
So, the question we as concerned citizens should be asking ourselves is, why are they (the media) perpetrating this moral turpitude/crime, and what can we do to salvage this situation for the better? Well, for starters we can start by reading books such as this and educating ourselves, that way we can win the information war that has been declared against us, and with journalist like Hersh on our team we can't fail.

In the book "Chain of Command" "the New Yorker magazine" journalist Seymour Hersh exposes a plethora of Bush intrigues and transgressions, from the torturing of prisoners in Guantánamo Bay Cuba, and the torturing/rape of detainees at Abu Ghraib, and he also exposes Bill Clinton and Ahmad Chalabi's plan to usurp the Iraqi government from Saddam Hussein. This plan was called the "End Game," and it took place in 1993. This unequivocally proves that the Clinton administration paved the way for Bush's machinations.

In addition, Hersh writes about the so-called alleged twentieth hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui who was in prison before the September 11th attacks, which the joke was on us because the media and the government were promulgating that Moussaoui was actually a terrorist threat, and this simply wasn't the truth.
Subsequent to this elucidation, Moussaoui failed his flight training course and couldn't fly a plane to save his life, or should I say kill himself.......... (I'm taking a stab at Wellerism so please forgive me).
As a matter of fact, FBI and CIA agents told Hersh that they believed Moussaoui was a wannabe terrorist/joke and that he had no reliable information leading them closer to Al Qaeda.

Moreover, Seymour Hersh's book tackles the issue of 9/11 from the standpoint that the Bush administration was negligently imperceptive and unprepared for the imminent attack against this nation.
This of course isn't the case because 9/11 was an inside job, but even still this book properly conveys the historical significance of the events that lead us into the many crises that we're suffering from today, such as, the suspension of Habeas Corpus, the suspension of the Geneva Conventions, the U.S.A. Patriot Act eviscerating our Constitutional rights, the circumventing of the FISA court, the fact that Bush has borrowed over $1.5 trillion from foreign nationals, which is more than all of the U.S. presidents combined, and the fact that this president gets to say and do whatever he wants even if our great grandchildren's children are going to be responsible for paying this copious debt, and the fact that Congress has little say in the matter is something we as concerned citizens should be livid about regardless of whether you're a Democrat or a Republican.

Also, Hersh uncovers the $2.4 billion dollar heroin proliferation scandal in Afghanistan, and these drugs are ending up on our streets, plus the Taliban is allegedly receiving a small cut of the profits. Hersh also details the October invasion of Afghanistan. So, if you want to receive an in depth investigative analysis into what's emerging in Afghanistan and Iraq then look no further than "Chain of Command" because Hersh uncovers the Malthusian mendacities of the Bush/Cheney administration.

"Chain of Command" really takes you on the Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib and beyond.

I also recommend reading Webster Griffin Tarpley's 9/11 Synthetic Terror Made in USA. This book will fill in the gaps in Hersh's book.

Seymour you get 5 STARS!!!!
Seymour Hersh demonstrates that even 30 years after the establishment of his reputation as a skilled investigative journalist, there is plenty of fire left inside him when it comes to revealing the corruption within government, including the executive branch. Chain of Command depicts the sad state of affairs that America has been pushed into since 9/11 by the Bush administration, and how a small group of individuals were basically able to hijack US foreign policy, mismanage two wars along with the Global War on Terrorism, and commit human rights blunders while minimizing public responsibility for their actions.

The ever-present theme to Chain of Command is that major problems, ranging from Abu Graib to poor intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq, were ignored by top leadership officials in an effort to either conceal unwanted truths or to plot a set course using a hypothesis and selectively use facts to confirm it (rather than taking the more logical approach of gathering the appropriate information and making an educated decision based on those findings).

Hersh covers a lot of ground, and the reader will certainly walk away with a much clearer understanding of how we got to where we are today. Highly recommended.Yes, its true that this book is "out of date" to a great extent. What is amazing is how much is discussed in the book and yet so little has reach the "main stream media." I consider myself a pretty "aware" person, but I was shocked to read the depths of depravity at Abu Ghraib. Hersh's reporting on the foundations of this war were also illuminating: I had an inkling of different parts, but in Chain of Command, it is all put together in a much clearer picture.

For those hestitating as to whether to pick this book up because of its age, my recommendation is: don't wait. I read this before reading Fiasco and found the two worked well together to give me a sense of the war from its inception (and "pre-inception") to early 2006. Of course, so much has happened in the last year, that even more recent books like Fiasco or State of Denial cover increasingly shrinking time periods of this war-without-end.

That's the problem with these "up to the moment" books: they quickly get out of date. This was a book that has been on my list for a while. The book was excellent, but now--2 years later--we know so much more about this foul war and the fould things that have come from this war.

I recommend this book--for what that's worth--with one caveat: know that it's now 2+ years post publication. If you're a news-hound, you already know everything within its pages.

Since September 11, 2001, Seymour M. Hersh has riveted readers -- and outraged the Bush Administration -- with his stories in The New Yorker, including his breakthrough pieces on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Now, in Chain of Command, he brings together this reporting, along with new revelations, to answer the critical question of the last three years: how did America get from the clear morning when hijackers crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to a divisive and dirty war in Iraq?

Hersh established himself at the forefront of investigative journalism thirty-five years ago when he broke the news of the massacre at My Lai, Vietnam, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. Ever since, he's challenged America's power elite by publishing the stories that others can't, or won't, tell. In exposés on subjects ranging from Saudi corruption to nuclear black marketeers and -- months ahead of other journalists -- the White House's false claims about weapons of mass destruction, Hersh has cemented his reputation as the indispensable reporter of our time.

In Chain of Command, Hersh takes an unflinching look behind the public story of President Bush's "war on terror" and into the lies and obsessions that led America into Iraq. He reveals the connections between early missteps in the hunt for Al Qaeda and disasters on the ground in Iraq. The book includes a new account of Hersh's pursuit of the Abu Ghraib story and of where, he believes, responsibility for the scandal ultimately lies. Hersh draws on sources at the highest levels of the American government and intelligence community, in foreign capitals, and on the battlefield for an unparalleled view of a crucial chapter in America's recent history. With an introduction by The New Yorker's editor, David Remnick, Chain of Command is a devastating portrait of an Administration blinded by ideology and of a President whose decisions have made the world a more dangerous place for America.

Seymour Hersh has been a legendary investigative reporter since 1969 when he broke the My Lai story in Vietnam. His considerable skill and well-placed sources inside the government, intelligence community, military, and the diplomatic corps have allowed him access to a wide range of information unavailable to most reporters. Chain of Command is packed with specific details and thoughtful analysis of events since the attacks of September 11, 2001, including intelligence failures prior to 9/11; postwar planning regarding Afghanistan and Iraq; the corruption of the Saudi family; Pakistan's nuclear program, which spread nuclear technology via the black market (and admitted as such); influence peddling at the highest levels; and the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, among other topics. The book collects and elaborates on stories Hersh wrote for The New Yorker, and includes an introduction by the magazine's editor, David Remnick, on Hersh's background and his sources.

Part of Hersh's skill lies in uncovering official reports that have been buried because government or military leaders find them too revealing or embarrassing. Chain of Command is filled with such stories, particularly regarding the manner in which sensitive intelligence was gathered and disseminated within the Bush administration. Hersh details how serious decisions were made in secret by a small handful of people, often based on selective information. Part of the problem was, and remains, a lack of human intelligence in critical parts of the Middle East, but it also has much to do with the considerable infighting within the administration by those trying to make intelligence fit preconceived conclusions. A prime example of this is the story about the files that surfaced allegedly detailing how Iraq had purchased uranium from Niger in order to build nuclear weapons. Though the files were soon proven to be forgeries, the Bush administration still used them as evidence against Saddam Hussein and therefore part of the reason for invading Iraq. In these pages, Hersh offers readers a clearer understanding of what has happened since September 11, and what we might expect in the future. --Shawn Carkonen suria review reviews analysis analyze